“No.” She shook her head and her cheeks pinkened a little more. “It was fine. It was a beautiful day. But I panicked when I couldn’t see anything but water. I don’t know why. Everyone thought it was funny, but I was terrified.”
“Ah.” He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
“I felt like we were lost. It’s so huge and endless, you could get lost so easily.”
“You can get lost anywhere.” You could get lost in life.
Their eyes met. “I know.”
Nate dragged his gaze away from her and back out to the ocean. “Kind of funny how all my pictures are of water.”
“But it’s calm water. I don’t know how you do that. Your pictures make me feel…I don’t know…soothed. Like the ocean is scary but it’s calming, too.”
“I use a really long exposure. It smoothes out all the little ripples and waves on the water. Of course, I do wait until it’s very calm. Sometimes I wait days for the right conditions.”
“You’re very patient.”
“I guess.”
“Not like me.”
He grinned, hugged her gather. “No, definitely not like you, Miss I-Want-It-Now.”
She cuddled into him and smiled. He liked that she didn’t take herself too seriously. “I guess we should head back.” Regret slid through him.
It took them longer to get home than they’d anticipated and Derek was already there, for a change.
“Where the hell were you?” His eyebrows pulled together.
“We went for a bike ride.” Krissa smiled down at her water-splotched sweater. “We walked out on the Breakwater and it was so fun! The waves were huge. And we went to the zoo.”
“The zoo?” Derek looked from Krissa to Nate. “Seriously?”
Krissa glanced up and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Derek shook his head and scowled.
She studied him for a few seconds. “I’ll go change and then make dinner.”
She started to walk away. “Krissa. Wait.” Nate stopped her. She turned and looked at him, brows raised.
“Don’t just walk away.”
Her eyes flickered. “What do you mean?”
Nate took a step toward her, stopped. “I mean, Derek is clearly pissed off about something. Make him tell you what it is.”
She licked her lips, eyes darting between him and Derek. Nate, too, shot a glance Derek’s way. His scowl had deepened. Then her eyes came back to Nate. “I don’t want to.”
“I know.”
Their gaze held and he willed her to stand up to her husband, to not let him get away with acting like an asshole for no reason.
Krissa turned to Derek. “Okay. I’ll ask again. What’s wrong?”
He said nothing. His jaw tightened.
“Oh, Derek.” Her shoulders relaxed and she went over to him, put her hands on his waist. “Just tell me. Are you mad at me about something? Because I wasn’t here with dinner ready when you got home?”
