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“Can we come too?” she squeaked.
“Addy, listen—” Uros took a deep breath, nibbling on his lip. “I was thinking, what if we stayed here? With Miss Buttercup?”
Adria pouted. “But I wanna say hi to Lady Neri.”
“Yes, but maybe you could play with your new friend?” He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Roy’s gaze. “I’ve been messaging with the girl we met at the hospital. Sally.”
Roy grinned. “Have you?”
“She said she could come over,” he added. “Could we go to the beach?”
“I think you need to ask your brother.”
As if summoned, Cal emerged from the bedroom, stretching his perfect body. “Somebody asked for me?”
Uros flinched. The spoon slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the table. “Hey. How’s the implant?”
“It’s fine.” Cal shrugged and grabbed his bowl. As he sat, his knee brushed Roy’s and remained pressed against it. “I need to get used to it, but it’s fancier than the old ones. I can control the filters and stuff.”
“Mhm. So listen—”
“I heard,” Cal cut in. “You sure she’s safe?”
A frown flickered across Uros’ face. “What do you mean?”
“Did you tell her where we’re from? Did she ask any weird questions?”
“I did. She said she’s never heard of the planet. Do you think—”
“Just be cautious, okay?” Cal smiled. “You can go to the beach today. If you don’t mind, I’ll stay with Roy.”
“Um, actually, I need to work today,” Roy said, running calculations in his head. None of the equations yielded a result that allowed him to stay home with Cal and still produce enough stock that week.
“May I help you with that?”
“Shouldn’t you rest after the surgery?”
“They operated on my acoustic nerve, not on my hands,” Cal quipped.
Waves splashed against the prow. The boat carried them into the open sea, leaving the beach behind. Roy locked the steering wheel and squinted into the distance.
Cal paced on the deck.. “So, what do we do now?”
“It’ll take some time to reach the good spots,” Roy said, nudging the piles of tangled green net and ropes. He always told himself he’d keep it neat and tidy next time—but after each harvest, he was too tired to do anything but dump it onto one pile. Sometimes, it also fell victim to Buttercup’s hunt—she could never resist a dangling sisal string. She would roll around the deck, gathering chunks into her paws, kicking them mightily with her back legs. “We need to untangle this before we get there.”
“On it!” With his signature, stunning elegance, Cal lowered himself to the wooden planks lining the deck. He grabbed the net and shook it, his forehead wrinkling. “What kind of lunatic leaves it like this?”
“Hey!” Roy feigned dismay. “You know him. Actually, you slept with him.”
“Well, that was before I knew about this!” Cal snorted, swinging the net over his shoulder. His fingers found the strengthened edge, hooking around the loops Roy used to stretch the net across the deck.
Roy sank to one knee, trying to find the other edge of the net. “Let me?”
“I can manage,” Cal said, his hands working fast and steady.
“I’m sure you can, but I think this should be the corner—” After pulling on the part of the net he held, it constricted around Cal’s biceps, snaking around his tight, elastic shirt.
Cal breathed out and shivered. “Oh.”
