Page 139 of Reaching Avery
He kept that promise.
Once we were both seated—and I was still clinging to the chair for dear life—he started the engine and slowly backed away from the dock. I held my breath at first, expecting the water to swallow us whole. Or the boat to topple over and send us overboard.
Neither happened.
Whatdidhappen, though? Maverick’s smile as he drove us through the bay.
I focused on him, letting his love for the ocean seep into me as well. He talked about some of the marine life nearby and he explained some of the things on the boat that I forgot right as he told me.
Sooner than I expected, I relaxed and actually began enjoying myself.
Mav didn’t drive fast, so the wind was pretty tame. I studied the landscape as we passed, seeing the seaside homes that stretched toward the sky. But for once, I wasn’t interested in the land. I shifted my gaze to the sea.
With the sun shining and shimmering off the water’s surface, I found it truly was beautiful.
“I’ll be damned,” Maverick said with a light laugh. “Is that a smile on your face?”
“Shut up.” My smile widened at the smug look on his face. He was too handsome and silly. And intelligent. “Okay, this isn’t as bad as I feared. Thank you.”
The smugness in his smile vanished as a heartwarming gleam came into his eyes. “You’re welcome.”
Once we’d driven around the bay for about an hour, Maverick found a spot near land to stop the boat and drop anchor. It was weird feeling the earth move beneath me while the boat was still, but luckily, the choppy waters had eased up, so it was a gentle rock as opposed to one that scared the piss out of me.
Maverick opened the ice chest and handed me a soda, which I accepted and took a big drink of. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I’d been. However, I nearly spit out my next drink when I saw what he pulled out next.
“Twinkies?” I asked after almost choking. “You seriously brought Twinkies?”
“Seemed fitting,” he said, placing one in my lap. He didn’t withdraw his hand, so I took it, interlocking our fingers. “They’re sort of our symbol. They’re infinite, you know.”
We shared a smile, and my heart warmed at the memory of us sitting on that rock so many months ago, talking about our deepest fears and the immortality of Twinkies.
“I think I’ve heard that somewhere before,” I said, holding onto his hand and knowing I never wanted to let him go.
“Look at that,” Mav suddenly said, nodding to something behind me. “You can see the moon. It’s faint, but it’s there. Kinda cool to see it during the day.”
I looked to where he’d instructed and saw it, smiling as a thought occurred to me.
I’d been wrong. Maybe the sun and the mooncouldco-exist. Not just in the speck of time before light chased away the dark, but in all the moments before and after. That’s where me and Mav were now: two opposites that had been drawn together against all odds, stuck in our moment of forever.
THE END
