20
Leo and Sebastien were at the frozen beverage stand, the noonday sun hard on their backs. Matty had taken off to a nearby
pharmacy to pick up a fresh razor and other supplies, leaving them alone. While Leo stirred his frozen lemonade, it occurred
to him that he hadn’t exchanged more than a few words, one on one, with Sebastien since they’d arrived. Which sucked because
he liked the guy.
“How are you holding up?” Leo asked him.
That business of his fiancé showing up unannounced was just one other wild thing that happened in Key West when really, the
man’s world had collapsed.
Sebastien took a long sip of his frozen mojito. “Not great. How about you?”
“Me?”
“You and Jules,” Sebastien specified.
“What about us?” Leo asked.
“You know . . . the tug-of-war. It’s clear as day.”
“There’s no war. A string of battles, maybe, but it’s over.”
“If you don’t want to talk about it—”
Leo stopped him. “I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“Why is it that straight men can’t express themselves?” Sebastien asked. “Why are you all so repressed?”
“I resent that! The New York Times says I have startling emotional clarity.”
“Forget the Times!” Sebastien balked. “I’m standing right here, and you can’t string three words together.”
“Because it’s complicated.”
“Quick! Do you love her?”
“Love her? We’ve only just met.”
A lie, of course. He knew how he felt about July. It might not work out. They may never know a day of happiness, but it didn’t
change how he felt.
“Love takes only an instant,” Sebastien said. “Vetting a partner over a period of months makes sense, but that has nothing
to do with love.”
Leo reached for his pack of gum and popped two pieces in his mouth. A family in matching T-shirts approached the stand and
ordered three ice-cream cones for the kids, and wandered off, as red as lobsters, to the next stop on their pilgrimage. Leo
watched them go, took a breath, and said, “I’m in love with her.”
Sebastien tried to grin at him, but he had a mouth full of shaved ice. “There you go! Was that so hard?”
“Yes, it fucking was.”
“It gets easier.”
When would it get easier? Leo wanted to know. He’d been dogged by this feeling for a decade now. It had wrecked more than
one relationship, a cursed bar of silver that doomed every maiden voyage. The worst part was that he couldn’t put stock in
the feeling. He’d fallen in love before he had the chance to know her. For years he’d wondered if the feeling were not merely
a device of his creation to keep him from committing fully to anyone? He knew now, with startling clarity, that it wasn’t
the case, but you couldn’t love someone you couldn’t reach. July had crafted herself as a shadowy figure. Not even her best
friend was allowed into her inner world. And there was such turmoil in there. He saw it in her eyes. She could hide a lot,
but she couldn’t hide that.
Would she ever feel the same?
“Own your feelings,” Sebastien said. “If you love her, love her to the end. Take a risk. Heartbreak won’t kill you.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Leo said.
“Maybe,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m no expert.”
Matty returned, dragging Alexandre Montclair by the collar of his pink polo shirt. “Look who I found!” he announced.
Sebastien went pale.
“Don’t just stand there, man,” Leo said. “Express yourself!”
“You’ve been here this whole time?” Sebastien asked his long-suffering fiancé.
“My flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow,” Alexandre explained, contrite. “I couldn’t change it. Spring break. Everything’s
booked. I meant to stay out of your way, but I bumped into him, and he wouldn’t let me go.”
“At your service,” Matty said, grinning.
Sebastien and Alexandre stepped away to talk under the shade of an awning.
“If they get back together, they’ll only have you to thank,” Leo said.
“I feel like sodding Cupid right now,” Matty said. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t drink.”
If he wanted to keep Mathis Taylor as a friend, Leo owed him the truth.
“Two waters, then?” Matty said, drawing his wallet, as if he hadn’t grasped the full meaning of Leo’s words, though surely,
he had. “I won’t miss this heat when we’re gone.”
The Caribbean eatery was in a converted gas station on a quiet corner.
The sunshine-yellow structure with white awnings offered outdoor seating and a convenient take-out window.
Though none of these options were available now.
According to a sign, Ciel was closed for lunch on Sundays. Dinner service began at five.
“Did they open just for us?” Ayesha asked.
“I pulled some strings,” Daphne said. “Welcome to the family restaurant! The best creole food in Key West!”
“Whose family?” Leo asked, confused.
“Mine,” Daphne replied. “My parents opened it twelve years ago. My brother runs it now. I’m an investor. It’s a family business.”
Leo wasn’t the only one struggling to understand. “Hold up,” Vicky said. “Your family was a short drive away this whole time
and we’re only just hearing of it?”
“Aren’t you from Miami?” Leo asked, like an idiot.
“It’s where I live and work, but this is home. I’m born and raised in Key West. My parents found work in the resorts and found
each other. They never left.”
“You’re a Conch!” Matty exclaimed. “We’ve been searching high and low for one.”
“Nothing special about us!” Daphne said, laughing. “We’re not Pokémon.”
Leo better understood Daphne’s willingness to spend her summers here and her devotion to the local program. But why didn’t
he know this about her? They’d been friends for years. They’ll never know you. July’s words returned to him with a force that he wasn’t prepared for. If he didn’t know much about Daphne, it was because
he’d never bothered to ask. His threadbare friendships kept him free from entanglement, from having to reveal too much. A
habit that was quietly eroding his soul.
“Would anyone like a tour?” Daphne asked.
Leo was the first to accept her offer. He took her arm. “Show me everything.”
The tour started in the modest dining room with a hand-painted mural of a mountainous tropical landscape under a dynamic Caribbean sky.
Square tables were draped in plain white cloth and fitted with ladder-back chairs.
In the kitchen Daphne’s older brother, Henri, greeted them in his chef’s white coat.
“Daphne speaks highly of this group,” he said. “Hope you’re hungry!”
“Always,” Matty said.
Whatever was simmering smelled delicious. Henri shared the menu. Lunch was shrimp creole with sides of white rice and plantains.
If they weren’t hungry before, they were now.
A narrow hall joined the kitchen with the dining room. The walls were crammed with family photos, multiple generations of
smiling faces, from posed portraits to candid pics. One grabbed Leo’s attention, a framed Polaroid of Daphne hugging a dapper
Black man in a three-piece suit. The photographer captured the moment the man had closed his eyes just as Daphne leaned in
to kiss his cheek.
“Who’s this guy, lover girl?” Leo asked, teasing.
Daphne took a beat to compose a smile. “My fiancé, Felix.”
Predictably enough, an uproar erupted.
“You’re engaged?”
“Now you’re hiding a whole fiancé?”
“Congratulations!”
“When’s the wedding?”
“Thanks, everyone,” she said. “There won’t be a wedding. Sadly, my Felix passed away.”
A chilly silence spread through the group. No one dared breathe. Never had they been more aware of death than over this fun-filled
weekend in the sun. The Reaper was on their heels.
“It was a while ago,” Daphne explained. “We would’ve been married seven years if I hadn’t lost him in a car crash.” In typical
Daphne fashion, she pivoted. “That’s why I worry about you, Leo, crisscrossing the country and that death trap you bought
off the internet. Please be careful, okay?”
Leo couldn’t play along. He hugged her and promised to drive carefully, anything to ease her mind. When he pulled away, Daphne
cleared her throat and composed yet another smile.
“That’s enough!” she said. “This is our last quiet meal together, just us. Tomorrow, you’ll take off in different directions.
I should know. I handled the travel arrangements.
Like my brother said, you are a special group.
I’ve never had this much fun, and I sincerely hope you’ll come back and visit soon. ”
Naturally, this prompted a group hug, initiated by Vicky.
Despite himself, Leo sought out Jules. They’d barely exchanged a word all day yet had found ways to check in on each other.
Their eyes locked, briefly. When she turned away, she had his heart.
“Alright. I need help joining a few tables,” Daphne said, looking around. “Hey! Where’s Sebastien?”
“Oh!” Matty exclaimed. “Do I have a story for you!”