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I’m willing to try, though. I’m willing to do anything. “Maybe...” I start.
“Maybe we’ve grown apart,” she whispers, talking over me.
I shake my head hard, then scrub a hand down my face, fighting off a wave of emotion. Any concerns about breaking the resort rules have been forgotten. The ocean… mostly forgotten. My whole world has narrowed to this tiny hut and the woman I love. The only woman I’ve ever loved. The woman who just told me our relationship isn’t healthy and hasn’t been for a while.
I clear my throat. “I don’t feel like I’ve grown apart from you. I just feel like things are different. We’re both on edge a lot, but that’s normal in relationships sometimes, isn’t it?”
She shrugs again, still not looking at me. “I’m not sure. Maybe? But this doesn’t feel like something normal to me. This feels like something is… broken.” She takes my hand, her attention still riveted to the wide expanse of ocean in front of us. “I love every single thing about you, Cade.” Her lips quirk up in the moonlight, and with a shuddering breath, she adds, “Except for the parts I wish were different.”
“What parts? I’ll change them. Or maybe we can try counseling or… or something.”
Anything. I will do anything for this woman.
Her expression is far too serious when she finally turns to look at me. It makes my heart feel like it’s going to stop. “I don’t want you to change who you are, Cade,” she says, cupping my cheek as she looks into my eyes. “I don’t think you could, even if you wanted to. Not any more than I can change who I am to compensate. We are who we are, and there’s nothing wrong with who we are as individuals. I love you. I’m just not sure I’m… I’m in love with what we are together anymore. I’m not sure it’s… enough.”
Her words suck all the air out of the little hut, and pain slices through me so suddenly that I can’t breathe for a moment. But then I force myself to, if only because I need to ask—
“Are we breaking up?”
Her eyes spill over. “I think… so?” Her voice is barely above a whisper, and she doesn’t sound any more certain than I am, but when I start to stay something, to fight for us, she shakes her head sharply and holds up a hand. “I’m sorry. Just… please. I think I need to just be out here alone.”
“Yeah,” I swallow hard, standing up and praying my suddenly wobbly legs don’t give out. “Of course. Whatever you need.” I can’t believe I’m about to walk away from her, but she’s just told me what she needs right now, and I’ll always respect that.
Still, a part of me half expects her to take it back and tell me to stay. When she doesn’t, I mumble, “I’ll, um, see you back at the room—er, in the bungalow.”
She offers a faint smile but doesn’t say anything else as I force myself to turn away from her. And… Jesus, what just fucking happened here? I stumble out of the little hut and onto the jetty, blinking back a wave of emotion that’s even more overwhelming than the vast, dark ocean I’m surrounded by.
Did that really just happen?
Six years… gone?
I don’t know what to say or do, only that I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, just like I did to get out here in the first place. And yeah, also cling a little desperately to the hope that she’ll change her mind or I’ll come up with something, some idea, some change to suggest, that will change it for her.
I can’t lose her. I can’t—
“Hey!” A deep voice yanks me from my thoughts so abruptly that I stumble, forcing my eyes to focus on what’s ahead of me instead of down at my feet. “Be careful. You shouldn’t be out there.”
Shit.
Shit.
I forgot all about the fact that someone followed us out here, and now he’s a lot closer than he was before—already halfway down the jetty and closing in on me fast. Except… oh, God. It’s not just some random staff member from the resort. It’s freaking Henry. Hot Henry, Sophia’s ex. Hot Henry who’s pinning me with a really intense look that, for a moment, makes me think he’s pissed.
Then I realize that no, he’s something else. Concerned? Something that makes a shiver go through me that has nothing to do with the balmy night air.
He certainly lives up to the name Yaz and I gave him, wearing a casual but elegant linen suit that looks mouthwatering on him and shoes that are probably made from expensive Italian leather or the hides of baby alligators or something… which I only notice because those expensive shoes are splashing through salt water, making me wince at the idea that he’s ruining them and it’s my—well, our—fault.
“Cade, right?” he says as he gets closer, his frown hitting me hard for some reason. Probably because it feeds into all the conflicted, horrible feelings in my chest over whatever just happened with Yaz.
“Hi, yeah, sorry,” I mumble, my eyes suddenly stinging as I look away from him. Except that leaves me nothing to look at but the ocean around us, which almost gives me a sense of vertigo. It was calm when we came out, but now it’s getting choppy. Angry.
Or maybe that’s just me?
There’s no denying that the beach behind Henry is still too far away, though, and besides, it doesn’t look like safety. It looks like nothing but more darkness.
I quickly look back at Henry, because the only other choice is to look out over the water, and absolutely not.
“We were just, um,” I pause when he stops a few feet in front of me, jerking my thumb back toward the little hut as I try to explain. “Yaz and I were talking, and… and, um…”
