Chapter Fourteen
Elise stepped onto the Marina d’Arechi and breathed fresh air into her lungs.
The catamaran sat at the end of the dock, looking sleek and pristine.
Its hull sparkled, and its mast stretched confidently into the sky.
The trampoline netting between the boats looked so tight and clean that Elise could imagine herself bouncing on it, getting so high she’d touch the heavens.
Salerno’s tourist port was busy. But Elise hardly noticed. She was far too busy looking up at the bright blue sky. The clouds looked pillowy-soft, like someone had whipped them by hand.
She did a full three-sixty before coming to a stop. In fact, everything glowed bright and stupidly beautiful. She pressed her fingertips to her lips. Were they really tingling, or was she just imagining it? Did it even matter?
She decided it didn’t and walked toward the crew loading up the equipment.
Even they looked suspiciously radiant. Janet, the sound tech, who was mostly made of existential dread and whom Elise had seen smile on only one occasion—her birthday last year when Elise had organized a cake for her—had a soft kind of halo going around her.
Even Jeremy, whose pants couldn’t fall down any lower, was looking somewhat handsome.
Elise didn’t even mind that he had pastry crumbs sitting in his beard from breakfast. She didn’t mind anything at all. Or feel stressed. Or irritated.
Was this what sleeping with Harper all these years later did? Did it break the world? Did it color-correct her reality?
Ha, she thought when she noticed a skip in her step. In fact, she might even be skipping. Which she had to cut out before anyone spotted her. And then, just like that, she felt a sudden, ridiculous urge to spot Harper.
This morning, when Elise had woken up with the bed empty beside her, she had felt a deep pit of disappointment in her stomach.
For a split second, the memory of Sesriem had come storming back, and Elise had felt almost physically ill, wondering if Harper had run away once again.
But then she’d spotted a slip of paper sitting on the side table with Harper’s scrawly handwriting on it, and her chest had unclenched.
Harper had gone for a run, and she would see Elise later at the next group date.
Elise scanned the dock. The contestants were already aboard the catamaran, as were the captain, two crew members, the camera operators, and the drone guy.
Considering they would be out most of mid-morning and lunch, Ursula, the chef who had been with the production team since the very start, was lugging two stacked plastic containers with heirloom tomatoes, olive tapenade, three wheels of brie, crusty baguettes, and marinated chicken skewers aboard.
But the one person Elise couldn’t spot, however, was Harper.
Elise walked up the gangplank aboard the catamaran and peeked in through a window with a view of the saloon, but all she could see were the nine contestants fawning over Megan.
She then turned back to the dock and was about to head down the gangway when a voice called out.
“Are you looking for me?”
Elise spun so fast her curls slapped her in her face.
Harper was standing right outside of Elise’s personal space. Anyone watching would think nothing of it. They had no idea that just last night Harper had made Elise feel things she never knew were even possible.
Elise wished she were standing close enough to a railing so she could grip it tight, because frankly, she needed something to hold on to before she flung herself at Harper and looped her arms around her neck and kissed her like she had last night. With lots of tongue.
Instead, she tapped her hands against the side of her thighs to give them something to do and asked, “Are you ready for the group date?”
“I’m always ready,” Harper said, lifting her camera.
“Are you?” She raised an eyebrow questioningly, and Elise knew why.
Elise wasn’t as used to boats as Harper was.
The last time Elise was on a boat when they’d done a trip out from Walvis Bay to film The Honeymooners watching a pod of bottlenose dolphins, she had ended up losing the contents of her stomach several times and had to be escorted off by the medical team.
In fact, she was so prone to seasickness that she had actually planned on staying behind today and letting Gillian, her second in command, handle the executive producer duties.
But the thought of spending the entire day without seeing Harper left her heart feeling empty.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Harper asked, looking at her with such concern that Elise’s stomach did a little somersault.
“Because the last time we were on a boat together, you were definitely not fine. I had to hold your curls back while you lost your lunch… over and over again. You were literally green. And you stayed green for two days.”
“Don’t worry,” Elise said, patting her bag. “I’ve got an entire box of anti-nausea pills.” Then she lifted her wrist. “And a seasickness bracelet. I’ve never tried one before, but the reviews are promising.”
Harper didn’t look entirely convinced. “The first sign of feeling sick, let me know, alright?”
Elise wasn’t sure what good that would do. It wasn’t like Harper could magically take it away. In fact, Elise would prefer not to tell Harper. After last night, she couldn’t bear the thought of Harper seeing her hunched over a toilet bowl. There was nothing sexy about that.
“Sure,” she said, even though she didn’t mean it.
Then she turned toward the deck, where the contestants had just gathered in a loose semicircle.
They were all dressed in ocean-friendly outfits.
Almost everyone—except Jamie and Kira—had opted for breezy sundresses.
Megan wore a soft lavender slip dress with tiny white embroidery along the neckline and white espadrilles. They all turned as Elise approached.
“Good morning, ladies,” she said, flashing a bright smile she was pretty sure had everything to do with Harper and nothing to do with her job. Which was mind-boggling. Everything she’d ever felt had something to do with her job. “Just a quick rundown of today’s date.”
Everyone straightened up.
“Today we’re taking you all out on the Amalfi Coast for what we call the deep-sea chemistry date.
There’ll be time to relax on deck, and at some point, we’ll sail near a sheltered cove, and whoever wants to go snorkeling will get the opportunity.
” She paused, because what she was about to say would surely get their attention more than snorkeling.
“One of you will get a chance to have a one-on-one date with Megan later.”
There were a few squeals as expected and a lot of excited faces. Both Amelia and Nadia caught Megan’s eye. Although it was debatable who caught it first.
“Lunch will be served onboard,” Elise went on, nodding toward the galley where Ursula was already prepping.
“Please stay hydrated and don’t fall off the boat.
” She wanted to eye Jamie specifically since jumping overboard seemed like something she’d do.
“Other than that, please have fun. We roll in ten.”
The contestants scurried off, talking over each other. Elise retreated to the bar area and spotted Harper bent over a table. She was peering at her camera screen, muttering something to herself. Around her on the table were lens caps scattered like tiny black moons.
Elise’s body did something it hadn’t in a long time. It buzzed. She wanted to walk over to Harper, whisper in her ear, and suggest she meet her in the small bathroom, but instead, she moved right past her to the captain.
He wasn’t nearly as old as she had expected. He was tall, tan, and had sun-stroked blonde hair that fell over bushy brown eyebrows. If the boat weren’t filled with lesbians, he would no doubt be swooned over.
“Give me a quick weather rundown,” Elise said once she’d introduced herself and found out his name was Cole. He was an American doing charters along the Amalfi Coast for the last two years. “How choppy do you think the water is going to get?”
“At the moment, we’ve got a northwest wind at about eight knots. Swell is around 0.8 meters with a short period,” Cole said, brushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes.
That meant absolutely nothing to Elise. Her face must have shown it because then Cole added, “Basically, the wind’s pretty gentle and the waves are under three feet. A little choppy, but more like a gentle rocking chair than a bucking bronco.”
“Right,” Elise said. Surely her stomach could handle a gentle rocking chair. No problem. She’d just make sure she kept an eye on the horizon at all times. “Thanks.”
“Sure.”
When she headed back to the bar, Harper was standing watching her.
It was unexpected enough to make Elise’s stomach roil and her heart skip a beat, but also entirely welcome.
She wanted Harper to watch her. She wanted Harper’s eyes on her at all times.
Was that weird? Maybe a little. Did she care? Not really.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to stay?” Harper asked, stepping forward, close enough for Elise to see the tiny compass pendant sticking out above her top. “People who get severely seasick tend to do so even if the water’s flat.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Elise asked. She’d meant it flirty, but it came off a little defensive. “I mean—”
“I know what you mean,” Harper interrupted, cocking her head to the side.
She grazed her bottom lip with her top incisor, and Elise nearly melted into a puddle of human bone and skin.
Then Harper lowered her voice so only Elise could hear.
“If I could, I’d kiss you right now, right here.
But I won’t, because I know you take your job seriously. ”
“I do take—” But Elise’s words got swallowed as the catamaran lurched beneath her feet.
The dock slipped away beneath the hull. The boat strained slightly with the first push of the bow cutting through the water, and the lines clattered against the mast. From the deck, the contestants erupted in a chorus of whoops and cheers.
Harper caught Elise’s arm even though she didn’t have to. All that yoga had strengthened her core enough to stand firm as the catamaran moved. Balance wasn’t the issue. Her stomach—or, more accurately, her inner ear—was sending conflicting messages to her brain. Damn you, inner ear.
“I’m fine,” she said as convincingly as possible. “Seriously. I’ll be fine. I promise.”