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“I see,” he says, but he looks so distressed that I quickly shake my head.
“Don’t worry, I’m not… I knew what this was, you know. This has been great. I hope it was just what you needed, too. We both had a rebound, right? A vacation fling.”
His frown deepens. “Right.”
I force a note of cheer into my voice. “And I broke my one-man-for-life streak! Thank you for helping with that.”
He nods and reaches for his drink. But he’s silent.
“Anyway, I didn’t expect any of this, but I’m grateful for it.” I chuckle, and it sounds a bit deranged. “I didn’t expect a lot of things that happened during this trip. Like Kaelie swinging by uninvited and dropping bombs.”
Phillip’s voice is quiet. “What do you mean?”
“Well, she said that Caleb wants me back.”
His eyebrows lower. “Did she?”
“Yeah. Not that it’ll ever happen or anything.”
“And he sent his cousin here to deliver that message to you? That’s psychotic.”
I laugh again. It sounds a bit more real this time. “You know what, I completely agree.”
“You are better off without him.”
“Totally,” I say. My tears have stopped. I’m almost in full control again, and I hope I haven’t freaked him out too much. And that he doesn’t think I was crying over him. That I’m upset over losingthis,whatever it is, and the possibility of it ever becoming anything more.
Even if I am.
“Eden,” he says again, and there’s roughness in his voice now. “What are you going to do after you get back home?”
“I’m going to take the longest shower known to man. I’m going to develop my photos, and I’m going to write a book and research self-publishing.” My glass is almost empty. I set it down beside me and cross the space to him.
He’s still sitting very still.
“I’m also going to make sure my vacation self makes an appearance every now and then.”
“You are?”
I nod and put my hands on his shoulders. He opens his arms and pulls me down on his lap. He’s warm and familiar, even after this short time. My heart constricts.
“I’m going to say yes to more things. To life,” I say.
“To seeing more turtles hatch?” he says.
I nod, my hands flat against his chest. His eyes are locked on mine, and there’s an intensity there I haven’t seen in the past few days.
“To taking chances,” I say.
“Hmm.”
“Which you should do, too.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I should?”
“Yes. Don’t forget your vacation self when you’re back in Chicago.”
He catches a lock of my hair between his fingers and twists it around, eyes locked on the motion. “It would be very hard to,” he says.
