Evan stared at the abundance and laughed. “Are you planning to spend the rest of the week here?”
“I said we’d be killing a few hours,” Nate reminded him with a chuckle.
Olivia popped open the bottles of wine while Isabella laid out a blanket on the sand. “I like to be overprepared.”
When they’d filled their bellies with a sampling of everything, the others waded back into the water while Evan pulledon his sandals. He was curious to explore this little paradise, and the adventure gave him an excuse for some solo time.
He couldn’t seem to shake the lingering weirdness from before. Tormenting everyone with terrible jokes had helped a little, but he could still feel it rumbling beneath the surface. It was disconcerting. And that felt like something Lennox would say, which made it evenmoredisconcerting.
What the hell was going on? This honeymoon was supposed to be a battery recharge before getting back to his life, and that meant his life as it had been, just minus the wife. Right?
Right?
Then he’d gotten here and thought maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to turn his public persona off for a couple of weeks. This was a rare opportunity to just exist, and he’d be crazy not to take it. Though he’d have thought differently if he’d known every day would bring him closer to an existential crisis.
Things had been going just fine. After years of busting his ass, he’d nearly reached the top of the food chain, and that meant Lucy could shove her opinion of his priorities into the back of a Volkswagen. He wasn’t letting her judgment or anyone else’s send him rolling back to the bottom.
Evan stubbed his toe on a branch and hissed through a litany of curses. The foliage had grown dense farther from the beach, and though it was passable, it required more concentration than he was currently capable of.
The bouts of emotional introspection were distracting and becoming more frequent. They needed to fuck off before he lost a toe to something bitey in the underbrush. Or worse, developed a conscience.
He took several more branches to the feet and face before eventually breaking through at the base of a jagged path that ascended a steep but climbable hill. He wasn’t at all dressed for hiking, but going back and pretending to be in the mood forpolite conversation sounded worse than skinned knees. Plus, he figured the view at the top would be worth it.
There, his thought process had come full circle.
He traversed the path of loose rocks, sand, and dirt, grateful for something to focus on that didn’t involve his failures as a son or husband—fake or otherwise.
Less than twenty-four hours had passed, and he’d made a fucking mess of what had started to resemble a tentative friendship. He and Heath had finally been acting like normal people without a comic book vendetta. Then he’d gone and reminded the guy of why the chip on his shoulder hadelitist assholescarved into it.
He reached the top with only a few minor scratches and took in the 360-degree view of clear sky and sparkling water. As expected, totally worth it. If only he could apply that confidence to everything else that lay ahead of him.
A boulder surrounded by sandy grass made for the perfect lookout spot. He climbed onto it, pulling his legs into his chest so he could hug his calves and rest his chin on his knees and just be.
When he’d been a kid, he’d take off into the woods surrounding his father’s house and lick his wounds in the shade of the massive trees. This felt similar. Instead of the quiet solitude of shade and songbirds, he had a sea breeze and the crashing of waves.
The echo of voices from below reached his ears in fits and starts, but the surf garbled whatever they were saying. All he heard was boisterous laughter. Pure, unfiltered happiness.
“You mind some company?”
He startled, unaware anyone had followed him. “Yeah. Sure.”
Heath approached, taking a seat on a smaller rock about a foot away. Just far enough to be out of cooties range of the rich dickhead. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, so why was he there? Had someone put him up to it? Probably. Isabellaand Olivia and their well-intentioned meddling, trying to get the newlyweds to kiss and make up.
“They tell you to check up on me?”
The corner of Heath’s mouth curled a fraction of an inch upward. “No, they’re three sheets to the wind and looking for shells. I don’t think they even noticed you’d left.”
Ouch. “You really know how to make a guy feel special.”
“I brought you some sunscreen.”
Double ouch. His streak of being an asshole remained intact. “I’m fine, but thanks.”
Heath’s eyes met his, and the processing of Evan’s thoughts came to a grinding halt. They were so goddamn blue. Even more so against the backdrop of the sky and water. Swirling prisms peering out from beneath windswept dark hair.
“You’re really not.”
He blinked. “Huh?”
