Page 94 of Derivation

“Tickets?” the woman at the dock asked.

“Here you go.”

Gabi held up her phone.

“Have a good night,” the woman said, having scanned the QR code.

Gabi took Sarai’s hand again, and they walked up the ramp onto the boat.

“So, what do we do?” Sarai asked. “I’ve never been on a dinner cruise.”

“Not even in Amsterdam?”

“No. I did the tours, but not the cruise. Besides, those boats are so much smaller than this one. You couldn’t really move around. Arlowe took Eline on one – or, I guess, Eline took her on one – and she said you pretty much just sit still and look out the windows while you eat. This boat has decks on it.”

“I think we just do whatever we want. There’s assigned seating at the tables, and it said six to a table online, but we’re not required to sit and eat.”

“But you paid for us to eat,” Sarai said.

“No, I didn’t. I paid for us to have a good time. I don’t care if we eat or not. Like I said, we can stop for food on the way home, if you want.”

“Let’s just see what it all looks like. I kind of want to eat alone with you and not with four strangers crammed in with us at a table.”

“Want to grab a drink?” she asked, nodding toward the bar straight ahead of them.

“Sure.”

They walked up to the bar, where they had to stand in line for a few minutes before they both ordered a glass of wine, and Gabi nodded toward an open doorway leading to an exterior deck. She’d been on boats a few times in her life, but never one this big, so she was trying to play it cool, but she had no clue what they should do for the thirty minutes before dinner would start, and now that Sarai was telling her that she didn’t want to eat dinner with strangers, she didn’t know what to do with the other hour and a half of the tour.

“Wow! It’s really pretty out here,” Sarai noted, leaning over the railing a little.

Gabi stood back and took her in. Sarai was perfect, and she still couldn’t believe that she was on a date with the woman she’d thought about so many times over the years. It felt like she’d been waiting her entire adult life for this night, but when she’d noticed how nervous Sarai had been, she’d decided that one of them had to keep it together. Unfortunately, her nerves hadn’t gotten the memo to do that for at least the next three hours, and just seeing Sarai leaning over, looking at the opposite shore, wearing that very nice dress, had Gabi swallowing hard and wondering how she was going to pull this thing off.

“It really is,” she agreed, but she wasn’t talking about the view.

“Why are you standing so far away?” Sarai asked when she turned back to look for her.

“I was staring,” she replied with a shrug. “Couldn’t help it. I’ve wanted this for a while.”

Sarai turned all the way around to face her, took a drink of her wine, and held out her hand.

“Scale of one to ten?”

“I’m creeping up to a five,” she admitted, taking Sarai’s hand and stepping a little closer.

“What happened? You were doing so well.”

“I got a glance of you in that dress in this romantic mood lighting,” she told her with a smile. “And I don’t know what you’re doing here with me.”

“What are you talking about?” Sarai asked and set her wineglass on the railing before she turned back to her and put her hands on Gabi’s waist.

Then, the boat promptly started to move, and the wineglass fell into the water below.

“Well, I could’ve predicted that.” Gabi chuckled. “We can share mine.”

“I’m good,” Sarai said, pulling her closer. “Don’t want to move my hands right now. You’re so beautiful. Can I just say that I really like you in glasses?”

“You do? God, why? I hate them, but I can’t stand the idea of getting contacts because I do not want to touch my eyes.”