“Is that it?”
“Yep. I never brought much.” Made sense. This was never a permanent move. All the toys he bought, like the surfboard and paddle board, would remain here for vacationers.
“Did you lock everything up? Take out the trash?”
“Shelley will send a crew by to clean up behind me.” Right. Of course. That’s how the rich do it.
“Well, you ready?”
He slid onto the seat beside me, and I pressed the pedal as he wove his fingers between mine. A low wave of emotion rolled in, and I choked it down.
“I didn’t like waking up this morning without you in bed.”
“Well, gonna have to get used to that.” I smiled a stupid smile and regretted my words when he studied me, probably searching for that emotion I squelched. “Sorry, bad joke. Luna and I had agreed to an early walk time. How’s your ankle?”
His jeans covered up his injuries from yesterday.
“It’s fine. My leg hair covers up the scabs. I look good as new.” His sexy smirk came out, and I focused on the road. I waved at a few people I recognized gathered outside on the lighthouse lawn. We came upon a slow cart, and the driver waved for me to pass. Instead of passing, I slowed down. We had time. We weren’t in a rush.
When we arrived at the marina, I pulled right up to the side, so he could easily unload his luggage. While he handed it off to the ferry personnel, I parked and met him over near the line for passengers.
“Sit with me for a bit?”
“Isn’t this your ferry?” I asked, puzzled because the proper process would be to queue up.
“I can get the next one.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. And, for him, it probably wasn’t. As a pilot, he planned to fly himself back, so he didn’t have to deal with the drudgery of a flight schedule like the rest of us.
He claimed the narrow wooden bench next to the ticket collector. I sat down beside him, and he wrapped his arm around me. I rested my face against his chest, below his neck, and breathed in his fresh soap scent. My arm wrapped around his waist. A few people standing in line watched us, probably because there wasn’t much else to look at. The ferry horn sounded, and everyone in line gathered their things, preparing to enter the departure deck.
“You know, you never took me for a ride in your plane.”
“Would you really go?”
“Well, yeah, it sounds fun. I mean, not the way Reed made it sound, but it seems like something that’s good to check off the list.”
“My mom has been promising to go ever since I got my license. She always seems to have a reason to not fly.”
“Oh?”
“Well, mainly she refuses to go with me and my dad. Says it’s too likely we’ll all go down together, and that would leave Lauren with no one.”
“Very considerate of her.”
“Yeah.” Gabe pressed his lips to the top of my head, and I felt it as a light pressure, but the gesture poured through me, warming me up from deep inside. “You’d really go with me?”
“Well, I would have.”
“You could go today. You could come up with me to New York. Can you take a few days? I could fly you back.”
“No, unlike you, what I do can’t be done virtually. And I have meetings to attend. We have photos we’re showing our designer and reviewing architectural drawings. I can’t…I need to be here. It’s too important. When do you plan on coming back?”
“I’m not sure. I have interviews scheduled on Friday.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. Dinner with one of the partners Thursday night. Full day of interviews on Friday.”
“Wow. Look at you. That’s amazing. No one knocks you down for long.” I sat up and patted his chest.
“I have connections.” He shrugged like it was nothing at all. I laid my head back down against him as the last of the two o’clock passengers boarded the ferry.
“Is the lawsuit gone?” I hadn’t fully understood his predicament, but it had stressed the hell out of him.
“No. But I have meetings tomorrow and Wednesday. I’m hopeful. Either it’ll go away pretty soon, or it’ll be one of those things hanging over my head for years to come.”
“That sounds awful. I hope that’s not the case.”
“You and me both. But we’ll see. I might have to pay some fines. My lawyers say prison is highly unlikely.”
“Well, why not go ahead and pay the fines and be done with it?”
“Because it doesn’t quite work like that. And I’m innocent.” The raw anger in his tone had me searching for a change of subject.
“Well, let me know if you want me to check in on your place or take care of it. My offer still stands.”
“Why don’t you move into it? It’s silly for you to be paying rent.”
“And, what, I’d be your kept woman, living in your place and available to you whenever you wanted?”
“Poppy.” He forced me off his chest and lifted my chin until my gaze met his. “It would never be like that. I get you want to do it on your own, but it’s okay to lean on others.”
“When you need to, yep. But I can afford my rent. Besides, there are memories of you everywhere in that house. I’d be sad every day.” Getting over him was going to be hard enough. Thank god I had the excitement of a new business to fill my time. With a gentle nudge, he returned me to my original position resting on his chest.
The rhythmic thumping of his heart settled me into a comfortable lull. An early passenger for the three p.m. ferry arrived. He dropped a heavy carry-on on the brick pavers, and it landed with a thud. The older man lifted a book with worn edges, opened it, and read. Eventually a family lined up behind him, and then a couple of Delphina’s servers. We
