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But I was also tired. It was exhausting taking care of Mimi and Grandpa. Granted, they’d settled in, and Mimi had stopped complaining about my food selection as much, partly because I got everything on her grocery list, but just worrying about her safety in my house wore me out.
I closed my eyes and listened to the gentle lapping of waves against the pebble beach.
Things would be okay.
As Grandma Cecilia always said,This too shall pass.
I missed Lucas, but it would all sort itself out.
It had to.
“Hey, Emily.” I heard Lucas’s voice and blinked my eyes open to see him walking along the shoreline in a pair of jeans that hugged his thick thighs, a blue thermal with the sleeves pushed up, and some hiking boots. He looked sensational, as usual. I ripped my gaze away and looked out toward the water.
“I didn’t expect you to be here,” I said, not looking over at him.
“I was on the way to the orchard and saw your scooter parked up top.” He traversed the rocky beach in my direction and smiled. “Hope you don’t mind the company.”
I shook my head. “Not at all.”
And it was true.
“I was just thinking about us,” I confessed.
“Did you come up with anything?” he asked, weaving his fingers together.
“I wish the kiss had never happened.”
I saw hurt flicker behind his gaze. “I didn’t expect it to damage our friendship.” He shook his head and kicked his feet out in front of him. “Or I never would have done it.”
“I tried to make it seem normal, but all I can think about is that kiss and what it meant.”
He turned to face me. “What did it mean?”
“To me?” I let out a sigh. “It meant that I could lose the one guy in my life who means the world to me.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached his arm over and draped it over my shoulders.
“Then let’s forget it ever happened. I can do that. We can just pick up where we left off.”
I let his words sink in as I slowly nodded in silent agreement.
“But I do feel like it was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Things didn’t have to get weird,” he added.
All sorts of emotions swelled up inside me. I wanted to turn and yell at him for being such a perfect friend, for not pushing me, not fighting for me.
And that was when it hit me.
“I don’t want to be like those other girls you date.” I shrugged. “I’m the one you call, not them. But once we start dating, that could go away.”
He laughed a low rumble of a noise and stared straight ahead. “Don’t you get it, Emily? There’s nobody like you. You’re incredible and special, smart pretty, funny… but most of all, you understand me.” He drew a deep breath and nodded. “And I’m pretty sure I understand you more than you realize.”
I stared across the beach filled with pebbles of every size, shape, and color. But they all had one thing in common.
They’d been worn down with time.
Maybe that was Lucas’s approach too.
I noticed scratches on Lucas’s hands and sucked in a breath of worry. “What happened?”
