Graham stepped away and went to the end of the pool table. He pulled out the rack and started placing the balls in order, and Rennie went to the other end to prepare to break. She sized up their opponents. Another couple, which didn’t matter, because Rennie and Graham were going to take care of them easily. They did, along with the couple after them, the college boys again, and so on. For the rest of the night, the friends visiting from Cape Harbor ran the pool table at the bar in Friday Harbor.
They had either lost count of how many pitchers they’d drunk or the empty ones on their table weren’t theirs, and at some point during the evening, they stopped ordering food. Rennie and Graham were having fun. They were laughing, flirting, and being very handsy with each other—and probably a little inappropriate. Neither of them seemed to care, and they really didn’t care what others around them thought.
After they won their last game, Graham asked if Rennie was ready to go. It was eleven thirty, the bar had become packed, and honestly, she wanted to go back to the boat. They bid farewell to their new friends and made their way to the exit. When they finally stepped outside, Graham scooped her up into his arms and carried her toward the marina.
“I can walk.”
“Why walk when I can carry you?” Rennie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nestled her head in the crook of his neck. She imagined what life would be like with Graham if they were ever to give in and try being more than friends. They could do the long-distance-relationship thing flawlessly. She’d rather be in Cape Harbor most of the time anyway, and she figured she could work Fridays and Mondays from his home and be in the office three days a week unless she had a court case. No one would be surprised if they started dating either. Their relationship would be natural and long overdue.
Graham carried her onto the boat and set her down when he had to unlock the sliding door. “I have something I want to show you. Wait here.” He disappeared down the steps, and when he came back, he handed her a pair of socks and told her to put them on. He also had a blanket draped over his arm. Graham grabbed two cups and the bottle of champagne from the now-melted ice in the sink. “Follow me.”
She did, and he led them out to the bow of the boat. The same spot where she had finally let all her emotions out. “What are we doing out here?”
“Earlier, I saw all these boats docking, and I thought it was a bit strange until I heard one of the guys at the bar talking. Out there in the darkness is a barge, and at midnight they’re letting off fireworks. I thought this would be a better way of ringing in the New Year, instead of counting down with a bunch of people we don’t know.”
Her smile was slow to appear, but that was because she was finding it hard not to jump into his arms. She loved fireworks, and he had remembered. “This is perfect.”
Graham handed her the cups to hold while he worked the cork off the champagne bottle. Rennie stood back, out of what could be the path of a flying cork.
“I probably should’ve thought this through a bit more. I don’t want the cork to go into the water.”
Rennie looked around and saw the blanket Graham had brought out. Worst-case scenario, she would wash it when they arrived back at Cape Harbor. She folded it twice and then held it in front of Graham. “I’ll catch it.” The idea wasn’t perfect, but it would work. Besides, she wanted to spend the night with Graham, and if there was one less blanket on the boat, maybe they’d share a bed.
The cork flew into the blanket, but so did some of the champagne. Neither of them seemed to care. Rennie set everything down and picked up their cups. She held them while Graham poured.
He set the bottle down and took his cup from her. “Happy New Year, Rennie.”
“Happy New Year, Graham Cracker.”
The loud boom of the first firework startled Rennie. She stood in front of Graham and leaned against his chest. They oohed and aahed, right along with the other people watching from their boats. At some point, Graham had finished his champagne and wrapped his arms around her. She enjoyed the height difference between them. The big-fish-to-little-fish comparison she used to make back in the day.
When the finale lit up the night sky, her heart raced. Rennie was exactly where she wanted to be and had no regrets about what she was about to do. She turned in Graham’s arms and gazed into his eyes. She rose onto her tippy-toes to kiss Graham, finally succeeding in pressing her lips to his. She felt his fingers tug lightly at her chin, and she opened for him. It had been years since they kissed, yet it felt like only yesterday they had shared an embrace. Their kiss was anything but chaste as he slid his tongue into her mouth, and his arm tightened around her body. Every part of her zinged with excitement and anticipation. Rennie wanted him. She wanted them together, as they had been in the past. He was familiar. He was home to her.
All around them people celebrated. They cheered loudly and yelled well-wishes from boat to boat, and someone had started another round of fireworks. None of that mattered. Rennie focused solely on Graham.
“Do you want to go to bed?” he asked her.
She nodded and thought about adding something snarky to his sentence but held back. Rennie needed Graham to know she was serious. About him and about them. They left the bottle of champagne, their glasses, and the blanket outside and walked together back into the cabin. Neither of them bothered to close the blinds, but Graham did lock the door. Rennie made her way downstairs to her room and waited for Graham.
Nerves like she hadn’t experienced in ages came rushing forward. Her heart pounded wildly, her palms sweat, and her knees wobbled. She felt like she was a teenager all over again. Rennie saw Graham’s shadow before he appeared in the doorway, illuminated by the outside lights casting a glow into the room. She stood there with her red dress on and socks on her feet. She laughed at herself.
Graham came into the room and shut the door behind him. He faced her and slowly pushed each button of his shirt through its hole. Inch by inch, the shirt fell away, exposing his toned chest and snippets of his tattoo.
Her mouth watered in anticipation of what was to come. As he approached her, his hand pulled at his belt. “Do you want this, Rennie?” he asked. “Because if we do this, I don’t want to stop. Not ever.”
Rennie stepped forward and placed her hands on his chest. His flesh was on fire, and she could only imagine it was because he felt the same way. She pushed her hands over his shoulders, taking his shirt with her as her hands trailed down his arms. She worked the buttons at his wrist, and finally the shirt fell to the floor.
She stood in front of him, her fingers caressing his face. “I’ve wanted this since I walked into the Whale Spout over the summer. I should’ve never let Brooklyn dictate my life in this way, and I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For giving up on us all those years ago. As soon as I moved back to Seattle, I should’ve come to see you. We’ve missed so much time.” Rennie was on the cusp of telling him she loved him, but now was not the time. She had a lot to prove to him. She knew he had reservations about her ex.
Graham closed the distance between them and crushed his lips to hers. His hands bunched her dress into his fist. She lifted her arms, and he pulled her dress away from her body. With deft fingers, he removed her bra next.
Rennie stepped back and stood in front of Graham with only her panties and those ridiculous socks on. She brought each foot up and took each sock off and stepped out of her underwear.