Page 101 of Fish Out of Water

“But you’re not ready to forgive me yet?”

“How did you know that’s what I was gonna say?”

Robbie smiled slightly. “We know each other too well, Jake. Don’t worry about it. I’ve hated myself enough for both of us this past month. If you never say another word to me after this, it’s still a better ending than before.”

Jake stopped in front of his car. A light drizzle had begun, but the thunder was increasing in frequency, and it was only a matter of time before the full storm came down. “Take care of yourself, Robbie.”

“I will. Good luck in your job search, and please tell Isabel how sorry I am on behalf of my parents. If I thought it would help, I’d talk to them, but…”

“Don’t bother. It’ll only make things worse.” Jake extracted his hand from his pocket and patted Robbie awkwardly on the shoulder. “It’s not too late. You can still leave whenever you want. You just have to buck up and do it.”

He got into his car and started it, immediately turning the windshield wipers on. Robbie stood there, obscured by the rain drumming on the window, watching Jake go. Somehow, Jake felt even worse leaving Robbie this time. Maybe it was because this meeting, painful as it was, had a familiarity to it that punctured his very soul.

Or maybe it was simply that he should have let Robbie go long before now, and pulling him back in just to push him away one more time was cruel to both of them.

It wasn’t fair.

The words filled Jake’s brain and rattled around until his head ached. It wasn’t fair. He’d never fallen in love like this before, and now he was leaving that love behind, battered and broken, because the man he fell in love with was the worst possible person for him.

It was dark and stormy and miserable by the time Jake got back to Isabel’s house. The lights coming from inside were the only thing keeping him going when he stepped out of the car.He ran to the front door, pushed it open, and slammed it shut behind him, rain dripping from his hair and jacket onto the mat in the entryway.

“I’m back,” he called.

“Oh, good.” Isabel emerged from the hallway. “I was getting worried about you out in that storm. It wasn’t on the forecast at all. So, what did Robbie say?”

“He had no idea.”

“I didn’t think he would. Ah, well. He’s all right, though?”

Jake cocked his head. “Why did you want me to talk to him, Aunt Isabel? Was it about the house, or was it for some other reason?”

“Why, sweetie, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Go change your clothes; you’re getting water all over the floor and we have another house tour scheduled for tomorrow.”

Jake narrowed his eyes as he walked past Isabel. “It’s not gonna work,” he said. “Robbie and I are way past that.”

“Shoo,” Isabel said, waving him away.

“I mean it.”

“I know you do, but the worst thing you could do right now is leave with a grudge. You’ll never get over it if you do that.”

Jake shook his head. He already missed Robbie, and he didn’t mind admitting it—to himself, if no one else. But their relationship was always going to be complicated, even when it was long buried in the sands of Eventide, nothing but a shadow of a memory that two people once shared.

26

FIGHTING BACK

Carson called Jake early the next morning, as if he thought catching Jake before he’d had coffee or breakfast would make him more inclined to agree that selling the house to the Eatons was a great idea.

“Listen,” Carson said over the phone, “I can talk to them and let them know your aunt is reticent to let the house go at that price.”

“That’s not the problem,” Jake said, tying his bathrobe at the waist before he left his room. “I feel like we already told you this, but it’s thepeoplewho are the problem. We’re not selling to them.”

“But—”

“No,” Jake said firmly. “Isabel’s answer is not changing, and neither is mine.”

“I understand that, but?—”