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CHAPTER 41
Jimmy
“Thanks, folks. Enjoy the rest of your day.” I waved at the group of tourists I’d taken out for the sunrise cruise as they walked up the dock.
I didn’t have another tour scheduled until sunset. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep, but I knew that wasn’t the healthiest thing for me to do. So, instead, I’d take Sherlock for a walk on the beach, just like I had yesterday and the day before.
Six days. That’s how long it had been since Bella’d left. I never knew six days could feel like six months or six years. Every day had been a marathon to get through. But I was doing it because there was no way I was going to end up like my old man. Life still needed to be lived even if all I wanted to do was go to bed and pull the covers over my head.
Out of habit, I checked my phone. She’d given a thumbs up to the message I’d sent her a few hours earlier telling her good morning, but she hadn’t actually responded.
It had been like that all week. She’d respond to my text but in the vaguest way. I’d ask how she was; she’d say fine. I’d ask if we could talk on the phone, she’d say yes but when I asked her for a time, she’d say she would call me.
Every time I’d called her, she’d let it go to voicemail.
I still wasn’t sure what exactly I’d done wrong. My guess was that I’d come on too strong. Dropping the big ‘I love you’ and talking about walking down the aisle was probably a case of too much, too soon.
But in my defense, I was being honest. I’d never felt for any person the way I felt about Bella, so I didn’t have a lot of experience navigating the choppy waters of love.
Even without that experience, I was sure of one thing—in the short time I’d known her, she’d become everything. And now she was gone. I had no idea if or when she was coming back. I had no idea if or when I’d be able to speak to her. I had no idea if or when I’d get over her.
So really, there was nothing else to do but get on with life. With a sigh, I started going through my maintenance checklist. I was about to step down to go below to the engine compartment when I stopped and the memory of finding her earring hit me like a Mack truck. It was only a couple of weeks ago, but it felt like a lifetime. And I guess in some ways, it was.
The time of my life when I didn’t know what it felt like to love someone was over. This was a new time in my life, one where I knew what someone being everything to me felt like. And so far, I couldn’t really say I was a fan.
I liked things to be easy. I didn’t really enjoy high highs or low lows, and that’s all there’d been with Bella. I was either on top of the world or in hell. There didn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground.
I just wished the top of the world part would’ve lasted longer.
“Are you Jimmy?”
For a split second, I thought that I had to be imagining things, but then I turned my head and she was there. Bella was on the dock, her red hair blowing in the breeze, and she had never looked more beautiful. She was wearing a floral summer dress that hit her mid-thigh, showcasing her tanned, toned legs. The delicate spaghetti straps rested on her perfect, sun-kissed shoulders and the neckline was low enough to give a hint at the perfect breasts that lay beneath the cotton.
“Bella,” I spoke her name with a reverence I’d only ever used for food and Sherlock.
She grinned. “The harbormaster mentioned you hire out your boat.”
A smile pulled on my lips when I realized that she was repeating verbatim what we’d said the first time we met. I’d been so flabbergasted by her beauty the first time we had this exchange, and I was even more so now. I had no clue if I’d remember what we’d said. But I’d do my best to play along.
“He’s not lyin’.”
Her smile widened when she saw that I’d caught on. “I’d like to go out, please. Now, if you’re not otherwise engaged.”
I hissed through my teeth and glanced at my watch. “I can do a three-hour tour.”
“Like Gilligan.”
“Yep,” I stepped down off the boat, needing to be closer to her. When I stood in front of her, I brushed a stray strand of hair off her cheek and smoothed it back behind her ear. Her eyes closed as my fingertips brushed across her silky-smooth skin. It was clear to me that she’d missed me, or at least my touch almost as much as I’d missed her. “And I guess that would make you the movie star.”
“I’m more of a Mary Ann,” she said breathlessly.
“Bullshit.” This time I spoke my observation out loud. “You’re definitely a movie star.”
The blush that I’d missed putting on her cheeks returned, and she dipped her head. When she looked back up her eyes were open, and her smile was back but this time it looked to be more intimate and less nervous.
“Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi,” I replied. I wanted to lean down and press my lips to hers, to kiss her until she forgot that anyone or anything else existed, but I forced myself to keep my distance.
