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She made the first move, as she’d always done when they were young. It was little more than a shift, where she bumped her shoulder with his. “What are you doing here?”
He bumped her back. “Came to apologize.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“What if I don’t want to hear it?”
“Then I’ll wait until you do.”
“That could take hours.”
“I know. I’ve got a picnic basket in the boat if I get hungry.”
He could tell she tried not to smile, but a small one appeared. “You do?”
He reminded himself to thank Josie again. “Yep, I do.”
“What’s in it?”
“I’m not telling.” That sounded better than telling her he didn’t know.
She reached forward and shoved aside a pair of wet silk stockings and garters before she stretched her legs out. Long shapely legs he sincerely admired. There wasn’t a single thing he didn’t admire about her. Didn’t adore.
“I’m sorry, Forrest, I—”
He twisted and pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m the one who came to apologize.” Removing his finger so he could hold her chin with his thumb and knuckle, he said, “I’m so sorry, Twyla. I have no idea why I said what I did.”
“Because it’s how you really feel.”
“No, it’s not. I love you, I have for years. I loved you when you were poor and I was rich, and I love you now, when you’re rich and I’m poor.”
Her smile was gentle and sweet, but she shook her head. “Oh, Forrest, I love you, too, rich or poor, young or old, but that’s not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“The conversation we had earlier wasn’t about love. It was about what you want and what I want.” She pulled his hand away from her chin and held it between both of hers. “Wanting something and loving someone are two separate things.”
“That’s true,” he said, “and you want to be rich.”
Her face fell and her eyes filled with sorrow. “I know that’s what you think, and at one time I honestly thought that, too. I thought that was the answer.”
“The answer to what?”
“The emptiness inside me. It didn’t use to be there. But then things happened, and I attributed it to how poor we were. How boring our lives were.” She shook her head. “But even after we became rich, I was still empty inside. No matter what I tried.” A becoming blush covered her cheeks. “And you know I tried almost everything.” She sighed. “But nothing filled that void.”
He rubbed her cheek, knowing she was referring to all her antics with Mitsy.
“Everyone looks at things differently, Forrest, but I, because I wanted to follow in her footsteps, thought I had to think like Norma Rose. That money was at the core of everyone’s happiness.”
“It can be the core of everyone’s evilness, too,” Forrest warned, having seen that first-hand.
“I’ve seen that, too, for years, but I didn’t comprehend it.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Because I’d only been thinking about myself. I only thought about what I wanted, and ironically, when that became clear to me, I realized I hadn’t known what that truly meant.”
Forrest was trying hard, but he wasn’t grasping what she was saying. However, he was determined to make this work; whatever she wanted, he’d find a way to get it. “Adventures?” he asked. “The night of Palooka George’s party you told me you wanted more adventure than a kissing booth.” He kissed her fingertips. “I liked your booth today.”
Her mood lightened slightly and she giggled. Leaning her head back, she looked up at the sky. “I only said that because it was you. The adventures in my life stopped when you left. That’s when the emptiness formed inside me. When my world became lonely and cold.” She sighed. “I thought money would solve it all. Today, I realized I was wrong.”
“Twyla—”
“I’ve been jealous, Forrest, for years. Of Norma Rose. Of...” She shook her head. “There’s even a part of me that’s jealous of your airplane. You see, Forrest, what I want isn’t money or adventures. All I’ve ever wanted is to be what you want.”
He grasped her face with both hands. “You are exactly what I want. Who I want.” Wanting her to understand, he explained, “You always were, even when we were kids, but you scared me.”
“I scared you?”
“Yes, you scared me,” he admitted. “You were so fun, so adventurous and outgoing and determined. I can’t say I knew what love was back then. No one in my family loved one another. The only place I ever saw affection was out here, at your house, and when I realized that’s what I felt for you, I tried to convince myself otherwise, because I knew eventually you’d get hurt because of me. I didn’t want you to become a part of my family because it was an ugly place to be. Yet I couldn’t stay away, so I pretended to be in love with Norma Rose. The night I left, when Galen supposedly caught us kissing, I was breaking up with Norma Rose.”
