I left a message for Pete to stop by in the morning. He still worked for me, but spent less time on the boat since Troller had come aboard and we were still between seasons. I was hoping that we could work out the details of where we were going and explain why. Troller was right. He deserved that. 

Pete stuck his head into the galley where Troller and I were already having coffee. 

“This is surprisingly more dressed than I expected either one of you to be this morning. Did someone die?”

“No, no one died. That’s odd. Why would you say that, Pete?” Troller asked.

“Okay, now I’m more worried. Him,” Pete pointed at Troller, “he doesn’t get sarcasm, so his response makes sense. But you,” he turned back toward me. “Why are you so quiet?”

“Come sit with us. Please.”

Pete put a box of pastries on the table and sat down. I took another drink of my coffee while Troller opened the box and pulled out a fritter. 

“We’re going to Florida next week. I wanted to let you know so you could deal with anything that comes up business-wise while I was away. Plus we were hoping we could borrow your boat.”

“You don’t want me to go with you?”

“I’ll be with Troller. We’ll be fine.”

“No offense, but Troller barely knows how this boat works. What if something happens?” Pete tensed up and I was worried. I hadn’t meant to offend him and thought he’d be more than happy to have a week with Marcy.

“Troller knows the seas. We’ll be fine, Pete.” 

“But what if…”

“Pete.”

“What?”

“We’re going to meet my parents.” Pete’s eyes got a little wider. 

“Then don’t you think it would be better if I was there?”

“No. For one, they don’t like meeting new people that much, and for the other, they don’t like being recognized.”

Pete was quiet for a minute and looked at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and realized he hadn’t asked the obvious question after that. “You know.”

Pete nodded.

“How long have you known who I am?”

“I knew this day would probably come sometime.” Pete shook his head. “Um, Royce, your parents hired me.” 

I was too stunned to talk so he kept going. 

“They wanted to make sure you had someone with you that might be able to protect you if something happened. I never expected that the boat would be the thing that might take you. All this time we’ve been friends and I wanted to tell you…”

I didn’t realize what I’d done until Pete was against the opposite galley wall with a bloody nose. “You lied to me?” I felt like I’d been stabbed in the guts with a fishing spear. “You’ve been on my boat almost ten years, Pete. I trusted you.”

Troller moved and I didn’t stop him. When he came back with an ice pack for Pete’s face, I felt myself clench my fists. “Why are you helping that asshole?”

“I’m helping him because when you calm down, you’ll realize you’ve hurt your friend more than he’s hurt you,” Troller said.

I got up from the table and headed toward the hatchway. Pete wheezed as he spoke. “Royce, they were worried about you. I wasn’t the first person they hired to watch you. I quit five years ago.”

“Why did you stay?” I looked over my shoulder. 

“Because you’re my friend, asshole. Isn’t that enough?” Pete said. I walked out of the galley and headed to the deck to think.

At that moment, I questioned everything. I thought I’d earned this boat from the previous captain. Worked on it, paid my way and worked up from deckhand at twenty-two to first mate by the time I was twenty-five. Pete showed up a year later looking for a job. He had recently finished a tour in the International Navy and was used to more sophisticated boats, but he caught on fast enough. I never considered my parents had been involved. 

Ten years was a long time to stick around. Fifteen years on the same boat was a good run, wasn’t it? At thirty-seven, I could take my savings and go somewhere else. Sell the boat and disappear to an island. Troller could come with me. It sounded perfect in my head. Well, almost perfect.  

I felt a hand on my back and knew it was Troller before I saw him. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

“I’m still pretty upset.” I turned toward him and wrapped Troller in my arms, “We’ve been friends this whole time and he never said anything. Then a month ago, out of the blue, he kissed me, and…”

Troller tried to push himself out of my arms and I tightened them to keep him in place. “Let me go, Royce. I’m going to punch him myself.”

“It wasn’t like that Troller, it was harmless, and before anything really happened between us.” Troller looked at me like he wasn’t sure it was harmless. “I promise.” He sighed and I pulled him closer. “I’m surprised is all. I thought we knew everything about each other.”

“You thought he didn’t know about you being a prince,” he offered.

“Fuck,” I sighed again. “Yeah, you’re right. But he did. I only wish he’d said something.”

“Like, I’m sorry?” We turned to look at Pete as he stepped onto the deck with a bit of cloth pressed up against his nose. “Listen, I am sorry. I wanted to tell you and eventually, it didn’t matter. We were friends and it didn’t matter. You seemed like you needed a friend more than anything else and I didn’t see the point in bringing up shit you didn’t want to talk about.”

I nodded. “Pete. I forgive you. And I’m sorry for punching you.” I tried to stay mad, but I didn’t have it in me. Troller was right. All he’d ever done is try to protect me, well, except for the kiss, but I didn’t want to think about that. “Now, get off my boat.”

“Aye, Captain.” He walked toward the gangway, and I called out to him.

“Tell Marcy I’m sorry that she has to deal with the likes of you for a whole week.”

“This number you did on my nose is going to garner me a shit ton of sympathy, and you’ll be in the dog house when you get back. Oh, and you can borrow my boat. I’ll give the marina a call so you can pick up the spare key fob from them.”

“Thanks, Pete.” I pulled Troller in close and leaned against him for support. Guilt over bloodying Pete’s nose made my stomach churn. In the grand scheme of things, his friendship meant more to me than whether we knew each other’s secrets. The fact that he stayed and built a life alongside mine told me that it meant more to him too. 

Pete waved as he walked down the dock. “Later, Boss!”