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I should feel sorry for her. I’ve put her in a difficult position. But selfish me comes roaring back, and why should I even care about him? The man has taken what should have been mine all along.
This feeling of jealousy is a seed of poison, and right now, I’ve swallowed my fucking pride again and I’m reminded of Lex allowing this man to wed his daughter. Yet I am supposed to back the fuck off. The question is, who is pulling all the strings here?
“Feel like going for a walk along the beach?”
“Sure,” she agrees, grabbing her book.
We walk along the garden and through the gate toward the sand. Beneath our feet, the sand is warm and soft between our toes. The sea breeze is slightly cooler as the sun begins to set on the horizon.
As we walk along, we speak more about studying law. I’d learned a fair bit from my mother over the years, so I understand a lot of the jargon. It is nice to be able to listen to Amelia, just the sound of her voice. I never realized how much I missed something so simple.
The sky becomes a shade of pink, prompting us to turn around and back toward the house. There are still a few people on the beach, mainly families with children. As we begin our walk back, a little boy runs toward me, abandoning his sandcastle.
“Look at my sandcastle!” he says with a proud smile on his face. “It’s where the evil king lives.”
I lean down to the boy’s level. “That’s some castle, buddy. You did that all yourself?”
The boy’s mother comes running over with a smile.
/> “I did because I’m four. When you’re four, you can make sandcastles on your own.”
“William, I thought I told you not to talk to strangers?”
I press my lips together into a stiff smile. Unsure what to say since the mother just threw the whole ‘stranger danger’ convo into play.
“Sorry, Mommy.” The little boy lowers his head.
“You know, my name is William too. But everyone calls me Will.”
Little William's face brightens up. “My friends call me Will too!”
“It’s a pretty cool name, right?”
He nods, and his mother returns a warm smile.
“What is your name?” the boy asks Amelia.
“Amelia,” she answers, but her smile is forced.
The little boy continues to ramble on until we say our goodbyes but not before praising him on his fantastic sandcastle efforts again.
On our walk back, Amelia has fallen dead quiet. Not a single word, nor a smile. She can’t even seem to look my way. I don’t understand what suddenly changed, all since we ran into this little boy.
When we’re back on the property, I ask the burning question.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she answers quickly.
“Well, it’s not nothing since you’ve been quiet since we spoke to the little kid.”
Amelia stops walking, still with her head bowed. Slowly, she raises her gaze to meet mine, but her eyes have glassed over. There is definitely something bothering her, a sadness in her expression as her chin begins to tremble. She pulls the sleeves of her cardigan over her hands and raises it to cover her mouth.
“I can’t do this,” her voice trembles.
“Do what?”
She points to me then to her. “This, us. I’m sorry, Will.”
