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Turning to look at him, the gold in his eyes shimmers in the morning sun, and I almost forget what he asked me. “Good. On my way to happy.”
Nodding, he takes a long gulp of coffee and looks down at the ground. “I’ve lived here my whole life. Pine Cove is my personal prison.”
“Why?” I ask, and he’s silent for a few seconds.
“This is it for me – my life here.”
“Why? It doesn’t have to be,” I tell him, but he looks doubtful. “What would you do, or where would you go, if you could?”
“I don’t know. I think I’d just get on my bike and ride – see where I end up.”
“I wish I could be like that.”
“It’s easy. Just throw caution to the wind.”
I let out a short laugh. “Yeah, no. All I’ve ever done is plan my life out. That’s how I ended up how I was. I stayed on the path I laid out for myself, and never slowed down. I’m not a throw caution to the wind kind of girl.”
“But you came here.”
“True. This wasn’t in my plans. But I didn’t just get in my car and drive until I ran out of gas.” I finish my coffee and take in the trees all around me. “Is living here so bad, though? I think it’s beautiful.”
“I guess I haven’t had a reason to see it that way in a long time. But it’s starting to seem like less of a horrible idea,” he admits. “Staying here.”
“It is?” I ask, and his eyes soften.
“Yeah.”
“Why haven’t you ever left? What’s kept you here?”
“Would you believe me if I said I was waiting for a gorgeous woman to come along and save me?”
“No.” I laugh. “I’d say you’re full of it.”
“I figured.” He smiles, eyeing me over the rim of his mug as he drinks his coffee.
“Do you have a real reason?”
Letting out a long breath, he runs his hand through his hair. “I have too many memories here to just abandon them.”
“With who?” I ask without thinking, and he looks at me with guarded eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“No, it’s fine,” he says, but he doesn’t sound fine. “They’re family memories.” His voice is strained, like the words were pulled unwillingly from him.
“Where are they now?”
“It’s just me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I–”
“You don’t have to apologize, Mel. It’s been years.”
“But that doesn’t make it any better – being alone.”
“I’m not alone,” he says with a short laugh.
“Having women in your bed doesn’t make you any less alone, Alex.”
His eyes flash with anger. I think I just crossed a line.
