Her giggles pealed over the water. “Anytime, then.”
Derek leaned down and flicked some water up at her.
She shrieked and jogged ahead out of the splash zone.
He caught up. “I shouldn’t have called you a doormat, Ash.” Taking a deep breath, he considered his words. “I’m really sorry about that. You’re just a much nicer person than I am.”
The stars gave enough light for him to catch the soft smile curving on her lips. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think there’s some truth in what you said. It’s something I’m going to try to work on.”
“You don’t have to change, Ash. You’re perfect just the way you are.” Her quick look seared him. Okay, probably not the right thing to say. Friends, friends. “We all have areas where we can grow, of course. But maybe I was too quick to judge you.”
“You’re not the first one to suggest that I may have a failing in my inability to say no.”
“Well, like I said. We all have our failings.” He grinned at her. “Except for me, of course.”
Now the water came flying at him, and he let loose a surprised laugh as the cold hit his face. He had to rein in the impulse to grab her around her waist and fling her into the water. “Watch it.”
“Just trying to keep you humble.” She laughed, then grew quiet. “Do I have a savior complex, Derek?”
“I thought that was me.”
“Maybe it’s both of us.” Ashley stopped walking and turned to watch the water for a moment. “Seriously, though. I’m always the first one to step up and volunteer if no one else does. I don’t refuse anything if someone asks, even when I probably should. Right now I’m swimming in responsibilities and yet if a family member or friend asked me to help them in some way, I’m not sure I could find it in me to say no.”
“Like you said, you just love people. Ash, you’re one of the most selfless people I know. And that’s great. But maybe try putting yourself first sometimes.”
“And what exactly would that accomplish?” She walked back up the beach a bit, plopping onto the dry sand.
He joined her, making sure to put a good foot between them. “I don’t know. You’d actually get what you want?”
Ashley rubbed her elbows, a faraway look in her eyes. “That’s just not how it works for me.”
“What do you mean?”
Biting her lip, she glanced at the full moon hovering above them. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve known that it’s easier to help other people get what they want than to fight for what I do.”
“Example?”
She paused for a moment. “Okay. When I was eleven years old, it was my birthday weekend. And you know my mom—she always made a huge deal out of birthdays, letting me and Ben pick our own meals and our choice of activity on our special day.” Ashley tugged her knees against her chest. “All I wanted to do was go as a family to see the latest Disney movie at the theater. But Ben was invited to a friend’s birthday party, and Dad had something come up with his construction business, and Mom had to help him. She said we’d reschedule, and we did celebrate with pizza and a cake the next weekend, but we never saw that particular movie until it came out on video.”
It must have been a powerful memory for her to still talk about it with such resignation in her voice. “That stinks. I’m sorry.”
“It’s just how it is.” Finally, she glanced at him. “Now it’s your turn. Why do you feel like you have to fix everything for people?”
“Guess I haven’t really psychoanalyzed myself.” He paused a beat. “But if I had to hazard a guess, it probably started when Mom left. Dad was a shell of himself for a long time, and the girls were too young to help out, so I just started learning the business and doing what I had to do to get us through.”
“Weren’t you only nine?”
“Ten.” It was so long ago, and yet like Ashley, he recalled certain things with aching clarity. “I remember one time when I was working with the cellar rats, trying to heft this barrel, and I just couldn’t do it. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, I started crying really hard. Jorge found me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes, and told me that someday, I was going to be the man of the house. And that, while it was okay to cry in private, I needed to be strong for my sisters.”
“What an awful thing to say to a kid whose mom had just left.”
He smiled at the way her spine had stiffened in defense of his childhood self. “But he was right. From then on, if I didn’t know how to do something, I figured it out. That made me strong.”
“There’s nothing weak about asking for help, you know.”
“That’s probably something we both need to learn.”
“Hmm.” She laid her head on her knees, her face turned toward him, lips tipped downward.
And man, what he wouldn’t give to turn that frown the other way. To see her light up, the spunky woman he’d always known her to be.
A plan formed in his mind. “I know we don’t have a movie theater in town and that I’m not your family and it’s not even your birthday. And at the risk of sounding like Mr. Fix It, I’m going to ask you a question. I want you to answer as honestly as possible.” He inclined his head toward her. “Ashley Baker, what do you want, right here, right now?”
“What?”
“I mean it.” He waggled his eyebrows. “The world is your oyster—which is a terrible metaphor, by the way, because oysters are disgusting.”
She laughed, her eyes twinkling. There was that spark. Now to coax it out.
“For real, though. What do you want to do tonight? Call up
