Who was he to be giving me advice? Our blossoming friendship had started, like, seventy-two hours ago. I guess he’d had plenty of time to observe me before that, though.
“You’re so annoying,” I said, in a tone that didn’t mask at all the effect he had on me.
Before he could continue the conversation, I pushed myself off the lounge chair and made a beeline for the water just twenty feet in front of us. Tentatively, I stepped in. The water was warm. Not tolerably cool—actuallywarm. And it was so clear, I could see straight to my toes even as I took a few more steps out.
“You can’t just get up and leave in the middle of a conversation,” Harrison called from the shore.
“What? Sorry. I can’t hear you.” I let my chin fall into the water to hide my smile as I looked back at Harrison. He stood at the edge of the water with his arms crossed over his chest. The beach was almost completely empty.
“Really mature,” he shouted back.
“Come on, get in. We haven’t even been in the water yet. That’s a total crime.” I dipped my head back, submerging myself completely before standing back up and letting the water run off my hair. “This is seriously perfect.” I sighed with contentment, letting the water wash over my body like some sort of all-powerful healing potion.
“It looks cold,” Harrison replied. He eyed me suspiciously as if I were trying to suppress a shiver and, if he kept an eye on me, I would eventually break.
“It’s the Mediterranean just after summer. I promise you, it’s warm.”
The lines etched in his forehead told me he still didn’t believe me completely, but he at least waded a few steps in. Once it was clear I wasn’t lying, he walked in farther until he was chest-deep. I did my best to keep my eyes off his tattooed arms and pec muscles and focused on his eyes instead.
“You were right. This is nice,” he said, stopping only a foot away from me.
“Told you.”
He stood a few steps farther out than me so that we were almost eye-level.
“Why do you care so much about being liked?” he asked, staring at me intently.
Groaning, I dipped my head back again.
“We’re still on this topic?” Never would I have guessed that Harrison would be the one to insist on continuing a deep conversation and I would be the one trying to run from it.
He shrugged. “What else have we got to do?”
I knit my brow trying to think of a succinct answer. While I was no stranger to therapy, I didn’t usually discuss these types of things with anyone other than Charlie. And Charlie had never really said anything about my tendencies to put others’ needs before my own. Sometimes she intervened, if it affected the business or I was wearing myself out too much, but she had never seen it as a character flaw. Not the way Harrison seemed to.
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “Maybe it’s the curse of being an only child?” I knew that wasn’t it completely, but it felt like a good place to start.
“Your parents put a lot of pressure on you?” he questioned.
“What? No, not at all.” I thought about my parents and how kind and supportive they had been my entire life. “If anything, they showed me how much value could come from just being nice. They’re seriously the sweetest people. They call me every week like clockwork and they try to visit me when they can. They’re so proud of me and Charlie and our company. They brag about it to pretty much anyone who will listen.”
“They sound great,” he said. He raised an eyebrow, encouraging me to continue.
Finally, I let it spill out.
“My ex was hard to please.” That was the understatement of my lifetime.
“The one you thought you’d be with forever?”
“That’s the one and only. What I didn’t mention is that our relationship didn’t just not work out, he kind of sucked.”
Harrison’s eyes hardened and his hand stilled in the water. “How so?”
Sighing, I lifted my feet off the ground and floated, feeling comfort in the feeling. I hated talking about him.
“We met when I was only fifteen and we dated all through college. It should be a crime to date that young. I was so naïve and aspirational when it came to romance; I thought a first love was the most magical thing that could exist. My parents had been high school sweethearts. My grandparents too, on both sides. I always thought that was the dream. Probably why I latched onto my ex so hard and never let him go, even though he clearly wasn’t right for me. I hate thinking back on all those wasted years when I could have been enjoying myself and instead, I was appeasing him.”
Harrison didn’t say anything. He just watched me as I gathered my next thought.
