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But his eyes—they’re dead serious. Calm and full and so damn gorgeous they’re hard to look at.
“I never stopped wanting you, Lu.”
I grit my teeth. “That makes zero sense. You cheated on me. You broke up with me. I haven’t heard from you since.”
“I made a lot of mistakes.” His jaw tics. “I’d like to make up for them now if you’d let me.”
An ache spreads inside my throat. “Screw. You.”
“That’s why I opened Stede’s. Not to make a buck, but to keep your dreams alive. Your talent, your ideas, your food—that shit’s too important to let die, Lu.”
I tap my hand against my chest. “I’m the one who gets to decide that. How dare you assume you know me better than I know myself?”
His jaw keeps ticking. “I just hate to think you’ve lost touch with the girl I knew ten years ago. The wildly talented, insanely brave human who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t going to let anyone stop her from going after it.”
I swallow, hard. Please, God, don’t let me throw up again. “I have gone after my dreams.” My voice wobbles. It’s embarrassing. “Yeah, maybe I don’t live on a yacht—"
“Who do you think I bought all this for?” He tilts his chin, gesturing to our exquisite surroundings. "Why do you think I’ve worked as hard as I have to be able to afford a life like this?”
My heart is throbbing in my ears. I can’t keep up. Can’t make sense of what Riley’s telling me.
“Why should I care?” I retort.
“Because I did it all for you.” He lowers his voice. “Growing up as poor as I did, I swore my life would be different. I wanted it to be different so I’d finally be worthy of you, Lu Wade.”
The backs of my eyes burn. I blink, alarms going off inside my head. Feels like a bomb is detonating inside me. I can’t think. Can’t feel. I just stand there, numb, terrified, waiting to be blown to pieces.
Is he for real?
I don’t know what to say—what to address first—so I blurt, “Being worthy has nothing to do with money and everything to do with how you treat someone.”
“I told you, I didn’t—"
“Y’all fall overboard down there?” Goldie calls from above.
Riley drops his arm and clears his throat. “You can’t fall overboard when you’re inside the cabin.”
“You could fall out of a porthole.”
“Those aren’t big enough. We’ll be right up.”
“Good, because Louise and I have to get going.”
“Coming!” I force brightness into my tone as I wipe my eyes and move to step around Riley.
He stops me with a hand on my arm. “For the record, I think you should still do it. Write the cookbook.”
“That’s a joke, right?” I pull my arm away. “This conversation is over.”
His eyes search mine. “You were never afraid of the truth. Not back then. What’s changed?”
My nose stings. “That’s rich, you bringing up the truth.”
“I’m trying to explain myself—”
“And I’m trying to get the hell out of here. Leave me alone, Riley.”
I push past him and hustle up the stairs, swallowing the lump in my throat.
eleven
Riley
A Shot in the Dark
“Is that a stranger hanging out with your kid?” I shield my eyes from the sun so I can get a better look at the petite brunette in the red bikini. She’s helping my goddaughter build a sandcastle on the beach.
Beside me, Tuck grunts as he sits up on his board. “Remember that teacher my mom told me about? The one who was looking for a part-time gig while she got her master’s degree?”
“I do.”
“Welp, that’s her. And she’s my new nanny.”
I nearly fall off my board. I was already in the water when Tuck arrived with Katie and this new nanny, so I didn’t get to meet her.
Tuck and I rise up on a wave, the late afternoon sun glinting off the water in a blinding shade of orange. “No shit. She’s—”
“I know.” We fall back down. “She’s also twenty-two, and Katie loves her.”
“Ah. In other words, off-limits.”
“Yup.” Tuck screws an eye shut as he looks up at the sky. “It’s weird, right, if I ask Maren to wear a bathing suit that’s all one piece? Maybe with leggings or something?”
I glance behind us, searching for just the right wave. “Yeah, probably.”
“Fuck me.” Tuck tugs a hand over his face. “I just won’t come to the beach with them anymore. I can do that.”
“Sure you can.”
“She’s living in the crofter.” Tuck’s house on the island has a detached garage with a small apartment above it. The crofter is approximately twenty feet from the main residence, and it overlooks the primary bedroom where Tuck sleeps. “And she doesn’t always close her shutters.”
“Then you close yours.”
“I do. But then when I open them in the mornings, I look out and there she is, walking around in just a T-shirt. No shorts. No fucking bra. I’d like to think I’m a decent man, but I have my limits.”
