Ladyfish by Andrea Bramhall Read Free Book Online

craving too. All I know is that when I close my eyes, I can picture all the things I see in the aquariums right there with me. But I’m floating along in the water. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing.”
    “Can I get you ladies anything else?” the waiter said after setting down their meals.
    “No, thank you.” Oz picked at her food, frowning as she did so.
    “You think I’m nuts, don’t you?” Finn sighed, ignoring the meal in front of her.
    “Yup.”
    “Thanks.”
    “No problem. It’s a kind of nuts that I think I understand, though.”
    “You do?”
    “Sure. I think that’s why I ended up in the navy in the first place. It felt like it was in my blood. My Uncle Charlie calls it saltwater in our veins.”
    “I have trouble picturing you in the navy.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. Do you have any proof?” Finn relaxed, glad they were moving on. It seemed like their conversations kept getting serious, and she wanted to see the lighter side of Oz. And she certainly didn’t want the conversation to turn to her family.
    “Not on me, but I do at home.”
    “Really? Like what, your uniform?”
    “No, they make you give that back when you leave, but I probably have a picture of me in uniform.” Oz laughed and then leaned forward. “You really are gay, aren’t you?”
    “Are you asking me or telling me?”
    “Asking, I guess.”
    “Then I refuse to answer. I told you earlier you have to work it out for yourself.” Finn cracked a crab claw and peeled out the meat.
    “How old are you?”
    “It’s on all the forms I filled out.”
    “I know, but I don’t look at those things really. They feel like such an invasion of privacy.”
    “You’re slightly odd. You know that right, Oz?”
    “Yeah, yeah. Spill it.”
    “I’m twenty-eight.”
    “Really? Wow. You look so much younger, as you know. But talking to you, you seem so much older. I thought you might actually be closer to my age.”
    “Which is?”
    “Thirty-six.”
    “ Sooo old, how can you stand it? Pete will be thirty this year, and he’s dreading it. He’ll be glad you’re older than he is.”
    “So how did you two become friends?”
    “Pete kind of took me under his wing. As I said, I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. He’s a couple of years older than me, and I guess he’s like my big brother. He always looked out for me when I was a kid.”
    “How did you meet?”
    Oz speared a piece of seafood from her plate and Finn was mesmerized by the way her full lips opened and sucked it in smoothly. She focused on her own plate, and the question. “He was hanging around with some of the boys whose parents worked for my dad. I was about five at the time. My dad had just moved me to London and I didn’t know anyone. I had no friends, no family except my dad, and I kept watching the staff kids playing in the grounds from my window every day. I watched them for hours. I snuck out of the house one day and followed them around for the whole day, but they kept trying to lose me. They all disappeared at one point into the woods. I’m sure you can picture it, dark scary woods. Whiny little girl, crying about being left behind. Big butch Uncle Pete.”
    “Are you kidding?”
    Finn shook her head. “Nope, he was only eight and in denial. Anyway, big butch Uncle Pete comes charging to the little girl’s rescue. Tells her it will all be okay, that he’ll look after her. I loved him there and then and I’ve stuck to him like glue ever since. He was like my babysitter, best friend, and big brother all rolled into one.”
    “Does your dad know he’s gay?”
    “You’ve met him; everyone knows he’s gay.”
    “But he still wants the two of you to marry?”
    “Yup.” She knew where Oz was going with her questions. They were questions she’d asked herself many times before. She still wasn’t sure she knew the answers to them, or the true reasons behind her father’s intractable desire to see them wed.
    “Why?”
    Finn