“Yeah. Once bitten, twice shy. I can see you’re hurt.”
“Was. Iwashurt.” Irritation flickered through him. “I am so bloody tired of telling people I’ve moved on. I’ve got an excellent life. I don’t want people’s pity. Or sympathy. I don’t want anyone to think I still love Fiona, because I don’t.”
Krista lowered her head, looking at the ground to where the crystal water gently lapped the stoney shore. Her hair fell to one side, exposing the soft skin of her neck. Could he kiss her there? Would that make it all better between them?
Her jaw tightened. “I didn’t like you pulling away from me. I guess I’m not used to people doing that when I’m offering comfort.”
Of course. That twat Ryan had been using her as an emotional crutch. But that’s not how Shane saw Krista. He wanted her for entirely different things—sexy, naked times, yes—but also for her laughter, her sweet sense of fun and daring. He liked the awe and wonder on her face as she took in a mountaintop view and how she’d catch her breath, still smiling, exhilarated after a steep climb. Always ready for more. Seeing her enjoy herself and knowing he had something to do with it made him feel good. It warmed the cooler areas of his soul, but Shane still struggled with hugs andthere-theres.
“Comfort feels too much like pity for me,” he said, “and I had enough of people’s pity last year.”
“But offering comfort is what friends do, isn’t it? And we’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, we’re friends.” He kissed her neck then. Partly because he couldn’t resist it any longer, and partly because he wanted them both to be reminded of what their special brand of friendship involved.
Krista leaned into him, but she didn’t turn her head, didn’t offer her lips. Instead, she lowered her gaze to the shoreline again. Shane went back to simply holding her.
What was she thinking?
And did those thoughts involve certain kinds of feelings that would make everything extra complicated and messy?
But that couldn’t be the case, could it? Not so soon anyway. Only this time yesterday, they’d still been two people who barely knew each other, playing pool at the Moose Head Lodge.
And two days before that, she’d been crying over Ryan and Shane had been hoping to get naked with Zoey, thinking she’d be the woman to end his self-imposed celibacy with, not Krista. So didn’t that mean that what his and Krista’sfriendshipboiled down to now was what it had boiled down to this morning? Their remaining time together should only involve good times, sexy times, fun and laughter, and pushing the real world aside.
Until Sunday.
Krista must’ve come to the same conclusion, because still she didn’t say anything. And she would’ve done, wouldn’t she? It wasn’t like her not to spill the thoughts in her head out into the air.
So, as the sky turned orange in front of them, Shane pulled Krista closer to his body and wrapped his arms around her. When she leaned back into him, he rested his head on hers, sealing the deal on their unspoken agreement to get back on track with beingfriends.
“You wanna hear what else happened on my wedding day?” he said.
“Your sister smashed a cream cake in your would-be mother-in-law’s face?”
“We didn’t get as far as the cake.” Shane chuckled at the image though, and just as he’d hoped, addressing the issue of his awful wedding day straight on eased the tension. “So, Claire was still off on one outside on the street, exchanging insults with Fiona’s aunt, who apparently said something about me maybe not being enough for her niece. I don’t know. And I don’t care, but Claire wouldn’t have it. She ended up backing Fiona’s aunt against this fountain...”
“Oh no.”
“Yep, she fell in. And that’s when all hell broke loose. Dad told me months later that he’d had to drag Claire away, kicking and screaming like a four-year-old, before anyone else ended up soaked.”
Krista giggled. The sound warmed his soul and righted the ground beneath his feet. It was freeing to laugh about a day that he’d once believed had destroyed his whole life.
“I like your sister,” she said.
“Claire needs her head examined.” But he liked her heaps too, and he couldn’t have survived those weeks after without her help—or rather her nagging and hassling to stop drinking, to stop sleeping around, and take control of his life again.
Claire had bridged the gap between the mess he’d been and the worry Mum and Dad had for him. After causing the shitshow with the press, she’d also helped deflect the many comments on his social media. It was only afterwards that he’d found out what people had written about him—McDermit, what a loser... Take your head out of the water, dude... How could you not know your fiancée was getting off with another man? Are you blind or stupid?
But now, as he held Krista and watched the sun set, all the crap of last year eased from Shane’s body. There were no more dark clouds. No more ghosts of girlfriends past between them.
“I’m sorry I upset you,” he said. “Can we go back to enjoying ourselves?”
She relaxed into him. “We already have.”
***
The sun slipping behindthe mountains painted the sky orange and purple. Whisps of deep red swirled amongst pink clouds, reflecting in the lake, and together with Shane’s warm arms around her, Krista was reminded to enjoy the moment. In the pool, immersed in warm water and drifting on the surface next to Shane, she’d never felt happier. Why ruin that happiness now by arguing? Or digging over a past that no longer really mattered?
