She hadn’t planned to stay, but all of a sudden, not going home sounded like the best idea she’d had since her troubles had begun.
“I’d love nothing more than to have some quiet time to myself where no one else would bother me, so I could really sort through my life without emotional distractions. But I have the mess of a breakup to deal with. If I want to get on with my life, I need to get back, sell that house, and take care of my wedding cancellations.”If only…
The surf shop was quiet. Outside, gulls called lazily to each other at the shore, and the Gulf babbled as if it was still catching its breath after the storm.
Emily ran her fingers along the edge of a longboard leaning against the wall next to her, admiring its bright design. “You ever think about how many waves this board will see?” she asked, almost to herself.
He eyed it, clearly not understanding her change in direction.
She smiled faintly, then let her hand drop. “It feels like everything has a story. Life is full of stories, isn’t it?” She took in his honest, attentive expression. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get to know the ending of this particular story.
Patrick didn’t say anything at first. Just watched her.
“You’ve had a massive change in a short amount of time,” he finally said.
She leaned back against the wall. “There’s a lot on my mind.”
“I can imagine.”
“Will isn’t one of the things anymore, though,” she said softly.
The air between them thickened with his name. Because, regardless of her feelings for Will, she wasn’t in a position to move forward with anything other than her own life.
Outside, the wind blew, tinkling a wind chime, both of them quietly digesting the fact that this was the end.
“I keep trying to convince myself this is just a vacation,” she said. “A weird, tropical-storm-interrupted vacation. And you’re part of it. The sunsets, the weather, the way you looked at me when we were stuck in Julia’s living room…” She trailed off and shook her head. “It’s like my life paused, and this whole experience exists in a bubble.” She got up and toyed with the edge of the surfboard.
“And the bubble’s about to pop.”
She glanced up at him. “Yeah.”
He hopped off the stool, walking a few steps closer. Not too close. Just enough.
“I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep,” he said. “And I don’t want you to feel like this is something you have to walk away from just because a ride home says so.”
She laughed softly, but there was tension in it. “You make this sound easy.”
“I know it’s not,” he said. “But I also know that feelings don’t just disappear when the location changes.”
She looked at him then, her pulse quickening. His bare chest, a slight shadow beneath his eyes from nights spent without enough sleep during and after the storm.
“I didn’t plan on you,” she said.
They stood in the hush of the shop, the surfboards silent witnesses, the place still humming with an unexpected, raw energy—and maybe, the beginning of something else.
She stepped forward, slowly. “Whatever this is doesn’t have to be forever,” she said, challenging him, more to protect her heart. “It was good while it was.” She wasn’t sure yet what thetwo of them were, and she dared not put any pressure on him. The last thing she wanted was for him to pursue something from another state longer than he wanted to, out of duty, because he’d made her a promise today.
“But it doesn’t have to be nothing either,” he said, yearning on his face.
And this time, she didn’t look away. She stared into his eyes, wanting to stay there forever.
“You decided to just ditch us?”Will asked when Emily walked through the door of the beach house.
“I took a walk.”
“I went looking for you. I couldn’t find you. Where did you walk to?”
She threw her hands in the air, flustered. “Nowhere specific.” He wasn’t in a position to require a rundown of her every whereabouts just becausehe’ddecided to try to make things work. She was tired of livinghislife, followinghisdreams, doing whathewanted. The truth was thatbeforeshe’d thought, eventually, if she did, he’d let her have her time to shine, but she was wondering if that would have ever been the case.
