Sailing at Sunset - Cindi Madsen Page 0,71

getting done. At night during their free time, however, she could spend time getting to know Josh better.

Satisfied she’d found an acceptable solution for the predicament that had consumed her thoughts, she rounded the bins and headed over to the globe. Right as she was about to ask Josh where he’d visit if he could go anywhere, Mark stepped through the doorway to one of the side rooms.

“I found a giant map of Newport from 1910.” Mark waved everyone inside, and they crowded around the table in the center of the room.

Mark carefully unfurled a rolled map on the nicked wooden surface of the table, unleashing a puff of stale, slightly dusty air. The faded colors and frayed edges reminded Danae of the old star charts Dad used to keep in his ship. “It’ll be interesting to see how much Newport’s changed in the last century.”

Newspaper print and pastel colors emphasized the old-timey appearance, and the mapmaker had gone above and beyond on the title. They’d used different fonts for Newport, Rhode Island, and the title, which made it harder to read but looked cool.

It took Danae a handful of seconds to find enough familiar streets to get her bearings. Once she’d done so, the entire city took shape. “Check it out! There’s my house. Back when she was just a young house, making her way in the big world.”

“Okay, weirdo,” Franco said, and when she turned to him, he added, “I mean that as a compliment. Weirdos are my favorite.”

“Thank you?” she said with a laugh, and the others cracked up as well. “Okay, what about everyone else? Can you find your houses? Or at least where they’d be on the map?”

One by one, every member of her team pointed at the color-coded sections of Newport. Besides her cottage, the only building they found that had been there as long was Franco’s parents’ house. The condos Mark lived in were only a handful of years old, and Paige’s and Vanessa’s places were in the thirty to forty age range.

The novelty of finding their houses—or where they’d be on the older map—wore off, and her team roamed around the other areas of the room.

Danae glanced at Josh, who had hung back as they’d pointed out their neighborhoods. Wanting to include him, she asked, “What about you?”

His brow furrowed, and something about the way he studied her generated a healthy dose of trepidation. “I live on my boat.”

“Full time? Like, even in the winter?” How had they not covered this already? He’d talked about his boat and how hard he’d worked to restore it, sure. Come to think of it, he’d also mentioned his lawn was water.

“Yes, full time.”

Plenty of people kept boats at the marina without living there, so for some reason, it just hadn’t clicked. Although now she was kicking herself for not putting it together sooner, as well as causing the awkwardness crowding the air.

“Oh. I didn’t realize, but that totally makes sense.” She rubbed at her neck. “Soooo, where do you think you’ll buy a house once you decide to settle down again? Is there a certain area that calls to you?”

The creases in his forehead deepened, and a muscle in his jaw flexed. “I don’t plan on doing that ever again.”

Now she was the one scrunching up her forehead. “Which part? Buying a house? Or settling down?”

“Both. Neither.” He tapped the marina, the motion resolute. “That’s where Solitude is, and that’s where I plan on spending the rest of my days.”

“But…” Words weren’t coming out right, and plans that had been part daydream and an abundance of optimism began to crumble, like several of the cliffside hills they’d seen on this trip. Once one rock took a tumble, others followed, until what had once been a giant wall of stone became debris.

“I’m happy with what I have,” Josh said. “My lifestyle suits my needs. I work when and where I want. I don’t intend to dive back into the rat race and spend all my hours in some cubicle, just so I can buy a giant house I never get to spend any time at.”

Tension gridlocked the space between them, making it impossible to move forward or backward, and she wished she could undo the last two minutes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m surprised, is all.”

How could he plan on living alone on his sailboat for the rest of his days? Did he really mean what he said about never settling down?