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“I shouldn’t have said what I did that day,” he tells me. “Not after all you’d done for the kids and all we’ve been through.”
“I’m over that, Denton.” But what I want to say is that I’m over him, over this. He reaches up and runs the pad of his thumb over my lips. “I miss these.”
It’s all he says before walking away. My heart thuds against my chest, and I turn around, squeezing the counter until my knuckles turn white. That bastard, he knows what he does to me.
I wake up before sunrise, changing into swimwear and wrapping a blanket around me, I make my way down to the beach. One of the major perks of this place is the private beach. I sit on the sand and watch the waves roll in. I slip off the blanket, standing and walking closer to the water. I pick up a stick and write Denton’s name in the sand and watch the waves come and wipe it clean. I wish my heart was like that, waves constantly cleansing his name from it.
I feel him before I see him. He stands behind me, silently watching the sunrise. The beauty of it makes me gasp.
“That’s how I see you,” he whispers.
“What are you doing, Denton?” I face him.
“Maybe what I should have done a long time ago,” he says.
“And what’s that?”
“Show you just how much I love you.” My eyes widen at his admission. How can he say that to me, now, after everything?
“I can’t deal with this shit,” I say, walking away from him.
21
Denton
It took me years to say what I should have said the night I saved her from that asshole in high school. Words I could have acted on that summer the moment I saw her and realized that she was the best friend Savanna was talking about. Instead, all I ever did was believe she knew, even though I put her last. Sitting on the sand, I’m lost in the motion of waves, which are as restless as I am right now.
I never believed I deserved her. I still don’t, and then I went and stole so many of her firsts like the selfish bastard I am. I won’t do that again, but I refuse to give her up either. I’ll wait until she’s ready, and I don’t care how long that takes.
Bre chats to Justin over breakfast, telling him about the bonfire and how much fun she used to have at them when she was his age. I realize I met her when she was just about my son's age. My kitten, scared of water. I fell in love with her voice, smile, and soul, and I was too much of a coward to admit it. Brianna is notthe other woman. She isthewoman.
My brother tells me I’m selfish, expecting her to choose me after all this time. But I’ll wait for as long as it takes.
I pick up my phone.
Me: Hey, Kitten.
She picks up her phone and sets it back down.
Me: I liked that song you sang under the bleachers the first day I saw you. Something about angry scars and internal wars: you wore a green dress, almost the color of your eyes, your hair was open, and you had brown boots on, those cowgirl ones with frills on them.
She frowns when she reads that, but she looks at her screen for a very long time. Then she slams her phone down on the table and leaves the kitchen.
Me: I tried to talk to you, but I didn’t think you’d want to hang out with a guy like me. Your life looked perfect. Mine was a mess. That day in the rain, it took everything in me not to kiss you. I’m glad you were spying on Kevin Bailey.
I spend the day with the boys walking along the promenade, grabbing ice-cream, and watching Justin play volleyball with a couple of kids. He seems to take a liking to one of the girls and walks back to where I sit with Ty in a beach chair, grinning like he just won the lotto.
“So,” he says out of breath. “Are the texts working?”
“She isn’t even replying to me,” I admit.
“Then you need to up your game. How’d she fall for you the first time? If you can get her back there, she’ll fall for you again.”
Smart kid. But he has no idea just how complicated my relationship with Brianna is. He doesn’t know that I’d been cheating on his mother. I don’t know how he’ll feel about that.
“Ready to head back?” I ask him.
“You go on. Unlike you, Dad, my game is on point,” he looks over at the pretty brunette who gives him a small wave.
