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“I guess we could go to Eastport Park.” I smiled, pulling out two cookies and handing one to Asher.
“The park it is.” He grabbed the cookie from me, shoving it into his mouth, and put the car into reverse.
A little while later, we were both walking barefoot in the sand, side by side. We sipped on our coffee as we walked.
“So how long have you been in Eastport?” I asked.
“Hmmm, almost a month,” Asher replied, chuckling. “It’s sort of what the doctor ordered.”
I frowned. “Doctor?” Was he sick?
“Yeah, I just got out of a pretty nasty relationship and needed to get myself back on my path, clear my head, and take control of things again.”
I looked out over the water, my own memories of divorce flooding my mind. “Those are the same things that brought me here to Eastport as well. That and the fact that I’d lost my job, and my best friend needed a manager to help at The Cooling Rack.”
“So you too, huh? Was it a nasty divorce?”
“Are there other kinds?” I replied, looking out over the water.
“I guess not. How long were you guys married?”
“Five years. Seemed as soon as we signed our marriage certificate the troubles began.”
“Any kids?” he questioned.
Sadness flooded me. That question would haunt me for the rest of my life. I swallowed hard, smiled, and shook my head. Somehow, I needed to be okay with never being able to have children, and I would have been, but Miles had made me feel so damn awful about it, it had made it harder to accept. “No, none.”
“Well, that is probably better. It could have made things really bad.”
“Oh, it did. Even not having them.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s why we got divorced. Miles wanted them so bad and…”
“And you didn’t?” Asher said, slowly walking forward.
I said nothing. I didn’t want to rehash the entire experience. Instead, I cleared my throat, took a sip of my coffee, and asked, “It wasn’t that simple. What about you?”
“No, no kids.”
We both grew quiet, then almost as if we were both thinking the same thing, we stopped walking and looked at one another.
“Just to reiterate, I’m not looking for anything long term,” we said in unison.
We laughed. Everything felt lighter. It was if someone had lifted a weight off both our chests. We began laughing again as we looked at one another. I looked down to the ground as Asher cleared his throat. “Well, now that we have gotten that out of the way…”
“Yeah.” I softly smiled at him.
“Care to continue our walk?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I just nodded, and we began walking, sipping the last of our coffees and eating the last of our cookies, until we’d circled back to the car. He opened my door for me and waited while I climbed into the front seat, and then he made his way around to the driver’s side.
“Bella, not to rehash the subject, but I just want you to know I’m just looking for a friend, someone to hang out with, to pass the time with. The last few months have been hard on me, most of my friends sided with her, so it’s like I’m starting all over again.” he said, firing up the engine.
It was as if he had read my mind. “I’d like that,” I replied.
“Good, me too,” he said, placing his large, warm hand on mine.
