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“I wish Penelope had had more time with them.” She looked quickly toward the ocean, like she hadn’t meant to speak those words out loud.
“We’d all be better off if they were still around. Until you showed up, I hadn’t had a good glare in my direction since Josephine passed.”
And then she laughed. The sound was clear and joyful and genuine. It wrapped around me, and I temporarily forgot the cold.
“She was good at that.”
We trudged through the sand, angling toward the waves. “I can’t believe they didn’t teach you to swim.”
“They tried, but anytime they put me in the water, I bawled. My grandmother said the first time I saw the ocean when I was a baby, I cried so hard and wouldn’t stop until we were back inside. So they never pushed me.”
I nudged her. “Look how far you’ve come. You aren’t crying now.”
“I love being near the water now.”
My steps faltered. “You didn’t that night.”
She skirted around the surf as it chased us. “I—I don’t like it to touch me.”
The image of her walking with that asshole invaded my brain. She’d seemed tense. And then he’d picked her up and tossed her into the waves. I still felt her fear. Could hear her scream before the water swallowed her.
“What’s behind the terror?”
“I just don’t like it,” she snapped.
The few bricks we’d torn down from the wall between us went right back into place.
She jumped around the surf again, colliding into me. I adjusted so I walked next to the water and she was closer to the shore. A protective barrier between her and her fear.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said as she slipped an arm through mine. “I can’t. Not now.”
I could respect that, though it only piqued my curiosity.
“You’re shivering.”
“Because it’s freezing.”
I pulled her into my arms and rubbed my hands up and down her back. She melted into me, burying her head into my chest. I turned us so that I took the brunt of the wind. Her hands slid around my waist underneath my jacket.
Even through her gloves and my shirt, her warmth seeped into me.
I inched my face closer to hers. “Was this a bad idea?”
“In ways I didn’t consider.” Her smoky voice floated away in the wind.
“I didn’t either.” I pulled a stray strand of hair from her lip. “And I pride myself on thinking of every angle.”
“Is that how you always win?” she asked huskily.
“Am I winning? With you?”
“I’m not sure.” The moon broke free of the clouds, illuminating her green-gold eyes. “We’ve managed to make it a few hours together. If you’d asked me last week, I’d have said that was an impossibility.”
“Don’t forget the car ride. I didn’t wreck.”
Her face was like porcelain. Smooth. Red from the wind. Beautiful. So damn beautiful.
“You’re not a great driver, but I’ve seen worse.”
