Page 83 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

She sat up a little straighter.

“Shit, sorry. Am I being a crass American to your classy Brit?”

She laughed out loud. “No, nothing of the sort. And I’m sorry if I bristled a little at the question. The honest answer is that no, I don’t need the money. It’s just…” She fell quiet for a moment. “I feel rather foolish admitting it, but I’ve never considered before that I could just stop.”

She was quiet again, and when she spoke, there was wonder in her voice. “I could, couldn’t I? I could just stop doing it.”

“Course you could. You could fire all your clients right now if you wanted to.”

She laughed again. “Oh my goodness, that sounds rather wonderful, but I couldn’t really.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Well, because they rely on me.”

He nodded slowly. He could see why that felt like a reason to her. He didn’t like it, but he could see it, so he let it go. It wasn’t his place to push.

She turned to stare out the window at the rugged hillsides as the road wound down toward the southern coast. The landscape was much drier here, the olive groves giving way to scrubland, and as Blane looked out over it, he realized that in a way it almost reminded him of Montana.

~ ~ ~

As they drove down into Plakias, the sight of the sea was enough to help Bea push all thoughts of her work and Simon out of her mind. She didn’t need to make any decisions today, although she’d be forever grateful to Blane for helping her see that there was even a decision she could make.

“Look.” She pointed through the windshield. “The sea is at the end of here. You can go that way, and then we can drive all the way along the front. There’s a little car park behind the big supermarket.”

She knew she shouldn’t feel as ridiculously proud of herself as she did, but the way Blane followed her directions without question meant more than she could say. Not that she would say anything at all.

Once he’d parked the SUV, she patted its roof before they walked away. Blane shook his head at her with a smile.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s been a wonderful little friend to us, and I’m sure it’s grateful to be parked in the shade.”

He chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go see this beach. The SUV will be fine parked here.”

The road ran alongside the beach, with the sea on one side and a row of shops and businesses on the other. Everywhere was much quieter than Bea had seen it before, but then she’d never been here this early in the season. Half the shops were still closed, which worried her a little.

“You all right?” Blane asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just hoping the little restaurants over by the harbor wall will be open. It looks as though a lot of places aren’t yet.”

“It’s all good. If they’re not, we’ll find somewhere else. Or we can pick something up from the store and I’ll make us something when we get back home.”

Her breath caught, and she knew he’d heard it too—home.

She was starting to think of the house that way herself, but for him to call it that… No. There was no point in examining that thought. She peered ahead along the walkway and then pointed. “Look, it’s okay. The restaurants are open, look. You can see the menus set up outside.”

He looked to check, and she was a little disappointed that they somehow managed to avoid each other’s gaze. Still, the house was her new home, and Blane was here for now. If she knew anything about life, it was to be grateful for the good things while they were there and not dwell too much on the rest.

“But,” she said, turning a smile on him, “I don’t think we should go straight there.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” She pointed back the way they’d come. “There are some steps down to the beach a little way behind us. I’d love to put my feet in the water. Would you?”

She had to laugh at his expression. “All right, the eyebrows are telling me that’s a no. So, my next question is, would you mind waiting while I just go and dip my toes in?”

His frown turned into a full-blown scowl. “Yeah, Bea. I would mind.”

“Oh. I… uh…”