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“Sarah, I’m here. I want to be here,” he said, his gaze burning into hers until she could barely breathe on the thick air surrounding them. He cleared his throat. “Any plan of attack I should know about?” he asked, pouring more paint into the tray.
“Yes. Get it done,” she said in as bossy of a tone as she could muster. He’d come back to help her. He’d given up a rare night out. She wouldn’t read anything into it. She’d practically guilted him into it. And he probably just wanted more billable hours…
“I like it,” he said, getting to work on the opposite wall.
A long beat of silence fell between them before she asked, “So is running your own construction company everything you’d hoped it would be?” She dipped the roller in paint and started on the wall adjacent to him.
“My dream was football,” he said, the longing in his voice after all this time surprising her.
Guess dreams didn’t just evaporate when reality shat all over them. Sarah remembered Wes’s desire to go pro. In fact, one of her best memories of Blue Moon Bay was watching their high school team, the Panthers, play on Friday nights. Wes was a wide receiver, and seeing him out there on the field in his gear had set her teenage hormones ablaze. “At least you got to do what you loved for a little while,” she said.
“Yeah, I mean, a lot of athletes don’t even make it that far. And this career works,” he said quickly. “I make my own hours, which is great for raising Marissa. I’m the volunteer dad at school.” He laughed as though he’d never have believed it if he weren’t living it.
“I’m sure the volunteer moms love that,” Sarah said before she could stop herself. “I…just mean, having a dad in the class.”
I will not flirt with him.
Marissa may have been trying to set up the two of them, but they’d both resisted…which had to mean something, right?
But when he grinned, the gorgeous dimples in his cheeks made her vow that much harder to keep. Why did he have to be so good-looking? Teenage crushes should at least have the decency to age poorly. What she wouldn’t give for the ability to say,Phew, dodged a bullet there. Instead, she’d launch herself in front of this particular sexy bullet given the opportunity.
“So, is there anyone special you’ve left behind in L.A.?” he asked, his tone casual, but she detected a definite curiosity.
“Nope. Not even a friend with benefits,” she said honestly. Maybe a little too honestly, but truth was, her sex life was practically nonexistent. She worked far too much for a real relationship, and hookups might be the cool thing these days with dating apps on everyone’s phones, but she wasn’t interested in swiping right unless it had the potential to be more than a one-night stand. As much as she put her faith in technology for all other aspects of her life, she wasn’t sure it was the way she wanted to find someone. Whenever she did decide to make time for it.
“Hell, if I’d known you were sexually frustrated, I’d have let you take the sledgehammer to that kitchen wall last week.”
She swiped at him with her paint roller, narrowly missing his arm. Then cautiously she asked, “Do you think you will ever be ready…for another relationship?”
Asking for a friend.
“Somedays I think so. Other days, I’m not sure. Marissa and I have a good life together. We’ve figured out how to make things work just the two of us. I’m not sure I’m still actively grieving Kelly, but a part of me definitely died with her, and unless I can give someone else the full love she deserves…” He shrugged.
Sarah had let the roller drop to her side as she’d listened to his rare moment of open vulnerability, and now seafoam paint covered her thigh.
What was she supposed to say to that?
“Sorry, that got deep. Fast,” Wes said with a laugh.
“No, I get it.” She did. And despite the pull she’d always felt toward him, it was enough to ground her in the reality of their situation. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to move on, and she had no idea how she felt. Her life was far too complicated at the moment to think about a relationship, but she was starting to think she wanted one. Finding love had always taken a back seat to her career, but she’d hoped as she neared thirty, her career would be established and she could turn her attention to other aspects of life.
Maybe once she got this promotion…
“I worry about Marissa,” he said, and he sounded reluctant to confide in her, but also like he was sensing she might be the perfect person.
“About what?” she asked carefully.
“We used to be so close.” He shook his head. “Now I feel like I don’t even really know her sometimes.”
Sarah bit her lip, unsure what to say. She didn’t want to overstep again or cross any boundaries. The family’s dynamic was none of her business, but he was opening up to her, so she had to say something, right? “I think you’re both just very different people, and maybe it might help if you tried to understand her world a little,” she said gently.
He nodded. “I’m not sure I’m smart enough for her world. All that coding stuff you told me went in one ear and out the other, but I have been trying lately,” he said, attacking the wall with the roller. “I just don’t get why she doesn’t want to play sports and hang out with friends…actual friends, like she used to.”
Sarah had dealt with the same issue. Her parents never fully understanding her… She could never get them to understand. Could she help Wes for Marissa’s sake? “Maybe don’t try so hard to put her into a box she doesn’t want to fit in.”
He stopped and turned to face her. “You think that’s what I’m doing?”
“I don’t know, but I think your relationship would be easier if you gave her some space to be her own person.”
