by Alexa Land
The song was bigger than Zan and me. It was out in the world now, and it would have meaning for so many. Music had such power to bring people together, and that was exactly what happened as Zan and I and the audience shared the moment. Love was all around us, and it was the most beautiful thing I could possibly imagine.
When the song ended, I hugged him and said, “Thank you, Alexzander.”
He kissed me and then whispered in my ear, “Be mine forever, Gianni.”
“I already am,” I whispered back.
We left the stage hand-in-hand, to a standing ovation and thunderous applause. Our friends and family enveloped us with hugs when we got back stage. “That was brilliant,” Yosh exclaimed. “Absolutely brilliant!”
Christian grabbed his father in a hug and said, “I’m so glad I got to see you perform. You were phenomenal! The audience loved every minute of it. I’m so proud of you, Dad.”
Zan grinned at Christian and reached up to cup his face in his hand. “I love you, boyo. You know that, right?”
Christian smiled and said, “I do know that, and I love you, too.”
A lot of people approached Zan as our group headed through the back stage area. He shook hands with the head of the charity that had hosted the concert, graciously accepting her thanks and posing for a photo with her. We kept moving after that, our friends and family politely but firmly deflecting the agents and press and concert promoters that all wanted a piece of Zan. Nana was slightly less polite, offering to kick one particularly pushy reporter in the nuts if he didn’t back off. Fortunately, he heeded her warning.
We finally reached the back of the huge building, where a car was waiting for Zan and me. There were hugs and kisses all around as we said goodbye. Yosh grabbed me in a bear hug and said, “I’m going to miss you Gi.”
“I’ll be back to visit before you know it,” I promised, “and I hear you might have the lead singer of a popular rock band to keep you entertained while I’m away.”
Yosh smiled at that as he let go of me. “For now, I have a phone number. We’ll see what happens.”
Nana pulled me down to her height and kissed my cheek. “Remember, you promised a call a week. If I don’t get that, I’m sending out the Coast Guard. Don’t think I’m kidding!”
“I’ll call, Nana, I swear. Have a great time in Italy. You too, Nico and Jessie.” All three of them hugged me.
Chance had been hanging back shyly, and I pulled him close and kissed his cheek. “Good luck in Wyoming,” I said. “I really hope it works out for you.”
“Thanks,” he said with a little smile. “Take care, Gi. Be safe.”
After all the goodbyes, Zan and I got in the backseat of the car. “The San Pedro Marina, please,” I told the driver. The car rolled forward as Zan and I settled in.
*****
The Mariposa gleamed in the moonlight. The forty-two foot wooden sailboat was sleek and elegant, built in the nineteen-twenties by craftsmen who took pride in their work. She’d been updated and retrofitted over the decades, but retained all of her original charm.
Zan and I climbed onboard and deposited our bags in the main cabin. I unzipped my suitcase and carefully arranged a few photos of my friends and family on one of the shelves, then placed my prized possession, the antique brass sextant, with them. It looked like it had finally come home.
We went up on deck and Zan helped me cast off. I started the engine and used it to pilot us out of the harbor. He leaned against the railing and asked, “Will you think less of me if I become violently seasick?”
“Nope. This is a judgement-free vessel,” I said as I guided us to the mouth of the harbor. Zan’s next concert was happening in three months, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before and after, we planned to meander wherever the mood and the wind took us.
After much discussion, we’d realized this was the perfect balance between hiding out and still getting to travel and explore and experience all that life had to offer. We’d kept the house in Marin, because we knew we’d always want a home base in the Bay Area. All of our friends and family were there, after all, and we’d be returning frequently to visit. But this was going to be home now, for as long as it made us both happy.
We’d owned the boat for a month and had taken her on a few jaunts along the coast to try her out, but this was our first real voyage. As soon as we cleared the harbor, I cut the engine and unfurled the mainsail. I’d been teaching Zan, who had very little boating experience, and he helped me tie it off. He was learning quickly, and was more than happy to follow orders and act as first mate.
I took the wheel again. The wind caught our sail and the Mariposa surged forward, slicing through the inky black ocean. She was bigger than I’d been used to, but I was learning to handle her and building my confidence.
A light spray christened us as she crested a wave, the full moon lighting our way and drawing a path before us on the water. I’d never felt more alive and I laughed out loud, just from the sheer joy of it all. Zan beamed at me.
“Come here,” I told him. When he reached me, I had him hold the right side of the big mahogany wheel while I held the left, and he put his free arm around my waist. I kissed him and asked, “Do you think you’ll like living on a boat?”
“This is perfection,” he told me. “I feel so free. I never thought I’d feel like this. Most importantly, I’m with you, and that makes me the happiest man alive.”
I smiled at him and pointed the boat at the horizon and at our future.
The End
###
Looking Ahead
The Firsts & Forever series will continue in late summer, 2015 with Coming Home. Join Chance as he travels to Wyoming to try to find the stranger who fathered him. He hasn’t been back to his home state since he ran away at age fourteen, and confronting the demons of his past are almost more than he can bear. Help comes from the last person he’d expect. This man is everything he could want and then some, but Chance knows he’s way too damaged for things to work out between him and his guardian angel. That’s the stuff of fairy tales, and Chance stopped believing in those a long, long time ago.
After Coming Home, the series will take us to Italy, where Nico Dombruso joins the irrepressible Nana on a whirlwind vacation. Badly burned by his last relationship, Nico has no interest in trusting anyone ever again. He begins a casual summer fling just as a way to burn off steam. But the handsome stranger wants more and Nico finds himself tempted, until a secret is revealed that shakes him to his core and threatens to tear his family apart.
Nico’s story will be available at the end of 2015.
The Firsts & Forever series will continue into 2016.
Thank you to all my readers who keep asking for more!
For information about Alexa Land and her books, please visit
http://alexalandwrites.blogspot.com/
Find Alexa on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008216261875
And on Twitter @AlexaLandWrites
Books by Alexa Land Include:
Feral
The Tinder Chronicles
And the Firsts and Forever Series:
Way Off Plan
All In
In Pieces
Gathering Storm
Salvation
Skye Blue
Against the Wall
Belonging