She skimmed the surface of the water with her hand, letting the silk flow through her fingers even as the memories flowed through her mind. “My last boyfriend was when I was in college. Christian.”
Tyler was quiet, eyes on her, waiting for her to tell him more.
“He was a basketball player, one of the best on the team.” She’d met him in the gym while working out their sophomore year, and they’d started dating a few months after that. “We were both busy. He traveled a lot with the team, and I was taking hard nursing classes and was studying all the time.”
“But you liked him?”
“I think I loved him.” She couldn’t keep her tone from growing wistful. He’d been a good guy, super sweet and caring, even if he’d been obsessed with his basketball career.
“What happened?” Tyler’s voice was soft but held an intensity that told her he wanted to know everything, that he didn’t want her to hold back any longer.
She liked when Tyler shared with her. Maybe she needed to consider being vulnerable with him in return. It was what friends did.
Still, she hadn’t opened up to anyone in a long time. Only Pippa.
“You don’t have to say anything—”
“Near the end of my senior year, we discovered Madison had acute myeloid leukemia. So I broke up with Christian because I didn’t want to be distracted in helping to take care of her.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Christian took it better than I expected, probably because he’d already made plans to play professional basketball in the Euroleague.”
Tyler’s scowl fell into place. “So he let you go without a fight?”
“I don’t blame him at all. I let him go without a fight too.”
“He didn’t ever contact you again?”
“We met up a few times when he came home on breaks, but I was too distracted by everything going on with Madison and had nothing left to give him. Eventually we fell out of contact. Last I heard a couple of years ago, he got married.”
Tyler studied her face, his expression gentling. “He’s a jerk for giving you up and for not being there with you.”
She sighed. “We had a battle ahead with Madison, and I didn’t want to ask him to walk through that with me.”
“The right man would be willing to walk through anything with you.”
“Maybe. But Madison had already struggled with other health issues over the years, so I knew the work would be intense if we had any hope she’d make it.”
Kinsey could admit that Madison’s many childhood illnesses had been part of the reason why she’d chosen to go into nursing. She’d always wanted to find more ways she could help, always wanted to be the one by her sister’s side.
“Madison was determined to beat the leukemia,” Kinsey continued. “She stayed in school for months, even though she was sick and nauseous and fatigued most of the time.”
“She sounds like a brave young woman.” Tyler’s statement was heavy with compassion.
A lump rose swiftly into Kinsey’s throat, but she pushed past it. “Watching her waste away and knowing there was nothing I could do was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.” Her voice wobbled in spite of her effort to keep it steady.
He sat up and shifted forward as though he intended to cross to her and offer her comfort. But then he stopped and held himself back, a man of his word, unwilling to cross the invisible line that he’d drawn in the pool.
The need for his comfort rose swiftly within her. She’d never gotten that from Christian, since he’d walked out of her life the way she’d asked him to. She’d certainly never gotten it from her parents, because they’d been too busy fighting over Madison. Of course, Pippa had been there during Madison’s last year, offering encouragement and support. But that had been in the form of pep talks about staying strong and pushing forward.
Kinsey had been strong and had pushed forward. She’d done it for Madison, who’d told her not to give up and to live life for them both.
Now, with Tyler watching her so intently and so compassionately, she wanted to simply lay her head on his shoulder and let him hold her. In fact, her body suddenly ached with the need for someone to lean on who cared about how she felt.
Without giving herself a chance to second-guess her decision, she glided across the water toward him. As if sensing her need, he stood and opened his arms. In the next moment, he was embracing her, his arms surrounding her, his body cushioning her.
She slid her arms around him too, letting his solidness seep into her.
