by A. E. Radley
Annie stepped forward and held out her arms. Relief washed over her when Caroline stepped into the hug and returned it.
“I missed you so much,” Annie whispered into her hair.
“It’s been less than a week,” Caroline said.
“And I missed you so much,” Annie repeated.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Caroline sighed happily. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s a long story,” Annie said.
Caroline pulled back and looked at her suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s sit down and have some lunch,” Annie suggested. “I’ll explain everything.”
Caroline parked up her bike and put the helmet on the handlebar. They walked across the courtyard, Annie snaking her hand into Caroline’s as they did.
Caroline squeezed her hand, and Annie walked beside her, enjoying being so close.
“Oh, at last!” Hazel said as she saw the two arrive.
Annie had already spoken to Hazel at length. First to explain what had happened and beg forgiveness for her deception, and later to get her opinion on her plan. An excited twinkle in her eyes and a small clap of the hands had told her that Hazel was on board, though she couldn’t tell Annie what she thought Caroline’s reaction would be.
“You knew about this?” Caroline asked, smiling.
“I know everything,” Hazel said. “Now, sit down. I’ll get you some lunch.”
They sat down, Annie guiding her to the table where they’d sat before.
“You look well,” Caroline commented. Her hand drifted up to the scar forming on Annie’s forehead. “That’s healing nicely.”
“It will fade,” Annie said. “I’ll always look like I’ve been in a bar brawl, but that will just made me look badass.”
Caroline hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing. She’d confessed recently that she felt extreme guilt at walking away over dinner and leaving Annie with Diego. Annie had told her that it wasn’t Caroline’s fault but knew that it would take a while to fully convince her.
“It’s good to see you,” Caroline said. “A surprise, but a nice one. What are you doing in Napoli?”
Annie bit her lip.
“What’s wrong?” Caroline asked.
“I’ve done something you might not like,” Annie admitted in a soft voice.
Caroline laughed. “That’s not a great opening to a conversation, Annie.”
Hazel returned with a tray of drinks and a bread basket. “Have you told her yet?”
“She’s about to,” Caroline said.
“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Hazel hotfooted it away.
“So, she knows,” Caroline assumed. “And Mara must know because that’s obviously why she suddenly needed me to get some guidebooks from my apartment that I assume she doesn’t need. Am I the last person to know?”
She didn’t look angry. More bemused.
Doing what she had done and turning up out of the blue was a risk, but once the idea had entered Annie’s head, she couldn’t let it go.
She reached into her handbag and pulled out a set of keys and placed them on the table.
“Keys?” Caroline asked.
“The keys to my apartment,” Annie explained.
She paused, suddenly wondering if she’d made a terrible mistake.
“I’ve moved.” She licked her dry lips. “To Naples. Napoli,” she quickly corrected.
Caroline’s eyes widened. “You… you moved here?”
Annie nodded quickly. “I’m not pressuring you. I just… I liked it here. My mum has family in Italy, and I thought I’d look them up. Not seen them since I was three, but I can’t have changed much, still adorable. Badass scar, but cute as a button,” she rambled.
Caroline continued to stare at her in silence.
“I… I just thought that as things are, I’m interrupting you on the busiest day of the cruise. And you feel guilty when you have to cancel, or you have to cut things short. It’s been four weeks of travelling to and from Barcelona from Alicante, and I had this idea on the train back that it doesn’t have to be like that. I know Napoli is a quieter day for you, and if I’m here, and you want to, we could see each other for a few hours. Maybe an afternoon in Napoli rather than one hour in Barcelona.”
Annie leaned forward at picked at the label on the drink in front of her. “I want to get to know you more, and let you get to know me. And I know we want to take things slowly, we both agreed that everything moved way too fast on Fortuna. I thought it would be a nice surprise. But now I think it might have been a mistake.”
Caroline put her hand over Annie’s arm. “Not a mistake at all.”
Annie looked up. Caroline had finally moved on from stunned silence and was now beaming.
Annie let out a relieved sigh. “Sorry I didn’t say anything beforehand, I just wanted it to be a surprise. And I’m not just moving here for you, well, you’re a big reason behind it. But I don’t want you to feel pressured—”
“Maybe sometimes I need a little push,” Caroline said. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am to—”
She retracted her hands, the walls going up again. Caroline sat up a little straighter.
“Annie, where do you see this going? Honestly?”
It was the first time Caroline had actually brought up the subject of the future. Annie had patiently waited, knowing that it would rear its head at some point. She knew it played on Caroline’s mind and had put a lot of thought into it for when she was finally ready to bring up the topic. She was ready to convince Caroline that she was serious.
“I don’t want to be with anyone else,” Annie said.
Caroline shook her head and looked away; a laugh bubbled up and escaped her lips. “I’m much older than you, I work twenty-four seven for twelve weeks at a time, longer right now. I don’t have a set schedule, I can’t guarantee you any of my time. When I’m not on Fortuna, I want to be at sea. It’s a lonely life.”
“I don’t care about the age gap between us. If you do, then tell me now,” Annie demanded.
“I… I worry for you. When you’re fifty—”
“You’ll still be you. I know what I’m getting myself into, Caroline. And if you die in thirty years and leave me behind, then I’ll get a really cute black veil and I’ll wear it every day and be thankful that I got thirty years with you.”
Caroline opened her mouth, a rebuttal clearly on her lips.
“Maybe I’ll get sick, and I’ll die in six months,” Annie said. “Do you want to end this now, in case that happens? In case I die first?”
“Of course not,” Caroline argued.
“As for your schedule,” Annie moved on, “I don’t care that you can’t guarantee time with me. I get that you have a career, and I’m happy to accommodate that. I have never been upset when you have been called away or when you can’t spend time with me because I get it. I know you think you have to keep apologising, but you don’t.”
Annie reached out and took Caroline’s hand in hers. “My parents were both really busy people. We didn’t always get to spend that much time with each other, but we enjoyed the time we did. I’m used to a life of obligations; it makes you enjoy the time in between even more.”
Caroline twisted her hands, threading her fingers in between Annie’s.
“I can be your girl in port, or even your girl at sea when you’re ready,” Annie said. “If you just want to spend an afternoon with me once a week here, then that’s fine. If you want me to come aboard Fortuna with you, then that’s fine, too.”
“If you came aboard Fortuna, you’d be under a microscope. The captain being a woman is a novelty. The captain’s girlfriend being aboard…” Caroline blew out a breath. “You’d never have a moment’s peace.”
“I’d be with you,” Annie said. “And I’ve been a celebrity on a cruise ship, piece of cake. And cake, I get that Key lime pie whenever I like.”
Caroline chuckled.
“Caroline, you seek out pr
oblems. You have a list of reasons why we can’t be, but guess what? I have a list of reasons why we can be. You stack them up, I’ll knock them down.”
“You’re here now, but when I go to the Caribbean for five months at the end of October, what then?” Caroline asked.
“If you want me to be with you, I’ll come aboard Fortuna. If you’re not ready for that, then I have literally always wanted to see… where do you go?”
“Miami, Key West, Mexico—”
“Yes, those places!” Annie declared. “Always wanted to see them. I’ll be your girl in port, over there.”
“And when I’m not on Fortuna?” Caroline asked. She nodded her head back, towards the marina behind them. “When I want to be on Serenity?”
“You have room for me, don’t you?” Annie asked.
Caroline smiled. “You want to be cooped up on there?”
“With you? Of course.” Annie lifted Caroline’s hand and brought it to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the slightly weathered skin. “I want to spend more time with you. Caroline, I’m serious about you. About us. I want to be the captain’s girlfriend, if you’ll let me.”
Caroline stared at her, a small smile on her lips. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Annie nodded.
Caroline leaned in close and pressed a kiss to Annie’s lips. “I love you, Annie.”
Annie grabbed Caroline’s face and pulled her in for a bigger kiss. Chaste, sweet kisses were all well and good, but a declaration of love required so much more.
“N’aw!” She heard Hazel say from behind them. “Look at that, Matteo. So sweet!”
Epilogue
Caroline opened her eyes and stretched out her limbs. It took a few moments for her understand where she was. She let out a contented sigh as she realised she was aboard Serenity.
She loved Fortuna, but she enjoyed the time she wasn’t at the beck and call of the ship, and all aboard, even more.
She turned over in bed and stared lovingly at the shapely back of Annie Peck. It was a sight she was growing quite used to. It had been a year since they’d first met. They’d spent a summer getting to know each other in Napoli, followed by a week-long sailing around the Mediterranean.
After that, the afternoons in Napoli and the emails they shared just weren’t enough. Caroline had dug deep and found the courage to ask Annie to join her more permanently on Fortuna.
They sailed to Miami together, promising that if the fourteen-night trip didn’t work out, then Annie would fly back to Napoli once they arrived. She’d visit sparingly rather than force them to stay together for the entire tour of the Caribbean.
Three days in, though, Caroline couldn’t imagine being without Annie ever again. They never discussed Annie getting off the ship; it was an unspoken agreement that she’d stay indefinitely.
They toured the Caribbean on Fortuna when Caroline was on duty and rented boats to sail around the Gulf of Mexico when she was off. It was perfection. Caroline had never felt so happy, nor had she realised how miserable she had been before. Her insomnia vanished, ironically, overnight.
Word had quickly got out that Captain West had a partner, thanks mainly to Dream deciding to publicise the hell out of the fact. Annie had taken it all in her stride and now spent as much time entertaining the passengers as Caroline. They were the golden couple of the Dream Cruise Company, passengers even ignoring Caroline to have a conversation with Annie instead.
She couldn’t blame them.
Caroline rolled closer to her, pressing her naked body close to Annie’s. She lifted her head and whispered in Annie’s ear, “Good morning, good morning, good morning.”
Annie giggled sleepily.
“This morning we’re in Marseille. The weather is…” She looked towards the window, seeing the shadow of raindrops against the blind. “Raining.”
“You promised,” Annie said, still half asleep.
“The shore excursion for today will be ice cream, a few months late, but who’s counting?”
Annie turned onto her back, wrapping an arm behind Caroline’s head and pulling her down for a kiss. Caroline settled her body on top of Annie, wondering if she could distract her from the ice cream idea and convince her to spend a lazy day in bed instead.
Annie pulled away from the kiss. “Ice cream,” she growled.
“Fine, fine, ice cream,” Caroline agreed. “Ice cream in the rain.”
“What do you think umbrellas were invented for?” Annie got out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe to get some clothes.
Caroline watched her get dressed, still not believing how lucky she was, but willing to push the whispering doubts to one side and enjoy the moment. She planned to enjoy every moment, from here on out.
Patreon
I adore publishing. There’s a wonderful thrill that comes from crafting a manuscript and then releasing it to the world. Especially when you are writing woman loving woman characters. I’m blessed to receive messages from readers all over the world who are thrilled to discover characters and scenarios that resemble their lives.
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About the Author
A.E. Radley had no desire to be a writer but accidentally turned into an award-winning, best-selling author.
She has recently given up her marketing career and position as Managing Director in order to make stuff up for a li
ving instead. She claims the similarities are startling.
She describes herself as a Wife. Traveller. Tea Drinker. Biscuit Eater. Animal Lover. Master Pragmatist. Annoying Procrastinator. Theme Park Fan. Movie Buff.
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