I watched Vito board the ship, but something about him seemed far away even as he stood right beside me. He'd kissed me, and I still didn't fully understand what that meant , only that it made my pulse do something strange. At sixteen, he already carried the quiet certainty of someone who knew his place in the world. I was different. Growing up on the island had kept me from all of that, sheltered from things most girls my age already knew.
Maybe that's why he looked at me the way he did , careful, protective, like I was something he didn't want to break.
The ship moved and I forgot everything else. I grabbed his sleeve before I even realized I'd done it. "Vito, look , seagulls!" He gave a low hum, barely glancing up. I didn't care. Moments later I was dragging him toward the railing, pointing at a pod of dolphins cutting through the water below, their bodies catching the last golden light before they disappeared under the surface. The spray hit us both.
