Page 89 of Ship Happens

“Wait, did you guys know that Jacob isn’t coming?” Kevin exclaims, pure betrayal in his eyes as he and Jacob both catch up to the group.

“Do you see all that spruce?” Jacob starts to explain. “Unless you want me high on Benadryl for the rest of this trip, the last thing I need is to be up in those trees.”

Jacob’s eyes meet Owen’s, and Owen’s meet Jacob’s.

“God, can the two of you do anything?” Kaitlyn rolls her eyes dramatically.

“See, now you’re being ableist,” Owen jokes before he turns to Jacob. “What are you going to get up to?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “There’s actually an aquatic rehab facility that a friend of mine from Duke works at, could be fun to go and see what she’s up to.” Jacob hovers alongside Owen as their friends join the end of the line for the bus. “What about you?”

“Oh . . . you know, there are some shops that looked cool,” Owen tells him. “I haven’t gotten souvenirs for Ravi and Hailey yet.”

There’s something in Jacob’s expression as he listens to Owen, something knowing, something that Owen decides he wants to understand as well. “All right, well, in that case, Jacob and I should probably find the shuttle to take us into town,” Owen says to Kaitlyn.

“Okay.” Kaitlyn’s voice is distracted as she focuses on reading the map that Abigail has unfolded out in front of her. “Uh, I guess we won’t have much of a signal up on the mountain, but we’ll try and text you when we can.”

“Just don’t take any dramatic falls,” Owen warns.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m the one who has to worry about that.”

“Hey!” Owen protests before he steps away, turning toward Jacob. “Do you know where we should go now?”

“Over here.” Jacob points, and Owen follows him toward a blue bus that’s parked off to the side.

“So . . . we’re spending the day together, right?” Jacob asks as they step onto the shuttle.

“Yeah!” Owen tells him. “I thought that was obvious?”

“Okay,” Jacob says to him as they take their seats next to each other, wrapping his hand around Owen’s where it’s settled on his lap, their fingers threading together. “Just making sure.”

Chapter Fifteen

Happy Anniversary

There are plenty of things for the two men to do in Juneau.

Despite having eaten breakfast not that long ago, there’s a crepe stall that smells so heavenly that neither of them can possibly say no. After that, they wind up at the Alaska State Museum just in time to catch the exhibit from Lou Logan, an artist who makes gorgeous qayaqs, and they spend a bit too much money at the gift shop. Jacob wants to go to a brewery next, much to Owen’s chagrin, but they offer a handful of nonalcoholic options, including something called Root Bear that’s actually not that bad.

Later, after lunch, they walk through the downtown area. Owen stops at an art supply shop, picking up a few of his favorite-colored pencils and a new sketchbook since his current one is almost filled up.

“Do you really need another one?” Jacob asks, hovering over Owen’s shoulder, no doubt thinking back to the piles of half-filled sketchbooks that Owen already owns.

“I’m supporting a small business!” Owen replies tersely.

Once they’re done downtown, they take a cab to the SeaLyfe Aquatic Rehabilitation Facility in the northern part of the bay. Jacob’s friend, Dani, is all too thrilled to see him again, greeting him with a hug that nearly knocks the lumbering man right on his ass. Then she turns to Owen, and he braces himself for impact. “You’re the Owen I’ve seen all over Jacob’s Instagram!”

“Yep,” Owen replies nervously, relieved when she simply offers her hand. “That’s me!”

They’re given a tour of the facilities, Owen following mostly in silence to give the two of them a chance to catch up. Dani tells them both the story of how she helped to open the lab shortly after she graduated, using most of their resources to rehabilitate whales that’d gotten sick in the wild.

“Our operation is growing year by year. Jacob’s going to love this,” she says, pulling Jacob to her side, wrapping her arm around his broad shoulders. “We recently opened up a wing dedicated to your multi-legged friends!”

“And now you know exactly why I’m here,” Jacob teases as they follow Dani through one of the lab doors. It’s a lot like the space Owen remembers from when he’d taken lunch—or sometimes dinner—to Jacob at UCSF. There are a ton of empty aquariums set up on tables, along with tall standing desks and bookcases filled with huge tomes that Owen can only guess at the contents of.

Jacob goes right to the aquariums that hold specimens, their names written on cards in the corners, nearby cameras filming them 24/7.

“We’re mostly focusing on brain trauma,” Dani explains as they get as close as they can to the creatures inside.