Chapter Nineteen
Based on Will’s suggestion of when it would be the least busy, they decided to do the whale watch early afternoon in the middle of the week. Because it was summer, Darcy had no trouble switching her day off to accommodate that plan. From the moment he woke up a little before seven, Liam talked nonstop about what it might be like and what he hoped to see.
After an early lunch, they piled into the car and headed to Provincetown. They parked at MacMillan Pier and made their way to the giant anchor where they’d agreed to meet Emerson. She was already there, waiting for them. Liam ran ahead, launching himself at her with an even more enthusiastic hug than usual. When he finally let go, Emerson leaned in to give Darcy a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Who’s ready to see some whales?” Emerson asked.
“I am! I am!” Liam waved his arm in the air.
“I just need to pop in and get our tickets.” Emerson gestured to the Dolphin Fleet storefront.
Emerson went in while Darcy and Liam waited on the pier. Liam literally bounced with excitement. “Do you think we’ll see any whales, Mom?”
“I’m sure we’ll see some.” Since Darcy didn’t know what to expect, she didn’t want to get his hopes too high. “I’m just not sure how close we’ll be able to get.”
“What if one swims right under the boat? What if it knocks the boat over?”
For a kid who’d yet to see Jaws, he had a robust imagination. He seemed more enthralled by the prospect than frightened. “It’s a pretty big boat.”
Emerson returned, three tickets in hand. “We’re just in time for the one-thirty. The ticket lady said it wasn’t too crowded, either.”
“Yes!” Liam jumped in the air and pumped his fist.
The gesture made Darcy smile. And while she’d been slow to admit it, he’d been doing it a lot more since Emerson came into their lives. It still made her nervous, but at least the adoration didn’t seem entirely one-sided. “We’d better hustle then. Liam, don’t run too far ahead.”
Rather than running ahead at all, he fell into step between them and held their hands. “Do you think we’ll see a lot of whales, Em?”
Emerson smiled at him. “I sure hope so.”
They made their way down the pier to the Dolphin VII. There was no line to board, only a teenager taking tickets. “Is your sister working this one?”
Emerson shook her head. “She’s got the nine and one. Since she’s still in training, I didn’t want to make her nervous. If she sticks with it, we’ll have to go out again on one of hers.”
Darcy glanced down at Liam. “I don’t think it will take much convincing.”
Emerson smiled. “Let’s make sure he actually likes it first.”
They handed over their tickets and boarded the boat. Darcy was happy to see it was only about half full. “Should we go up to the top deck?”
“I have on good authority that we should start up there so we can see the lecture at the beginning, but that the lower deck is best for viewing. We might miss a few, but it’s worth it to be closer to the water.”
They climbed the stairs to the top deck, taking a seat front and center. Not long after, the boat cast off and began puttering out of the marina. Once they’d cleared the breakwater, the captain picked up speed. Darcy grabbed Liam’s hat and stuffed it into her bag.
Liam sat in rapt attention as the naturalist explained the feeding and migration habits of humpback whales, along with minke and finback whales and some of the sea birds they were likely to see. When the lecture was over, Emerson led them down the stairs and along the side of the boat. The main section of seats on that level was enclosed, but a narrow bench ran the length of the outside. They took a seat near the front so they could see around to the other side, too.
The wind whipped through their hair, heightening the sense of adventure. Before long, they began seeing sprays in the distance. Darcy recognized them from sightings at the beach, only these were more numerous and frequent. Once or twice they slowed and the naturalist pointed out pairs and trios of whales not too far from the boat. Their humps glided smoothly in and out of the water; every so often, a tail would emerge. Liam pointed and exclaimed each time, completely in awe.
They didn’t linger in one place for long. The tour that had gone out ahead of theirs had found a large group of mothers and calves, so that’s where they were headed. When they slowed again, Darcy noticed three other boats within a few hundred yards. Everyone on their level crowded to the front to have the widest view, but the three of them remained where they were, standing right on the rail.
Liam spotted the pair approaching even before the guide. “Mom,” he said, almost yelling, “did you see them?”
A moment later, a voice came over the speaker, announcing the sighting on their side of the boat. “I did. They’re so close.”
Darcy glanced over at Emerson, who had her camera up and was snapping photos. The whales surfaced again and Liam grabbed her shirt. “They’re coming closer!”
According to the guide, it was a mother and calf, probably a yearling. The next time they appeared, their massive bodies couldn’t be more than a hundred feet from the boat. Sprays of water were followed by the curve of their black backs rising gracefully above the waterline. Darcy was torn between watching them and watching Liam. She’d never seen such delighted wonder on his face before and felt torn between sharing his delight and a pang of guilt for never having given him this experience before. Darcy stole a glance at Emerson, who continued to take photos, a huge smile on her face.
A flash of white caught Darcy’s attention. She looked to see the mama whale roll onto her side, lifting a huge flipper from the water and showing part of her belly. Almost immediately after, the calf launched himself into the air. At least three quarters of his body rose from the water. He rotated in the air, then landed back in the water with a huge splash. Darcy heard gasps and shouts around her and the guide kept saying “full breach” over and over in an excited voice. Darcy looked down at Liam and found him staring, mouth open, at the place where the whale had been only seconds before. Emerson’s mouth hung open as well. She’d lowered the camera and looked right at Darcy.
“Did you see that?” Liam hollered, his voice pitched high with excitement.
Emerson directed her attention to Liam. “Not only did I see it, I got pictures of it.”
“Mom, did you see it?”
Darcy laughed, in part at her own sense of wonder. “I did.”
“That was incredible!”
Emerson pointed. The mother and calf had moved a little farther away, but continued to glide above the surface, tails gracefully lifting and falling. The boat remained in that spot for a little while longer. They saw more whales, but nothing as spectacular as the full breach. Since the tour had already overstayed their allotted time, the captain headed back to shore at a brisk pace.
Liam chattered away, rehashing every moment of the sighting, until the boat docked at the marina. They made their way down the gangplank and onto the pier. Liam ran ahead a little ways so he could turn and reenact what they’d seen.
“I can’t thank you enough.” Darcy put a hand on Emerson’s arm. “This was not only an incredible gift, it was a once in a lifetime experience.”
Emerson smiled, offered a slight shrug. “I had no idea it would be this cool. I’m pretty sure our experience was above and beyond the usual.”
“Even better.”
“I hope you had a good time, too,” Emerson said, almost shyly.
“I did. I’m not nearly the nature buff Liam is, but it would be pretty hard not to be awed by what we saw.”
“Would it be cool if I framed a couple of the photos for Liam for his room?”
“He would love that.” Darcy swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. “I would, too.”
Emerson walked Darcy and Liam toward their car, enjoying Liam’s blow-by-blow retelling of the events of the day. She’d known he would like it, but she realized now he would talk of little else for at least the next few days. She gave Darcy’s hand a squeeze. “You okay?”
Darcy smiled. “I am. Tired, but in a happy sort of way.”
“Good.”
When they should have turned left into the parking lot, Darcy paused. “Are you hungry?”
Emerson couldn’t tell if she was talking to Liam or to her. Liam either didn’t notice or didn’t care; not surprising since he was always hungry. “I am.”
Darcy looked to Emerson. “You?”
It was possible that Darcy, in her fatigue from the day, merely didn’t want to think about making dinner. Emerson hoped, though, that it was something more. Like Darcy wasn’t quite ready for the day to end. Maybe it was wishful thinking on her part. “Starved.”
“Can we have pizza?” It hadn’t taken long for Emerson to learn that, when there was a question about dinner, Liam’s answer was invariably pizza.
“We could grab one from Twisted and sit outside,” Emerson offered.
Darcy’s smile looked like a combination of gratitude and relief. “That would be great.”
They walked the short distance to Commercial Street and turned left. “I’ll go order and you guys scout out a table.”
“Yes!” Liam did his usual fist pump.
“You’re the best.” Darcy reached for her wallet. “We usually get half pepperoni, half mushroom, but I’m flexible.”
Emerson waved her away. “I got it. And half pepperoni, half mushroom works for me.”
“Thanks.” Darcy shifted her focus to Liam. “Shall we go find a place to sit?”
They parted ways and Emerson went into the restaurant to order the pizza. She grabbed some bottles of water while she waited and, before long, left with a bag in one hand and a pizza box in the other. She walked down the gravel alley and found Darcy and Liam at an umbrella-covered table. As she predicted, Liam spent every moment not chewing talking about the whales they saw. More than once, he did the chewing and talking simultaneously and Darcy had to remind him of his manners. It all felt so casual and relaxed, Emerson was sorry to see it end.
At the car, Emerson exchanged hugs with Liam, then Darcy. As she walked home, a feeling of melancholy fell over her. She tried to shake it off—the inevitable crash after the rush of adrenaline. But it was more than that and she knew it. She didn’t want to be walking back to her place alone. She wanted to be going home with Darcy and Liam.
Emerson let the reality of that settle. She hadn’t written off the idea of building a family, but she hadn’t planned on it, either. She specifically didn’t try to orchestrate her future. That had made it easy for people to flow in and out of her life. Her experiences thus far had been mostly good, occasionally terrible. Even with her best relationships, though, she’d not had a burning desire to keep people around or hold onto anything. Until now.
She wondered if the sudden change had to do with Liam. Seeing how much he’d grown in the few months she’d known him made Emerson long to remain in his life. She wanted to see what he would be like at ten, at thirteen, at twenty. The permanence that implied should have made her anxious. In reality, it was the idea of not having the permanence that filled her with a nagging unease.
Rather than dissect or try to dissuade herself from her feelings, Emerson’s mind turned to Darcy. The flash of attraction, the date that followed, spending the night together—none of that was out of the ordinary. But somewhere along the way, her feelings for Darcy had transformed into something more. Emerson didn’t want to label it, but it was intense. It had its own legs, too, apart from her growing attachment to Liam.
And now Liam was leaving for two weeks. He wasn’t even gone yet and already she missed him. That said, she had no intention of wasting her time with Darcy. Initially, Emerson had focused on the nights they could spend together without worrying about babysitters or sleepovers. She still looked forward to the sex, but Emerson was anticipating the rest of it, too. Dinners and long conversations about nothing and everything. She’d started thinking of Darcy as a girlfriend and it would be nice to have time to explore being a couple. Then, when Liam got home, they could figure out the rest.