Giddy with laughter, Marissa grabbed another handful of clothing and shoved it into the cheap duffle bag she’d acquired at the Fare Town market. Linda was likewise engaged and also seemed ready to laugh at nearly anything. They’d done a dozen delicious things to each other and gone back for seconds of their favorites. Marissa blushed to think of how vocal she’d been about what she wanted (more), how (harder) and when (now).

Their shuttle to the tiny island airport left in fifteen minutes and she was dizzy from lovemaking and emotions spent and yet bottled up.

Everything was a blur of smiles and farewells until the tiny plane was airborne over the vivid blue ocean. Marissa thought back over the past few days and remembered how big it had all seemed when the lifeboat was the entire world. There were islands dotting the ocean everywhere, yet they’d seen none but the one they’d landed on.

Linda leaned across to peer out the window. “Seems impossible that anyone would get lost out here, doesn’t it?”

“From up here, yes. I was just thinking how easy from down there.” I’m lost, she thought. Still lost. I have been since the first moment she flirted with me.

Linda took her hand and they sat quietly for a while. Finally, she murmured, “Last night was amazing. I didn’t expect . . . I wasn’t sure how you felt.”

“I wasn’t sure about you either. I mean that we’re different. Not just on the outside.” With a flash of insight, she added, “Vacation brought out our similarities.”

“I’d like to work on finding others.” Linda squeezed their fingers as the plane rocked from mild turbulence. “I think there’s more.”

Marissa could only nod. She wanted there to be more but now she couldn’t help but think of all the things she still didn’t know about Linda. Like how she could afford not to work and travel all the time. Where she’d gone to school, what her interests were in music. “I’d like that.”

“I might not be able to call or write but one day you’re going to look up and there I’ll be.”

Swallowing hard, Marissa nodded. She couldn’t think about the next hours, when good-bye was inevitable. She could hear that throaty question, repeating in her mind.

“Is this what you wanted, Marissa?”

It had been, all that and more.

The small airplane touched down with a squeal of tires. The rest of the journey seemed inevitable. Home called, there was no denying it. She’d not thought about her mother in several days now and that had been a relief. But work, all her plans and Ocky’s too, called. She had a life she really wanted to live—she felt that more strongly than she ever had before. There were more ups than downs, more ones than zeros and it was her life, the one she’d chosen.

She wanted Linda, too, loved the feelings Linda brought out in her. Again, she was gripped with knowing she wanted to be the woman Linda saw. But could she be? Every look in the mirror said that Linda was plain nuts to find her attractive. But last night . . . last night.