Many times, my mind roamed over the memories of the kisses from the night before. And many more times, I thought about the afternoon to come. Those thoughts, in particular, left me breathless.

Someone once told me about future memories, where you imagine something happening so intensely and with such anticipation that you can ‘remember’ every detail. A lot of people do that and then they’re disappointed when reality doesn’t measure up to the future memory. I didn’t want to fall into that trap, but I was certainly savouring the build-up of anticipation.

I wanted Josh’s hands on me, his mouth on mine, the weight of his body on my body, all of it. I wanted him inside me, and to see the pleasure on his face as he entered me. I wanted to move in rhythm with him, a physical manifestation of our mental in-sync-ness. I wanted to hold him tightly to me, my legs wrapped around him. I wanted to feel him shudder against me, inside me, and to lose all conscious control and just be together. Oh my.

For some reason, I found it challenging to concentrate on my book.

‘Dolphins!’ My mind snapped back to the boat. No more future memories of romping with the sexy American. Dolphins were swimming alongside us, cresting the swells, and darting under and around the boat. There were about twelve in the pod, although it was tricky to count them as they were always on the move, playing with the boat and with each other.

Duncan remained at the helm, but the rest of us found vantage points around the deck of the boat, and pointed and exclaimed like children. It was a complete moment, my mind nowhere else. I tipped my head to the sun, savoured the salty spray against my skin and shared grins with my floating family. Josh had manoeuvred himself into a spot next to me.

‘Isn’t this incredible?’ he asked over the sound of the sea and the exclamations of the others.

‘Unbelievable.’ I laughed. ‘It’s like, “cue the dolphins,” and they magically appear.’

‘I know! This is the first time I’ve ever seen dolphins.’

‘That’s right, you’ve never been to the ocean before. Look!’ I pointed into the water. ‘There’s a mother and baby!’ The baby dolphin was fast, zipping either side of its mother.

‘It must be like some sort of slipstream under there. See, they look like they’re riding a current.’ Josh pointed at the watery wake they left as a trail.

‘Yeah, I think you’re right.’

‘Land ho!’ called out Duncan. Six pairs of eyes left the water and looked ahead. Mykonos loomed, and I suddenly felt an intense wave of sadness. Soon the sailing part would be over. As we counted down to when we’d all say goodbye, there were these little markers, milestones to pave the way.

They made me blue.