Page 143 of Falling Overboard

I see you clearly. Land or sea.

His words filled my memory, along with images of all the time we had spent together, laughing, kissing, holding, sleeping.

Loving.

My dull, aching heart lurched sideways, like it wanted to disconnect itself from the rest of my body.

If I waited for him in Portofino, I knew what would happen. He would leave the ship.

I didn’t want to be responsible for him losing what he’d been working so hard for. It was bad enough that I already had.

I wished that someone else could make this decision for me. I didn’t know what to do. The pain of seeing him kiss another woman still burned in my chest. How was I supposed to sort all of this out?

I needed to talk to someone about this. I couldn’t call Georgia. She was going to have to do everything single-handedly on the ship.

Who else did I have besides Hunter?

I texted my sisters.

I need to talk. I think I just broke up with my boyfriend and I lost my job.

They might still be angry with me. But it was Hunter’s words that I remembered. That they were my sisters and they would love me no matter what.

I wanted that to be true.

My phone rang and I saw that it was them. Tears filled my eyes and I answered. “Hello?”

“You have a boyfriend?” Rose said. “What happened? How did you lose your job? Are you okay?”

“No.” My voice caught and I couldn’t speak.

“You should come home,” Lily said.

That was what I wanted. To go home. That was where I could figure this out.

“Although you might have to help with Lily. She was in a car accident a few days ago. She broke her foot,” Rose said.

“And you didn’t call me?” I asked, upset.

“I’m fine,” Lily insisted. “Rose is just being dramatic.”

“I am not,” Rose shot back. “But seriously, Lucky, come home. It’s time that you let us take care of you.”

This was so unlike how things had been with us in the past that I wanted to sob. “I’m going to the airport now. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

Then I hung up and cried at the café table. My heart had been broken so many times in so many ways that I didn’t know if it could ever be whole again. Part of me still wanted to wait for Hunter. But I couldn’t think. So many bad things had happened in a row that I had to separate them and decide what I would do next.

It was a choice I would have to make on my own.

Then I could decide how to move forward with him.

Whether I even wanted to.

I ordered a car to Genoa from my rideshare app, and balked a little at the cost. I was about to blow through a big part of my savings by going back home. It meant that I would have to start over in trying to save up.

After everything was arranged I texted Hunter.

I’m going home. I need some time to think. About us. And where we go from here.

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