‘Exactly,’ I reassured him. ‘There’s only one person to blame, and that’s the guy with the knife.’
‘I know. I blamed myself at first, but that wasn’t fair. I’ve accepted what happened. That nothing I could have done would have changed the outcome.’
‘Thank you, for telling me. I’m sorry if I pushed you into it.’
He shook his head again. ‘You didn’t. I wanted to tell you. I need you to understand that I look out for Hannah as a way to honor my friend. To do this last favor for him.’
‘I do understand.’
‘And I really am sorry.’
‘For what?’
‘Stuffing tonight up so spectacularly.’
‘It was a bit of a disaster,’ I agreed. ‘As far as non-date dates go.’
‘For the record, I wanted it to be a date.’
‘Then why didn’t you just say so?’
‘I didn’t want to scare you off.’
‘Do I seem like the kind of woman who scares easily?’
‘No,’ he admitted. ‘You don’t.’
I took pity on him. ‘I’m not completely blameless either.’
‘You’re not?’
I shook my head. ‘I wanted it to be a date too, although I told myself I didn’t.’
‘Why would you do that?’
I sighed loudly. ‘Good question. And one I was trying to figure out the answer for the whole time I was sitting here waiting for you.’
‘And? Did you figure out the answer?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘We’re as hopeless as each other, then.’
‘Seems that way.’
‘Where to from here?’
‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘You’re a complication that I didn’t plan for.’
‘I’ve been called worse.’
I laughed, because if I didn’t, it felt like I might cry instead. ‘I’m only here for a few weeks.’
‘You keep saying that.’
‘Because it’s true,’ I insisted. ‘Pine Harbor is not my future.’
‘Why do you hate it here so much?’
