Page 25 of Rogue Wave

Why didn’t he say anything?

Should I say something?

“Hazel…”

Suddenly, my phone alarm blared.

Work!

“Crap!” I jolted upright. “I’m late.”

I fumbled for my phone in my back pocket, silencing the alarm before turning back to Hank.

“Do you want me to call Dottie so she can help you with anything else?”

“I think I’ll survive,” he deadpanned, though I caught the faint tic at the corner of his mouth.

I smiled. “Okay, good. Because if I’m late again, I’m going to need you to be my alibi at work so I don’t get fired. You’ll probably have to tell my boss I saved your life so it was worth being late.”

That earned me a tiny smile.

Progress.

I grabbed my bag from the floor nearby, but for some reason, I hesitated to leave.

The room had gone quiet again. Not awkward quiet, but just…still.

We stared at each other like there was something else we both wanted to say, but neither knew what.

“Well, I should go,” I said, hooking my thumb back toward the door.

He said nothing but just gave a quick nod.

I finally turned to leave.

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t much, but something in the way he said it settled deep in my chest. The usual irritation was gone.

When I turned around to face him, there was so much meaning in his eyes.

What kind of meaning? I wasn’t really sure.

What I did know was that the walls he’d spent weeks keeping between us seemed thinner and shorter somehow.

For the first time since I moved next door, it felt like Hank and I finally understood each other.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

8

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”

—Isak Dinensen

—It’s science