“You need to stand up for yourself and—eeep!” The boat hit a swell, and Toby shrieked. One of his hands grabbed the edge of his seat, and the other grasped my hand where it rested on my knee. “Is it supposed to do that?” he demanded.
“Yes,” I reassured him over the hum of the motor. “Just a little chop. You really don’t like little boats, huh?”
“You might say.” He gripped tighter, but his tone was firmly casual as he raised his voice and said, “My point was, don’t let them get to you.”
He was so unfairly cute, half hunched over my lap and braced for us to capsize, though I hadn’t opened the throttle hardly at all.
“I won’t.” I patted his shoulder gently. “Thanks.”
“Being serious,” he insisted, looking up at me from under his lashes. “You’re smart, Beale. No one has the right to make you feel less than.”
I frowned at him quickly before looking back at the water.
“The thing is, I’m a Virgo.”
“Right.” Toby nodded. “Yeah. You kinda indicated that in the car earlier. I, um… I support you. I should have said that earlier.” He reached out a hand and patted my arm. “Thank you for coming out to me.”
“What? No! I’m not… I mean, I am, but that’s not…” I pulled away and felt my cheeks go fire-hot. “I’m a Virgo. As in, my astrological sign. Because I was born in September?”
“Ohhhh. Of course. Duh. I knew that.”
“Also, thanks for the support, but I don’t think people need to come out as virgins. Or Virgos.”
Toby’s brow furrowed. “Fair enough. So, you’re a Virgo. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Virgos generally don’t waste time convincing other people of things. I accept that folks have opinions just like I do—like about how I should live my life, and what kind of a career I want, and what I should do with my share of the treasure money we found…” I looked at Toby, pretty confident Mason had filled him in about all that, and he nodded in confirmation. “But I don’t argue. I just let them talk. I know they worry because they care. And also, they can talk as much as they like, but I’m not letting them change my mind once it’s made up. I’m stubborn that way.”
“’Cause you’re a Virgo.”
“No, ‘cause I’m a Goodman.” I grinned. “I refuse to settle for any old career or any old guy. I’m waiting for the things that feel right. The things that feel like they’re meant to be mine.” I shrugged. “But I don’t enjoy the tussle of an argument the way my dad and brothers do, which is probably why there aren’t a lot of things I have nonnegotiable opinions on.”
Toby sat back in his seat. “Only important stuff.”
“Yup.”
“Like… holding out for the one right path and the one right person.”
“Right. Yes.”
“Hmm.” He nodded thoughtfully.
I shrugged again. “It’s fine if you disagree—”
“I don’t know if I do or don’t. I don’t believe in absolutes. There are lots of right answers to most questions, including this one.”
I swiped at my forehead under my bandanna. That was a nonanswer if I’d ever heard one. For all that he liked to make me talk, Toby was shit at opening up about himself.
“So, when you meet your soul mate, what will this paragon of virtue be like?” he prompted.
I darted a glance at him, expecting to find him scoffing, but he seemed genuinely curious. I lifted a shoulder. “I’m not entirely sure.”
“But surely you must have some idea.”
“Well, I mean, he’s the person who’s supposed to fit perfectly with me, so I’m guessing we’d share the same interests—”
He nodded. “Birds. Boats. Vegan burritos. That’s reasonable.”
“Yep. And yoga. Maybe crystals. Reading. Beach walks. Nature Center.”
“Beach walks are good,” Toby approved. He reached for a reusable water bottle in the cooler and uncapped it.
“He’d probably be a Capricorn—that means born in January—”
“Ah, and here I am, a May baby.” Toby pouted, and I smiled a little.
“And we’d talk, I guess. I’d be able to talk to him about anything—my day, the meaning of life. We’d watch movies and discuss ’em. Basic stuff, really.”
“Movie discussion sounds good, too.” He sipped the water. “Like what movies? What was the last movie you saw you wished you could discuss?”
“Hmm. Saw, I guess.”
Toby choked on his water, then glared at me while he thumped his own chest. “Saw? Are you fucking kidding me? I was thinking Shawshank Redemption or Sophie’s Choice or something. What is there to discuss about Saw? ‘Which sequel made you pee your pants most, soul mate? Wow, me too! We have so much in common!’”
I laughed out loud. “Come on. Saw wasn’t that scary! The bad guy wasn’t even really bad. Most of the people he hurt were genuinely terrible, and the goal was to teach them a lesson, so in a way—”
“Lemme stop you right there, Beale, my sweetie pie, my honey bunch. You said yourself, he’s the bad guy. The. Bad. Guy. Not the morally ambiguous gent. Not the misunderstood dude. He’s the villain, so by his very nature, he is bad. And this bad guy is, like, the baddest of the bad.”
“So says the man who doesn’t believe in absolutes.”
Toby gaped at me for a minute. “In real life I generally don’t,” he finally said snottily. “But fictional bad guys are fictional. And bad. You cannot argue with them or rationalize them. When people are mean to you, your only choice is to get away from them and save yourself.” He sounded like he was speaking to a toddler. “That’s a free life lesson for you, right there.”
“Nope. I disagree. Take your Titanic movie, there. Rose—”
“Oh my God, no! Don’t even try it. Billy Zane is soulless and corrupt, and represents capitalist greed and profligate—”
“Toby, listen to yourself! The man’s girlfriend, who was only marrying him for his money, had car sex with another dude. Wouldn’t you be cranky? He just has a passionate nature.”
“He chases them with a gun while the boat is sinking! No, no, go back to your Virgo ‘I’m not gonna try to convince you’ schtick, because you’ll never win me over! You’re probably one of those people who’d try to redeem Darth fucking Vader—”
“You mean poor Anakin, who only joined the Dark Side to protect his wife and babies?”
Toby laughed so hard his eyes crinkled at the corners, which was… really damn attractive.
“Motive matters, that’s all I’m saying!” I laughed, too. “That’s what Aunt Hagatha would tell you.”
Toby’s smile evaporated, and he blinked at me like he could think of no comeback to something this stupid. I felt my face go red. Again.
At least out here I could blame the sun.
“Aaaand I guess now you see why people tend to give me shit about my weird opinions, whether it’s about crystals or horoscopes or whatever, huh?” I tried to smile.