29. Sail

sail

. . .

Sail Carter

Safe Sea ILCA Regatta

Champion

“ G alvin, this is . . . wow!”

“I got the idea when all these amazing photos had been posted online. I reached out, with the help of Crew, to the organizers and asked if we could have the files. They sent them all. I picked my favorite six,” she told him. “You can have the rest of the pictures. There are some really great shots.”

Aside from pictures of Sail with the trophy, there were two photos of him on his boat, one of him where his body was almost prone to the water. It was the first time Galvin really got to see what Sail could do on the water. Watching from the shore was only an iota. Seeing the shots the photographer captured had been eye opening.

“This is amazing. I’m just in awe.”

“You’re pretty talented,” she said. “Margaux put this together for me.”

“Thank you.” He didn’t bother setting the frame down when he kissed her. “Thank you for being on that journey with me.”

“It’s been a fun ride.”

“And it’ll continue to be one,” he said as he cupped her cheek. “Now open yours.”

Sail sat back and waited as she tore the paper away from the medium sized box. It was lightweight and she had zero guesses on what it could be.

With the paper gone, she picked the tape keeping the flaps of the box down and then removed an ungodly amount of tissue paper. Two things sat in the box. A black velvet box and an envelope.

“The little box first,” he told her. Sail took the envelope out of the box and then moved the box to the floor to give her some space.

With a shaky hand, she lifted the box out of the box. Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. Jewelry, any type this early in a relationship, was nerve racking. She lifted the lid and sighed heavily at the locket nestled against the black velvet.

Carefully, Galvin removed the chain from backing and let the necklace dangle mid-air while she studied the intricate pattern on the locket.

“It’s an outline of the island,” he told her. “I thought since this is where we met, it was fitting.”

It was stinking adorable.

“Open it,” he said.

She did, using her thumb nail to push the two sides away from each other. Galvin smiled at the photo of her and Sail, but it was the one on the other side that brought tears to her eyes.

“My mom had this photo,” he told her. The picture was of their parents, from the weekend Pearl had met Galvin’s mom. “It ties us all together. Almost like you were meant to move here, and I was meant to return home when you got here.”

Galvin wiped at her tears, unable to hold them back. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful.”

“I have,” Sail said without missing a beat. “I have the luxury of looking at her every day.”

“Sail,” she said his name quietly.

“I love you, Galvin.” He leaned toward her, kissing her full on.

Galvin deepened the kiss, cupping his face, with her necklace dangling between them.

“I love you, too.”

He smiled against her lips. “This is the best Christmas of my life.”

She nodded in agreement.

“Open your next one.”

“This is more than enough, Sail.”

He curled a strand of her hair behind her ear. “We’ll never reach the point where we’ve had enough.”

She wanted to believe him, but they were about to have a drastic change in their lives.

Galvin opened the envelope.

Read the words.

Turned the paper over to see if there was more.

And then read the words again.

Her first year of tuition for law school had been paid for.

“Sail . . . how . . .” she couldn’t find the words.

“I want your first year to be as easy as possible. Law school is so important to you, I want you to achieve greatness and not have to worry about money or anything.”

“This is too much.” Galvin folded the paper and tried to hand to him, only for Sail to put his hand up.

“Galvin, I don’t know if you know this, but you saved me. The day I walked into the diner and met you changed my life. You gave me purpose, reason, and something to believe in. I wanted to be a better person simply, so you’d give me the time of day, and when I set out to make those changes, I realized being this new version of myself was pretty damn good. It made everyone around me happy, but I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for you.”

Sail cupped her cheek.

“I see us having a future. One where we’re living together, working, and doing all the mundane adult things. Do we have a lot to figure out? Yes, we do. Is it going to be easy? Hell no, it’s not. We’re not na?ve, we know there are going to be struggles. But paying for your first year of law school doesn’t have to be one of them.”

“This is a lot.”

Sail shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not enough, and it means I need to win another regatta next year, and the year after. My baby’s going to be a kick ass attorney someday, and when that day comes, I’m going to be right by her side.”

Galvin wiped at her fallen tears and shook her head. “I can’t accept this, Sail.” She handed him the paper back and got up, leaving him there with a stunned look on his face. The necklace was one thing, but to pay her tuition made her feel like she owed him something, and that wasn’t something she could live with.