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“In the whole six square inches of space in there?” Felicity laughed a little. “Just change out here. I won’t look, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m exhausted. My flight was delayed, and I already had a long layover. I’m just going to crash for an hour before we really get started.”

Rosie shook her head and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Felicity climbed up to the top bunk like she’d done that a dozen times and said, “They called me after they called you, I guess. I just found that out a few days ago. You didn’t get back to them soon enough, so they asked me. I’d thought I was their first pick, but I don’t take offense because, well, I know how good you are.” Felicity pushed her bag toward the end of the bed and lay down, letting her feet rest on the bag. “You said yes eventually, but I’d already booked everything. They just decided the ship was large enough for both of us, I suppose.”

“Why didn’t I know about this?”

“No clue.” She turned toward Rosie. “I thought they’d told you. I’ll be on nights. You’ll have days. We’ll be able to get more work done that way. Is that a problem, though, us working together again? I know it’s not exactly the same – I’m not your mentee anymore – but I thought it could be fun. Maybe we could catch up. It’s been years.”

“Yeah, fun.” Rosie smiled a little cautiously. “And I’m glad you’re here, but I thought you were at a museum.”

“I was until about six months ago. I’m back home now. Well, I will be – I’ve been on ships for the past half a year. When I’m donehere, though, I’ll be heading back. Or, at least, it’ll be my home base.”

“You’ve been going on ships?” Rosie asked.

“Years of therapy finally paid off: I can be on a boat and on the water now. I’m even working on my diving certification. I should be done with that soon. Then, I can really get my hands dirty. I’m going to focus on the Gulf of Mexico for the next few years. I found an investor who wants to sponsor my work there. Diving will come in handy.”

“That’s amazing, Felicity.” Rosie smiled for real this time.

Then, she realized that she was still only in a towel and reached for her bag.

“Just give me a second.”

“No problem,” Felicity replied and turned her face toward the ceiling, which was only about a foot above her head. “So… How’s Ami?”

Rosie slipped into her underwear and tossed on a sports bra before answering.

“Um… She’s good.”

“Yeah? I didn’t– I mean– I didn’t see a ring.”

Rosie looked down at her hand after putting on her pants and said, “I don’t usually bring it on expeditions. I wore my engagement ring around my neck on a chain the first trip after she proposed, and, well, I lost it in the water. I haven’t heard the end of it since.”

“You lost your engagement ring?”

“I was leaning over, helping the techs get the side-scan sonar back on board, and I forgot I had it around my neck because I didn’t want to wear it and risk losing it that way, and yeah, it fell overboard. I’m sure some fish and his or her fish wife is enjoying it on their fin.”

Felicity laughed and said, “I would have gone with it landing on a corral or something, but still funny.”

“So, that’s the story of why I usually leave my wedding band at home in my jewelry box.”

“Probably a good idea,” Felicity agreed. “Are you decent?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

Felicity turned in time to see that Rosie had put on a T-shirt and was running the towel through her hair to dry it.

“So, things are good for you, then? You get to have it all, huh? The career on the water. The wife at home.”

“Something like that, yeah,” she said without giving too much away.

“I know we’ll overlap some with the work and stuff, but we’ll be working different shifts, too. Can we maybe, I don’t know, hang out when we’re not needed up there? I really would love to catch up.”

“Yeah, me too.” Rosie smiled at her and tossed the towel on her own bed.

“Good,” Felicity replied.

Five Days Later