Page 74 of Alonzo

“Yeah.” I look back at the cottage next door. “I’m just not sure where I belong right now.”

He cocks his head to the side. “Oh. Sleeping. Well…” He shoves his hands into his pockets, and damn if he doesn’t take my breath away with a charming smile. “I was hoping you’d stay with me. But I guess that was a little presumptuous. You can sleep wherever you want, Tare. Next door with Ros—Belinda and Vann. Or I can get you a room at my parents’ house if you’d like.”

“No. But thank you. I want to stay with you. It’s just… a little bit shocking how quickly things have changed. One day, ya know? Everything is different now. I don’t even have a home at this point.”

He takes my hand and brings it up to his lips, kissing my knuckles. And while I admit I could imagine Lonnie doing this old-fashioned romantic move, seeing Alonzo do it catches me off guard.

He lowers my hand, still smiling. “I won’t bother you tonight. If that’s what you’re worried about. And if I came on too strong earlier—”

“You didn’t. I just…” I sigh. “I just hate feeling out of place. And I’m not really tired yet. We just woke up.”

He looks past me, his eyes drifting upward like he’s thinking. “OK. I have an idea. Wait here for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

“OK.” I laugh a little as he disappears inside. I take a seat on the porch bannister and gaze up and down the street as I wait, marveling at how every once in a while, life changes in the most unexpected ways.

Lonnie comes back out wearing a hoodie and shoving a set of keys into his pocket. He hands me a flannel shirt. “It’s a little chilly tonight. So I brought you this.”

I take it and laugh. “It’s like seventy degrees, Lons. Back home, it’s probably ten below.” I smile at him. “But thank you. Now what are we doing?”

He waits for me to put the shirt on and then takes my hand. “You’ll see.”

We walk down the street holding hands like we’re a real-life couple. And again I find myself in awe of life’s little unexpected gifts.

We turn the corner at the end of his street and I immediately know that we’re heading towards the ocean. I can just barely hear the waves a couple blocks off. But we’re walking into the wind so the salty scent of sea fills the air.

We’re quiet, just enjoying the Key West evening. There’s a lot of people out walking, like us. Holding hands, like us. Couples, and families, locals, and tourists. And we end up at the marina.

“This is where I really work.” Lonnie points to the docks. “I have a fishing boat. I’m not like a commercial fisherman. I run a deep-sea fishing charter business.”

“We’re going on your boat?”

“Yeah, but… that’s not the surprise. It’s got a cabin and a bed, but not the romantic kind. It’s just a mode of transportation tonight. Nothing more.”

“Well, I’m thoroughly intrigued now.”

He looks down at me as we make our way past rows and rows of boats. He’s very fucking tall. I’m average height, so I barely come up to his shoulders. But I like his height. And his big hand holding mine. And the way he grins at me as we walk down the wooden dock towards his boat.

He steps onto the boat and steadies me with his grip on my hand as I follow him on board. “Come inside with me, Tare. I’ll show you my instruments.” He waggles his eyebrows at me and I giggle and let him lead me into the small cabin. “This is your seat.” He points to one side of a bench in front of an instrument panel. “And I sit here.” He pauses. “Unless you’d like to captain?”

“Funny. I’d get us shipwrecked for sure.”

“Hmm. I might like to be shipwrecked with you. Beats the hell out of a cottage on Dumas Street.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think it’s pretty sweet that your family all lives on the same street.”

He turns the engine on and starts messing with some controls. A screen comes to life and then he hops up and goes back out to the deck to mess with something else. His moves are practiced and easy. Like he’s done this a million times.

A fisherman. So weird to think of him that way.

I watch him work, appreciating his long limbs as he coils up rope. The muscles of his legs under his jeans as he leans over to stow it inside a bench. He does everything carefully and with serious consideration. And then he comes back and sits on the bench next to me, moving the throttle on the panel until the boat begins to slowly back out of his slip.

“Where does your family live?” he asks, once we’re slowly cruising through the harbor towards the ocean.

“I don’t have any family. Just, I guess, Belinda. You know. She counts now. She’s my best friend. Is it weird that I call her Belinda and you know her as Rosalie?”

He nods. “Yeah. It is. But she made it clear that she wants to be called Belinda now. So…” He shrugs and looks at me. “Do you feel weird calling me Lonnie instead of Alonzo?”

“No. Do you think it’s weird?”