“Live ones don’t either. They have no defense mechanism against predators except to hide in the sand,” I explain and it makes him smile.
“I love that you know all these weird facts.”
“I love that you called me perfect because I’m far from it.” I had no intention of blurting that out but there it goes, flying out of my mouth before my brain can stop it.
One of the other surfer guys yells his name. I can’t make out their faces from here, but I’m sure I know them. I know almost everyone in Ocean Pines. “You coming to breakfast, Mav?”
He shakes his head. “I’m gonna go straight to work from here. Later guys.”
“You can go, Jake. I’m sure you’re hungry,” I say and start to walk away.
“I can eat at the fire house.” He falls in step beside me and for ten paces we both say nothing, we just walk the velvety wet sand, as the edge of the surf dances over our toes. “Where’s the boyfriend? Not into some early morning beach combing?”
“Did you know the larvae of the sand dollar are able to clone themselves?” I ask.
“Don’t distract me with your hot nerdy girl facts, Terra Hawkins,” Jake says sternly but he’s grinning and oh my God, with the coral colored sky bouncing off the tanned skin covering his high cheekbones I’m just… enamored. And it’s wrong and dangerous. It did teenage me exactly zero favors to fall head over heels for Jake. “Where’s the boyfriend?”
“He had a name. Tom.”
A charcoal eyebrow lifts. “Had? And yeah I know his name I just don’t like him enough to use it.”
Now both of my own eyebrows raise. “You can’t dislike him. You don’t know him.”
“I can and I do,” Jake replies defiantly. “I am an excellent judge of character. He isn’t good enough for you.”
“I have three brothers and a dad. I don’t need another overprotective, testosterone-filled protector in my life. It’s not eighteen-eighty-one, Jake,” I reply and stop walking, turning my body away from Jake to stare out at the waves as they crash. “Anyway, it’s over with Tom. Ended last night.”
“You broke up? Last night?”
I nod. There’s silence. I don’t want to look up at him. And then I hear a chuckle. A fucking laugh! So I can’t help but snap my head up to look at him.
“Of course you did. Of course you’re single now. Not in June, but now.”
“What are you talking about?” His smile has turned trite and he’s looking up at the sky like he’s arguing with the universe.
He sighs, runs his hands through his wet hair and then faces me again. “What happened? He made you cry.”
“Don’t all people cry when they break-up?” I reply.
He shrugs those broad, neoprene covered shoulders. “I don’t. I’ve never dated a girl who has.”
“Not in front of you,” I correct him but I hate myself for it. I do not want to discuss his past relationships. Especially not now when I feel so vulnerable. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Tom, okay? It’s over and in all honesty, it’s for the best. Even if it sucks.”
I start walking again but all of a sudden his arm is around my shoulders and he’s pulling me into him and I’m tingling all over at the feel of his body against mine. “Let’s sit. Talk.”
The beach in Ocean Pines is wide and long. When it’s low tide, it creates a bit of a sandy hill to get back up to the board walk. Jake walks me halfway up the hill and stops us. Slowly, I let him turn me toward the water and pull me down to the sand. Now we’re sitting side-by-side staring at the rolling surf, his arm still around me. “I hate that you cried over him.” His statement is startling, mostly because he says it in such a deep, low voice, stuffed with emotion.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know. You’re the strongest Hawkins. Also the prettiest, but don’t tell Finn I said that,” Jake replies, and when I steal a glance up at him he winks. I smile and swallow down a laugh. His arm around my shoulder tightens. “A smile? Wow, it’s almost like you’re happy I’m home.”
“I never understood why you left,” I confess. Afraid to keep looking at him, I lay my seven sand dollars out in front of my crossed legs.
“There’s not enough time to really get into that since, as you mentioned earlier, I have to be at work for my first shift in twenty-five minutes,” Jake replies quietly. “I got a new place too and I’m supposed to swing by and grab the keys.”
Now I can’t help but look up at him again. “So fast! Man, Logan has been searching for his own place for like a year and you’re back fifteen minutes and snag one.”
“I lucked out. Friend of a friend knew a guy,” Jake explains. “I actually got it lined up before I even got here. You should come by and see it sometime soon. It’s right on the water.”
