She had a new look, and she was trying out a new attitude. But some things hadn’t changed. They were still here to work, and in a few short weeks, they’d be going back to their lives.
And she had no idea what hers would look like, after.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The final weekend of the program found Adam on a ferry, surging across the water, Jo in his arms as they gazed out over the railing. It was their first and only overnight trip.
She turned her head, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. “What’s so special about this place we’re going to?”
“This place we’re going to” was Vieques Island. And the attraction they were traveling all that way to see was called “the bio bay.” He settled his hands on her hips and spoke into her ear. “It’s full of little creatures called dinoflagellates, and every time they move or get disturbed, they glow.” He kissed her neck. “If you’d been listening, you would’ve known that.”
She shrugged. “I was busy.”
They all had been. Their final presentations were coming up, and everyone was scrambling to get them done. And then once they were over…
He swallowed hard, dropping his head so he could rest his brow against her hair. In a handful of days, they’d all get onto different planes. She’d be in a different state, a different time zone, even. No more late nights staying up talking, no more sleeping curled around her. No more cutting gazes or sharp remarks. And no more kisses. Before long, he’d be back in Philly, settling into his apartment with the guys, checking his phone for missed calls or messages or anything. Again.
They hadn’t talked about it yet, but they had to. Tonight. They’d get checked into their hotel and tour around the little tourist trap. Go out on the bio bay and maybe have some drinks with the gang, and after… He’d take her out on the beach. Get her to tell him what she thought happened next. Try to convince her she wanted what he did.
More.
The wind picked up, and Jo patted his wrist before wriggling out of his arms. She retreated over to where some of the others were sitting, and that right there made his heart swell. She wasn’t an open book by any means, but he wasn’t the only one she’d stopped pushing away. She patted Carol’s leg to get her to take it off the seat, then sat down right beside her. Sure, she pulled out a book as soon as she did, but at least she was being a crazy workaholic with other people instead of by herself. Adam would take progress where he could get it.
He was just about to go join her when Jared stood up and made his way over to Adam. “Hey, man.”
“Hey.” Adam gave him the dudebro handshake that was expected of him and leaned his hip against the railing.
“Did you talk to Jo about her and Kim rooming together?”
“Yeah. She said it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Tom had elected to stay behind at Arecibo, so Adam and Jared were the only guys on the trip. They roomed together, and Kim and Jo bunked up. It worked out perfectly for them to switch.
“Awesome.”
Convenient, definitely. And then it struck him—he and Jared had more than just their rooming preferences in common right now. He leaned his head to the side and lowered his voice. “Have you guys talked yet? About the whole going home thing?”
“What, me and Kim?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I mean, you seem kind of serious.”
He’d been prepared for a lot of reactions. Jared smacking his shoulder and laughing in his face wasn’t one of them. “Dude. No. Are you shitting me?”
Adam’s brow scrunched up. “She sleeps over all the time.”
“Because we do it all the time. That’s it, though. We decided that before we started this.”
“Oh.” Adam’s chest went tight.
“That’s why summer flings are so great. You get it on and you get out. No worrying about commitments or feelings.” Then he paused, as if hearing what he’d said. “Wait. Are you… you and crazy girl aren’t—”
“Don’t call her that.” Adam was pretty sure Jared didn’t mean anything by it. But it grated all the same.
“Okay, okay.” Jared held his hands up. “But for real, though. You aren’t going to try the long-distance thing, are you?”
“I want to. We’re…” There wasn’t any denying it. After everything they’d been through, all the work it had taken to get to where they were. “It’s kind of serious.”
“Dude. Dude, no.” Jared looked like Adam was physically paining him.
Clearly, this had been a mistake. “Never mind.” He moved to walk away, only to have Jared grab him by the arm.
“It’s suicide. You realize that, right? It never works out, and in the meantime you’re, what, celibate? Not worth it.”
It made Adam’s shoulders draw up. If anything in the world was worth it, Jo was. They were. He shrugged Jared off. “Thanks for the advice.”
He made his way over to the section of seats with the rest of them and took the empty one across from Jo. She looked up from her work just long enough to smile at him, and any doubts he might have had faded away.
Worth. It.
The ferry docked not too much longer. With P.J. leading the charge, they filed off the boat and into a couple of taxis that took them to one of the less awesome hotels he’d ever seen, but for the price they were paying, he couldn’t exactly object. They put their stuff down in their assigned rooms—they’d figure out the switching part later.
“Anybody want to go exploring?” one of the girls called from down the hall.
Adam stepped out to peek his head into Jo’s room. “You want to go?”
“Nah.” Jo waved him off. “But you should if you want.”
Adam reminded himself that Jo was intent on getting a paper out of this summer’s work. He shouldn’t give her any shit about it. With a kiss to her temple, he headed off to join the others who were heading out.
In the end, the town was as much of a tourist trap as Adam had figured it would be. Lots of little bars and grills, populated by burned-out surfers. Shoes were a rarity, and shirts almost as much so. Everything was island themed, which made sense, but it all looked sort of cheap.
Beyond the rows of restaurants, clean, white beach loomed, and Adam’s spirits rose. Ocean water and sand had treated him well the last time. He motioned to head that way, and the others followed along. But then he stopped when a woman at a shack of a roadside stand called out to them.
Normally, it wouldn’t have caught his interest. But the lady was peddling jewelry, and not complete and total crap at that. His gaze caught on a necklace. A black leather cord, strung with metal and wooden beads, and hanging from the center of it, a wooden pendant.
Okay, so it was kind of crap. But not entirely. And most importantly of all, burned or etched into the wood was the image of Scorpius, the constellation he and Jo had spent so much time staring up at.
“How much?” he asked, reaching for his wallet.
He didn’t even bother to haggle. It was inexpensive enough, and once he’d seen it, he had to have it. The only jewelry he’d ever seen Jo wear had been for her mother, and she put that on rarely enough. He doubted she’d get much use of this, either, but she’d have it. Have something to remember him by. He tucked the little bundle in his pocket.
“Come on,” Carol called. They were all waiting for him.
He smiled and jogged to join them.
Okay, it wasn’t as if Jo hadn’t been paying any attention when P.J. had been talking up their final field trip. She’d caught that it was going to be cool and sciencey, that it would cost eighty bucks, and that Adam wanted to go.
She hadn’t needed to know a whole lot more.
That said, she didn’t have the best of ideas about what she was in for as she rode along in an old, decommissioned school bus toward the mythical bay they were visiting. Up at the front of the bus, a woman gave them some background on the biology behind how the place supposedly glowed, and Jo half paid attention while sneaking glances at Adam in profile beside her. It was just after nightfall, his face mostly in shadow, but the rough shape of his nose and the jut of his chin, the cut of his jaw all stood out against the darkness beyond.