out on the bed, his back resting against the wall. “I see. What’s your brother’s name?”
I set my glass of whiskey on the bed. “Luca. He’s married to my best friend Cate… and there is also my other best friend, Harper.” I think for a second. “Actually, Harper was the one who invited me to the yachting gala.”
He looks thoughtful. “Oh. A little taller than you, with dark hair and a pink dress?”
I nod. “That’s the one.”
“I see.” He takes a sip of his whiskey and then sets his glass aside onto the nightstand. “You’ve already met my sister. And she’s pretty much my only confidante, so…”
He spreads his hands. Smiling at that, I nod.
“Yeah. It must be nice, having a sister that’s so close.”
He shrugs. “Mal is pretty awesome. I wanted to have a brother, but I guess my parents were done with having kids.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I take my time in responding to that.
“Maybe it wasn’t a choice. Maybe your parents struggled to conceive.”
His eyebrows fly up. “I guess? It’s possible. I don’t like to think about it. Not that I could ask now anyway…”
That makes me look up. “Why not?”
A tense look crosses his face. “I’m not really talking to my mom. And my dad… well, you met him. He is not the kind of dad you ask about… you know… women’s stuff.”
“Did you and your mother have a falling out?” I ask.
Gabe stretches his neck, making his answer seem more cavalier. “We disagreed over the course my life was taking a few years ago. I told her to butt out, she wouldn’t do it…” He shrugs a shoulder. “It was a stupid fight, but now it just seems too hard to talk to her.”
Sucking in a breath, I decide to tell him a little more of my story. “Luca and I were raised almost entirely by people who weren’t our mother. My mother was very young when she had us. And… it was easier for her, I think. To just leave us in the care of that year’s nanny and telephone on holidays.”
He nods very slowly. “I see. That was probably hard to understand as a kid.”
Now it’s my turn to shrug. “I guess. I don’t remember it being on my mind a lot.”
Grabbing his whiskey, he has another sip. I do too, to fill the spaces in our conversation.
“Do you want a family?” he asks.
I look up, a little surprised. “Why do you ask?”
He looks down at the glass of whiskey in his hands. “I just… I don’t know. I wonder if I could do it better than my parents did.”
His mouth twists to the side and he sloshes the last bit of whiskey around in the glass.
“I think I could, sometimes. But other times I’m just like… I don’t know. My parents were years younger than me and they had so much responsibility…”
He trails off, seeming absorbed in thought.
I take a deep breath. “Well, to answer your question… yes, I do. At least, I think so.” I pick up my glass, taking a sip. “I would at least let my children know that they were wanted, if I have them.”
When I look up at him again, he’s drinking me in with that eerie gaze of his. If I had a choice in the matter, he would only look at me just that way from now on. “You think that’s the only thing you’d do differently?”
I give him a little smile and shake my head. “No. It just sounds like the best place to start.”
“Ah.” He nods. “That makes sense.”
My eyes wander to the stack of books on his bedside table. I jerk my chin at them. “What does Captain Gabe read in his downtime?”
He glances over at the bedside table and then sets his glass down. “I like science fiction, usually. So I’ve got some Haruki Murakami here… and some old Neal Stephenson…” He fishes a book out of the pile. “And then this is a book of maps.”
I lift my eyebrows curiously. “What for?”
He puffs out his cheeks, flipping open to a page that’s been dog eared. “The yacht race that the gala was a fundraiser for? I’m in it.”
My cheeks redden. I know this, but to keep him talking, I will ask some questions. “Is this the course?”
I trace my finger along the sharpie marked there on the map.
Gabe nods. “Yeah. It’s actually more than just a race… it’s a treasure hunt. At the beginning of the summer, they mail