“I’m sick of this Tiki Bar,” the woman said. I thought about Diane and Rick—what was she doing? I pictured them fishing and talking and doing whatever else you do on a boat. Diane and I were in some new place together, and I thought of how it had to keep being new, or else we were doomed. More people came. Here I was, sitting around, depressed. That’s because you are a loser, I said to myself. I sipped my daiquiri. It tasted like ice cream. The woman from Baltimore was staring at me. She tapped her cigarette, waiting for me to say something else. I had nothing to say. I stared out at the water as the time passed in long sips. Out beyond the beach, I saw the cruiser pulling back into the harbor.

I said, “Hey—you like lawyers?” She asked why. “My cousin Walt is a lawyer. He’s good-looking. He lives in Baltimore.”

She said, “Really?”

“He has his own firm. He’s loaded.”

“Wow.”

Walt had a lisp. He talked like Popeye. But he also had muscles and owned a house on two acres in the suburbs.

“Walt’s a great guy,” I said. “He’d love you.” She smiled and put out her cigarette. “I’ll call him when we get back.”

She gave me a business card from her belly bag. “Something to look forward to,” she said.

Diane and Rick came back. They’d seen dolphins, they said. Diane looked beautiful. I wanted to hold her and touch her again. Rick had caught three fish. He was carrying them in a cooler filled with ice. The long one he called a “dagger fish.” He didn’t know its real name. His jaw was cocked in a big smile. I stared at his straw-colored curls.

Diane sure seemed happy now. What had happened? I didn’t have a clue. I thought of all the different combinations. I didn’t panic—why the fuck should you panic? While I’m thinking this, though, Rick winked at the barstool next to me, at the woman, and she smiled and blushed. Diane looked at me and I looked at her and Rick. I still haven’t figured out what was going on. He showed me the other two fish; he wanted to take them home in dry ice and smoke them, and send them to me in the mail. I said, “I do not accept dead fish in the mail,” and finished my drink. Diane came over and grabbed me. I put my arm around her and held her tight. The cook ended up broiling the fish for dinner. Rick bought all the wine.