On the Way Down

Chapter Fourteen

I place my hand against his back and begin moving it in a slow, circular motion. I continue until the muscles there relax under my touch and he sets his glass down on the table.

"I think I see sea lions near the shore," I murmur, easing us out of the silence we've fallen into.

He circles his arm around my shoulder, the same as he did when we boarded the boat, only this time he pulls me in closer. I turn my body so I lean against him, and he puts his other arm around me.

"Are you warm enough?" he asks. Sitting together the way we are, with his arms around me, I didn't notice the wind pick up again. His body shields me from it.

"You're a good space heater like this, too," I joke. "I'm perfect right now."

"You really are, you know."

My heart nearly bursts inside of me when I catch what he says. He rests his head on top of mine. We stay that way, watching the sea lions and the passing scenery until Daniel emerges from the ship's interior with another crew member to set the table for dinner.

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The menu at dinner was Michelin-star worthy as far as I was concerned, but the true surprise and crowning glory was Daniel showing up at our table with my favorite Milk Bar birthday cake for dessert. Phoenix feigned innocence when I asked him if the cake was a coincidence, or if he was behind it. I may never know for sure.

The sun is already below the horizon when we dock at shore and say our thanks and goodbyes to the crew. I think we're headed back to the parking lot after we step off the boat, but Phoenix has other plans.

"There's one more place I'd like to take you tonight." He touches my elbow, then guides me in the opposite direction of the parking lot. "It's just down here."

"There's more?"

His eyes twinkle under the boardwalk lights. "You gave me the whole night. I wasn't going to lose out on hours of your company by taking you home this early."

He reaches for my hand. We stroll along the harbor until we're in front of a nondescript building that's sandwiched between an Italian restaurant and a souvenir shop. I glance around for a sign, but I still can't tell what the building contains. Then I listen. There's music coming from inside.

Phoenix opens the door for me. I nearly gasp when we walk into a space lit up by hundreds of flickering LED candles. A string quartet is set up at one end of the room, already playing a song I recognize the melody of, even if I can't place the artist and song title.

"I saw something about candlelight concerts here on weekends," he explains. "I thought we could check it out."

I take in the glow of the darkened room, and how the candlelight gives way to private spaces in the shadows where seats are set up. Phoenix pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens a screen with a barcode, then holds it out to a woman with a handheld scanner. She points at a corner of the room and says something I don't hear, then hands him two leaflets. He passes one to me as we wander further inside, but I'm too mesmerized by the sights and sounds to read it.

We head for the area the woman pointed at. There's no one else occupying any of the seats there, and so we have the corner to ourselves for the moment. It isn't until we sit down that the name of the song being played by the string quartet pops into my mind. It's "Perfect," another song by Ed Sheeran.

I open the leaflet Phoenix gave me and discover two things at once. Each concert listed in the calendar is a themed performance, and tonight's is an Ed Sheeran tribute. The last notes of "Perfect" fade as I read this, and a new song begins. It takes approximately an eighth of a second for me to recognize it, and when I do, a lump forms in my throat. My eyes land on Phoenix. He knows what song this is, too.

He holds out his hand. "Will you dance with me?"

I don't trust my voice to answer, so I take his hand without saying a word. We both get to our feet as the quartet continues to play "Thinking Out Loud." It's only when I'm in Phoenix's arms, my head against his shoulder and our bodies swaying in complete synchronicity, that I let myself listen and feel. The lines between the past and now blur when I close my eyes. In an instant, I'm twenty-three, dancing with the man I love under the moonlight on a boardwalk, in possession of a heart that hasn't yet been broken. When I open my eyes, I'm thirty again. Now I'm dancing in a candlelit room with the same man, remembering how perfectly our bodies fit together, and aching to forget every scar the years between then and now left us with. There's no way to predict if our story has a happy ending this time, but the one thing I'm certain of is my yearning to find out.

Ava will have opinions, Torin might think I've lost my mind, and don't get me started on what my family will say. None of it matters. For the first time in six years, I'm letting my heart lead and trusting what it tells me. In its steady beat, I hear it whisper what it hinted at last weekend.

I am falling in love with Phoenix all over again.

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These two are going to break me.🤧

I can't put them here for copyright reasons, but I encourage you to look up the lyrics of "Perfect" if you don't already know them. I chose it as the first song Del and Phoenix hear when they arrive at the candlelight concert because of how perfectly it represents the new chapter of their relationship.