Ups and Downs in the Sea of Love

"Tell me again how we ended up here," she laughed, the ocean breeze catching her hair as the cruise liner cut through moonlit waters. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You mean which part? The part where your heart was shattered into a million pieces by that man who didn't deserve a single breath you spent grieving him? Or the part where a certain cruise director found you crying on the deck and decided right then that he would spend every remaining day making you smile instead?" She turned in his embrace, her fingers curling into the lapels of his uniform. "You were so gentle with me that night. I was broken, and you didn't try to fix me—you just sat beside me and let the sea do the healing while you kept me warm." "And then we did something absolutely reckless," he grinned. "We got married before we even knew each other's favorite colors." "It felt right though, didn't it? Like the universe had pushed us together and we simply… surrendered." His expression flickered, a shadow crossing his features. "And then the past came crawling back. Your former beloved decided he wanted another chance, and suddenly there were whispers and doubts where there should have been trust." Her eyes glistened. "I was so afraid of being hurt again that I pushed you away before you could leave me first. That divorce was the stupidest thing I've ever done—signing those papers while my hands trembled, knowing I was throwing away the best thing that had ever happened to me." He cupped her face tenderly. "But fate has a wicked sense of humor, doesn't it? Putting us back on the same ship, in the same salty air, surrounded by the same stars that witnessed our vows." "Chaos followed us everywhere on this voyage," she admitted, laughing through the tears. "But somehow, the chaos always leads me back to you."