The Moonlight Cafe - Isaac

Epilogue

Three Months Later

My gay pirates just didn't want to get along.

I had written a quarter of the next A.S. Sinclair novel—The Pirate's Paramour—the third since August asked me to be a coauthor, but the first one I was writing alone. It was about a pirate captain who, through a series of hijinks and mishaps, accidentally kidnapped a young milliner. They then, of course, fell in love while the pirate dealt with his near-mutinous crew and the milliner created his magnum opus: the most feather, flamboyant tricorn hat ever worn on the seven seas.

At least, they were supposed to fall in love, but I couldn't seem to get them past the snarky, hating-each-other phase. That was fun, of course. Banter and rivalry between two characters with increasing sexual tension is an exquisite thing. But at the quarter mark, their relationship felt like it had stalled. I needed to push them over the edge into realizing the explosive potential of their lust. Find the literary equivalent of a big stick and start poking them until they kiss.

This was a weird problem to have, I realized.

I was sitting in the front row of the empty amphitheatre with my laptop. The outdoor theatre festival was well underway, but it was opening night for August's play, The Therapy Game. The show was due to start in an hour. I came early with August, to calm him down.

It had been a crazy few months. August worked long hours once the theatre work began, and writing now took up a lot of our time together. Not that that was bad—I wouldn't change it for the world, with everything I had learned from him—but some weeks it felt like the only time we spent just enjoying each other's company were the few quiet minutes when we'd cuddle on my couch and watch Netflix. August would often fall asleep soon after the intro of whatever show we watched, too. I didn't mind. When he slept, his face relaxed and the crease between his eyebrows smoothed. Rehearsals and rewrites and working with actors had been so stressful for him. Once opening night was over and done with, he would feel better. The rest of the season would go off without a hitch, I knew. Tonight just had to prove it to him.

"I can relax, after tonight," August had promised me earlier, as he fixed his hair in the mirror before we left.

Soon, the benches that circled the amphitheatre would fill up and the show would begin. At that time, I'd close my laptop and give my full attention to the play, but until then, I could work with my pirates.

I was writing chapter fifteen. Captain Lucian Garrett and his crew had just successfully carried out a heist to plunder a small port town in Jamaica, thereby robbing a rival pirate who had made a deal with the corrupt local harbourmaster but hadn't yet collected his goods. Their ship was now replenished with provisions they'd been dangerously low on, including rum. This meant the crew's thoughts of mutiny would cool down a bit. After making their getaway, the crew was ready to celebrate.

Okay. Maybe that could be an opportunity for Lucian and the milliner, William Beck, to be alone. I stared at the blinking cursor while I envisioned a scene in my mind: the pirate ship, sailing at night under a big, bright moon, bobbing slowly over the waves, the sails slack. Nothing else around for miles and miles. The sounds of the crew making merry—singing drunkenly, with someone badly playing the fiddle—would be audible on deck, but there were plenty of dark, secretive places on the ship. The captain's quarters were the obvious choice, but it felt... well, obvious. What other hidden little lover's nooks were there on a ship?

The crow's nest!

It was perfect. As soon as it popped into my mind, the whole scene unspooled in my mind. I could see it and feel it. Lucian, full of relief after the successful raid and avoidance of mutiny, had climbed up to the crow's nest to let the pirate on duty up there join the celebration. He enjoys the view and the cold breeze up there, and the faraway sounds of merriment below. It's a clear night. For once, he feels secure enough to relax for a moment.