by Andrew Watts
“I brought the corkscrew but forgot the glasses,” she said, shaking her head.
Colt twisted out the cork and took a swig. Then he handed her the bottle, saying, “Problem solved.” She nodded approvingly and did the same.
They ate with their hands. Spiced chicken and vegetables kept warm in tin foil. A delectable eggplant spread. Fresh flatbread that she used to soak up the leftovers. Every mouthful seemed better than the last.
“This is delicious. Did you make it?”
Ava smiled. “My mother made most of it. I helped.”
“That was nice of her.”
Ava shrugged. “I told her I have a date. She is hoping that I will impress a nice Jewish boy and marry him.”
Colt looked confused. “I am not Jewish.”
“I guessed as much. But she doesn’t know that. And no one is perfect.” Ava took another swig of wine, her eyes daring Colt to say something to the contrary.
Colt smiled and said, “So, about last night. Your singing and piano were really great. Have you done that a lot? Performed in front of people?”
Ava laughed. “Not really.”
“But that’s what you want to do? Perhaps you should try again with your parents?”
She sighed, looking out over the sea. “My father will never let me.”
“I mean, I don’t want to get in the middle of anything, but you are old enough to make your own decisions, right? I mean . . . well, how old are you?” Colt felt his cheeks redden, not sure if he was allowed to ask that.
She looked at him innocently. “Sixteen. Why?”
Colt’s eyes widened.
Ava burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. Twenty-two. I’m twenty-two. I graduated college last year. Oh my God, your face. That was mean of me.”
“I don’t think I can take any more of your jokes.”
She took another swig from the bottle and handed it back to him. He followed suit, then said, “Well, you were really good. That’s all.”
She looked at him, deadly serious, and for a moment Colt thought he’d said something wrong. Then she leaned over and kissed him before sitting back down.
They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the scenery. Eventually, she turned to him and said, “Why are you here? In Israel, I mean.”
“I’m in the Navy. My ship is in Haifa.”
“How long will you be here?”
“A few days. We’re not really supposed to tell people our schedule.”
“Loose lips sink ships,” she said.
He smiled. “Yes, exactly. How do you know that phrase?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I guess . . . I just thought since you lived here . . . that’s, like, an English phrase.”
“I went to high school in the US.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I was born in the US.”
“No kidding. Well, I guess I’m presumptuous.”
“Yes, you are. We’re both American. My parents didn’t name me after a horse, though.”
They both laughed.
Colt said, “Then I guess the question is, what are you doing here?”
Ava said, “My mother and father are divorced. She lives in Tel Aviv, near her family. My father works in New York.” She stared out toward the Mediterranean Sea. The last remnants of sun had sunk below the horizon. “So, if you are in the Navy, I won’t see you again.”
Colt said, “Again, I’m not supposed to say . . . but . . . I think there is a good chance I might be in town again a few more times over the next couple of months.”
She didn’t react at first. She just took another bite of the food, then turned to face him, licking her fingers clean of spices. Then she leaned over, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and kissed him, deeper this time. His pulse raced and his mind blurred as he tried to keep calm.
She pulled away as suddenly as she began. Then she stood and lifted off her sundress, revealing a dark one-piece bathing suit underneath.
“Come on, let’s go for a swim.” That mischievous look again.
“I, uh, didn’t think I needed a bathing suit.”
“Then don’t wear one.”
“And I think you’re supposed to wait forty minutes after eating . . .”
She rolled her eyes and began jogging into the calm surf. Colt stood, stripped down to his boxers, and followed. They were each stealing glances at the other. He marveled at her body as she dove in.
Dusk turned into night, and they spent the rest of the evening swimming in the cool saltwater. Talking about life and their interests. And feeling the tension build between them.
Colt learned she was from a wealthy family. Her parents married young and divorced when Ava was a toddler. Her father was some type of investor and lived primarily in New York, although he traveled often. Ava went to a boarding school in Connecticut until she was eighteen. She graduated from the London School of Economics last spring, and was taking a year off before either getting a master’s degree or a job. She’d deferred acceptance from several of the top MBA programs in the US and UK.
“And Julliard. No big deal.”
She looked down. “I had to apply there without my father’s knowledge. I just told him last night. That was why he was so mad. Ironic that they paid for me to take all those music lessons and don’t want me to do anything with it.”
Colt shrugged in the moonlight, the water lapping at his neck. “People get ideas of what’s important. It’s instinctive, I think. We just do things like we’re programmed that way. Whether we think about the end-state or not. Whether we think about our overall happiness or not.”
“Is that why you went into the Navy? Pre-programmed?”
“Not at all. I’m following my passion.”
They were half-standing, half-treading water. She moved closer to him. “And what passion is that?”
“You see, for the past five years, I’ve been searching the world for mermaids.”
“Find any?” Her seductive eyes gazed at him from just above the waterline, her face illuminated by pale moonlight.
“Only one so far.”
She spat out a stream of seawater at his chest. “Tell me the truth.”
Colt leaned back, floating. “Okay. Someday I want my own ship.”
“So you are going to buy a boat?”
Colt shook his head. “No, I mean I want to command a US Navy warship. I’ve wanted to do that since I was a kid. That’s my goal.”
Ava said, “Impressive. To those with great gifts come great expectations. That’s what my father would say.”
Colt said, “What about you?”
She swam closer to him. “I’m a mermaid, looking for a Navy boy.” She pushed him away playfully with her foot, which he took, pulling her in close. He felt dizzy, his heart pounding faster as he stared into her eyes, the blue moonlight on her perfect skin.
Their kiss was wet and passionate. Bodies pressed together. Hands caressing. Ava wrapped her legs around his waist as he held her, buoyed by the sea. She leaned back and smoothed strands of wet hair off her face.
A large wave splashed saltwater on their faces. They laughed as he regained his balance. She rested her hands on his bare chest and turned to look up and down the shore. It was dark, no one in sight.
Ava looked back up into his eyes and said, “Let’s take this to the beach.”
Colt and Ava continued to see each other for the next few months, his ship making several more port calls in Haifa. Their passionate young love grew stronger with every meeting.
She took him on tours of beautiful Israeli sights. Historical destinations, beaches, and restaurants she wanted to share with him. With Colt’s encouragement, Ava scheduled two more musical performances. Small events, both of which Colt attended. He could tell she enjoyed it immensely and was blown away by her talent. They also spent a good deal of time in his hotel room, exploring each other and falling in love.
After one of their nightly sessions, they la
y together on his hotel balcony, looking out at the stars over the water. She wore a thin satin nightgown as she sat on his lap, sipping a bottle of water.
“I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered.
They could both feel it. Their time together was coming to an end. This was the last of his port stops in Haifa, and she needed to make a career decision about what she would do next.
“I have another night,” he said.
“I want more.”
“You could stay with me. Find a job or MBA program in the US. I’ll be back there in a month or so.”
“You don’t even know what you’ll be doing. You said they will probably transfer you somewhere else. Maybe on the other side of the world. Or you could go right back out to sea. And what would I do? Lounge around your apartment?”
He gave her a kiss. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
She didn’t kiss him back, instead splashing a few drops from her water bottle onto his face. “I am being serious.” She sighed. “I will need to decide on a master’s program. Or a job that sufficiently—”
“Satisfies your parents’ expectations?”
“Something like that, yes. One that satisfies my own.”
Colt said, “Okay.”
“I will need to grow up.”
“Okay.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I just want to keep seeing you.”
“Maybe you could quit your Navy job and lounge around in my apartment?”
Colt laughed. She didn’t. “Oh, you’re serious?” he asked.
“See? You are just as programmed as I am.”
They didn’t say anything for a moment.
Colt said softly, “Why are you really upset?”
“Because I feel like it’s all out of our control.”
“I mean it, Ava. I want to be with you.”
She turned to look up at him, then reached for his chin and kissed him. “You’re only saying that because I’m here in your lap. In a few months, American girls will be clawing at you, I’m sure.”
He sighed. “I know what I want. Let’s figure out how to make it work.”
“Okay.” She rested her head on his chest, and they both looked out at the starry night sky over the Mediterranean Sea.
The next morning, they ordered room service breakfast. Colt sipped coffee while looking out over the beach. He could hear the diesel motors in the marina mix with the cry of the seagulls and the clanging of sailboat masts as they rocked in the waves.
Ava had just come out of the shower and was wearing the white hotel bathrobe while drying off her hair. When she was done, she walked over to him, biting her lip.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve decided something.”
“What?”
“You should meet my parents.”
Colt raised both eyebrows. His coffee cup froze halfway to his lips. “Are you sure?”
She nodded, lips pressed tightly together. “My father is in town again. He is meeting my mother and me for lunch today.”
“I thought they were divorced.”
“They’re weird, I told you,” Ava said. She raised her chin, which Colt had learned meant she had made up her mind. “I thought about what you said last night. If you are really serious about being with me in America, then I want you to—I need you to—meet them and make a good impression. I know the timing is not ideal, but you’re leaving and . . . this is the best we can do.”
He shifted in his seat. “If that’s what you want. Okay. Of course I’ll go.”
Her head bobbed. “Good. Good.” She walked over to him, loosening the cloth belt on her bathrobe and allowing it to open a bit, her face softening. “And if you need any more convincing . . .”
Colt let out a breath, staring at the sliver of exposed skin between her breasts.
“I will do whatever you say.”
Ava smiled, tightened her robe, and twirled around to finish getting ready, casting him a devilish glance as she went. “No convincing needed, then. Good. I’ll call my mother and set it up. What time do you have to be back at your boat?”
“Ship,” he corrected.
She rolled her eyes. “Ship. What time?”
He looked at his watch. “I need to check in with someone on the ship this morning. So I’ll need to go to Haifa first. I don’t think the timing will work for me to come back to Tel Aviv.”
“That is okay. My mother lives north of here. We can meet somewhere close to your boat.” She winked.
Colt knew something was wrong as soon as he arrived at the pier. There were extra security personnel at the gate and around the ship.
His friend was on duty just beyond the metal detector lines. Colt walked over to him. “Hey, Mick, what’s up with all this?”
Mick leaned in close, speaking in a hush. “They just upped the Force Protection Condition. Some sort of terrorist threat. My division chief just told me. Rumor is we might be leaving early.”
Colt was worried. “Seriously?”
“Yup. XO says liberty is canceled. They’re calling everyone back early. The captain is looking for you. He asked you to see him as soon as you get on board.”
Colt cursed himself and headed aboard the ship. Ten minutes later he stood before the ship’s captain and was given orders to prep for an early departure. It took them an hour to go through everything, during which Colt kept checking his watch.
When they were finished, Colt tried to make a phone call on the bridge wing, but there wasn’t a cellphone signal. He dialed Ava’s number, but it wouldn’t connect. He tried again a few more times but the call never went through. He sent her a text, but it kept showing up on his display as “error, message not sent.” A feeling of dread grew in the pit of his stomach.
She was going to think he stood her up.
Colt went to his stateroom and logged into his computer to send her an email. He cursed himself that they didn’t make any plans beyond lunch today. God, he hoped this didn’t screw up his chances. He had really fallen for her.
Over the next two hours, as the crew finished returning to the ship and set sea and anchor detail, he kept trying to call Ava but couldn’t reach her. Soon the tugs came alongside, and by noon his ship had left the pier.
Colt was on the bridge, looking toward the city of Haifa when it happened.
Gray-black smoke, rising up from several miles inland.
“What the hell is that?”
Commotion in the pilothouse. Sailors pointing and shouting.
The captain and officer of the deck glanced at the smoke in the distance while keeping their focus on the ship’s course and speed. Reports from the tactical action officer began streaming in. They had received intelligence updates from Sixth Fleet that a bomb had gone off in a marketplace in Haifa.
The journey home was heart-wrenching. Colt kept telling himself that Ava was fine. For weeks, while his ship transited west through the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic, he didn’t hear a word from her.
Then, a few days before pulling into their home port of Norfolk, Colt finally received an email. She let him know she was okay, that he shouldn’t worry.
And that she didn’t think they should see each other anymore.
His response was immediate, filled with emotion and questions.
Ava responded, but each time her replies were delayed. Cordial and concise, ignoring many of his questions and only providing short, unsatisfying answers to the rest.
She was fine, she said. She wasn’t hurt. She had enjoyed their time together very much but decided she wasn’t going to come to the United States. When he suggested he could take leave and visit her in Israel, she told him that wouldn’t be a good idea. She didn’t respond to his apology for not showing up to lunch with her parents. Or to his questions about how close they were to the terrorist attack that day. And she wouldn’t say where she was going to live next.
Their relationship was over.
Colt’s homecoming wa
s bittersweet. His ship pulled into Naval Station Norfolk to a sea of cheering friends and families. Colt’s parents had come to meet him when he walked off the gangplank and they embraced. But all he could think of was Ava.
Two months after he returned from deployment, Colt was selected—again—as the number one lieutenant on his fitness report, the coveted spot that would guarantee early promotion and a promising career. He was on track to fulfill his dream of one day becoming a ship captain.
But he felt empty. Having tasted pleasure and love so sweet, only to have it ripped away without explanation. Colt questioned everything and found himself immensely dissatisfied with where his life was headed. He needed change.
Colt met with the captain of his ship and turned in his letter of resignation. He was done with the Navy. The captain tried to change his mind, but nothing the senior officer said had any real effect.
A few weeks later, Colt walked off his ship for the last time and headed to a Virginia Beach bar to meet with a few of his fellow Navy friends. They had a few laughs and a few beers, toasting Colt’s farewell to Navy life. At the end of the evening, Colt and Mick were the last two in the bar. Mick, newly married, had also decided to get out of the Navy after his initial five years of service were complete, although he was a few months ahead of Colt in the process.
“How are the job interviews going?” Colt asked.
“It’s like a full-time job, finding a job. Nobody ever told me it would be this much work. Nobody understands what we did, unless they were military themselves, and even then it can be hard to translate if they’re from a different community.” Mick took a swig of beer. “Do you know what type of job you will look for?”
Colt looked out the window. A brunette girl walked by, reminding him of Ava. He sighed. “I don’t know, man. I’ve done a few online applications but haven’t scheduled any interviews yet. To be honest, I’m thinking about traveling a bit before I do.”
“Where to?”
Colt looked at his friend. “Maybe to Israel.”
Mick made a face. “To chase that girl you told me about? Dude. I mean, no offense. But if she’s not returning your emails . . . I don’t want to say take the hint or anything, but . . . take the hint.”