Other than a few moments of apparently unnecessary panic, Seth had to agree. It had been a good day. Maybe that was enough for now. If they concentrated on making every day as good as it could be, maybe every tomorrow would take care of itself.
He glanced across the table and saw the smile on Abby’s face.
“How about it?” she asked. “You ready to go with the flow?”
“It might never work out,” he warned.
“That’s a given,” she said. “Come to think of it, that’s life.”
He drew in a deep breath and decided taking the risk was worth it. “Okay, then. I’m all in.”
“No more talk of heartbreak and imminent disaster?” she teased.
“I’ll do my best,” he promised.
“Not good enough. You have to put those things out of your head and live in the moment.”
“You’re asking an awful lot,” he complained.
“But just think of the rewards.”
“Rewards?” he repeated, intrigued.
“Just wait and see,” she taunted. “You won’t be disappointed.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, his blood suddenly pumping a little faster at the promise he saw in her eyes.
Even though he’d just agreed to a go-with-the-flow approach with no demands or expectations, Seth had the feeling that he’d just jumped feet-first into forever.
* * *
Despite his commitment to live in the moment, Seth couldn’t seem to silence the occasional dire warnings about heartbreak and disaster. Abby got into the habit of putting a finger to his lips to silence him.
For the most part, though, she could see the effort he made to put aside his reservations and get into the spirit of this new approach to their relationship. For several days after their heart-to-heart conversation, things were almost perfect. Abby hadn’t laughed this much in a very long time. Who knew that outrageous flirting could be so much fun?
Of course, the fact that Seth seemed determined not to take advantage of any of the openings she was leaving for him was getting under her skin, especially with only that connecting door between their rooms separating them. One of these days she was going to lose control and burst through that door in the middle of the night and climb right into his bed and have her wicked way with him.
“The man is making me crazy,” she admitted to Hannah one afternoon when they were alone on the porch at the inn, sharing iced tea and friendly conversation. It was almost like old times, which encouraged Abby to confide her frustrations about the pace of her relationship with Seth.
“So you lied to him when you said you weren’t looking for anything more than here and now?” Hannah asked.
“No,” Abby insisted. “That much was true. I just want more intimacy here and now.”
Hannah laughed at her frustration. “Isn’t it awfully soon to think about getting involved with someone? The ink’s barely dry on your divorce papers. And no matter what you claim, if you and Seth have sex, you will be involved with him.”
“Marshall and I were separated for a long time before those papers were even filed,” Abby responded. In fact, even when they’d been living under the same roof, the separation between her and Marshall had been insurmountable for months.
“Okay, let’s forget that nonsense you spouted to Seth in an attempt to settle his nerves. Are you looking for a fling with Seth or something more permanent? Be honest,” Hannah commanded.
Abby gave the question a moment of serious thought. Before she could reply, though, Hannah continued.
“It sounds to me as if you’re just ready to cut loose and have some fun,” she told Abby. “And while there are plenty of men who’d be eager to take you up on that, I don’t think Seth is one of them. Underneath all that teasing is a decent guy who’s looking for happily ever after, whether he’s ready to admit it or not. I can feel it when he’s hanging out with Luke and me. He wants what we have. I see it in his eyes when Kelsey and Jeff are around.”
“Seriously? I don’t see that,” Abby said, struck by Hannah’s perceptions. They contradicted everything Seth himself had claimed.
“Maybe you don’t want to see it,” Hannah suggested.
“I swear I’m just going by what he’s told me.”
“He’s lying to himself,” Hannah declared convincingly. “That’s what men do when they’re afraid to give in to their emotions.”
As much as she’d wanted to believe that, too, at one time, Abby found it hard to accept. “He sounded pretty sure of himself.”
“So it’s okay with you if this never goes any further than a fun flirtation or maybe an affair?” Hannah asked. “That doesn’t sound like you, either.”
“I need it to be me,” Abby told her. “I need to be where Seth is.”
“Interested in a fling and nothing more?”
“Exactly.” Abby sighed. “Look, I do know that there could be all sorts of complications with having a fling, especially here in Seaview Key.”
“More to the point, I think there are complications to having a fling with a man like Seth,” Hannah said. “He’s capable of loving deeply, Abby. That’s what he had with Cara. It’s what he deserves again. So do you. Neither of you should be settling for less, no matter what you tell yourselves.”
Abby was forced to admit that her friend had a point. A man who’d loved, heart and soul, shouldn’t resign himself to a meaningless affair. She deserved better, too.
But the timing for a serious relationship for either of them was clearly all wrong. Seth was still clinging to his grief. She was still wounded from her disaster of a marriage.
“Do you think Seth will ever truly get over losing Cara?”
“First I think he has to get over the guilt,” Hannah replied. “People keep calling him a hero for all the rescues he made, the people he saved. He can only see the one person who was lost, the woman he loved and wasn’t there for. A man like Seth doesn’t get over something like that. I’m guessing that he keeps things light
