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“Yeah, well we can’t wait that long. It’d kill Ember to have to postpone the wedding.” Lucas cleared his throat. “She was engaged to another guy before, and he ran off before they got married. There’s no way I’m breaking her heart by suggesting we don’t go through with it. We’re getting married this December, even if we have to do it in a shed.”
“You’re a nice guy, did you know that?”
Lucas laughed. “Ah, I have my moments. But really, I’m a lucky guy. I know when I have a good thing, and I want to make her mine forever.”
When they were kids, they would have laughed at anybody being so openly emotional. And yet Lucas’s honesty touched Breck in a way that wasn’t funny at all. You only had to see Lucas and Ember together to know how much in love they were.
And yeah, maybe it felt weird to see so many people in love when he was single. But that was okay. He liked being his own man, making his own decisions. Being single was simple, and he preferred things that way.
“You’ll find somewhere,” Breck said. “Or Caitie will. She’s always been the kind of girl you can depend on.”
“Yeah. She’s a diamond. I just wish she didn’t have to spend all this time trying to help us out. With her business she’s constantly busy. I feel like we’ve added to her burdens. She should be in New York right now, and instead she’s here trying to save her big brother’s wedding.”
“She loves you, man.”
“Yeah.” Lucas’s voice was thick. “Makes me feel bad for the way I treated her when we were kids.”
“You weren’t so bad. No worse than any other big brother. She knew at the end of the day you had her back. Heck, we all had her back. It must have been like having four big brothers when we were around.”
Lucas laughed. “And yet she’s still talking to me. Okay, I’d better go. Ember just walked through the door.”
“She been working late?”
“Yeah. At some school event,” Lucas told him. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”
“Not if I see you first.” Funny how that always came out, the same way it had when they were kids.
After hanging up, Breck grabbed his can and slid his shoes on, walking down the steps leading to the beach. The sun was setting over the horizon, sliding down into the sea, leaving a trail of orange and purple behind. He sat down on the sand and gazed out at the ocean.
There was something so peaceful about the beach at this time of night. Though the waves were still crashing, they were gentler somehow. The wide expanse of silver sand was empty; all the families and tourists had long since left. Now it was only the residents whose feet left impressions in the grains.
He’d missed this feeling. The smell of the sea, the sound of the waves, the sensation of the gentle breeze on his face. He’d grown up with it, having spent his happiest times on the beach. It was hard to be upset when faced with such beauty.
Unless you were Caitlin Russell. Funny how his thoughts always slid to her whenever he was out here. He wondered what she’d say if he showed her around his bungalow. Whether she’d start to shake the way she always used to whenever she was within sight of the shoreline. More than once he’d
seen her become physically sick at the thought of being dragged down to the beach.
Yeah, well everybody has fears, dumbass. Even you.
He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts. There was no way he was going to listen to them. So much better to think about Caitie and let his knight-in-shining armor instincts win out.
He grabbed his phone and pulled up his contacts, pressing on a number to connect a call. Even if his own problems were unsolvable, he knew Caitie’s – or at least one of them – wasn’t impossible to fix.
* * *
It was an hour and several phone calls later when he finally dialed Caitie’s number, having texted Lucas for it. He was still sitting on the deck, but this time he had a notepad in front of him, an address scrawled across it in his terrible handwriting. His soda had long since been replaced by a beer.
“Hello?” She sounded breathless. Or maybe breathy. Either way, he liked it.
“Caitie?”
“This is she. Who am I speaking to?”
He felt a weird sense of disappointment that she didn’t recognize him right away. “It’s Breck.”
“Breck?” Her voice softened, as though she was relieved. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice. I thought it might be a business call.”
“At this time of night?” He raised an eyebrow.
