“Do you know you have a dimple when you smile?”
I traced my fingers over it. “I do. I got teased about it when I was a kid, especially by Jackson.”
“Jackson?”
“Well, I guess it’s Jax now. He changed his name. He’s a friend. I mean, he was a friend when we were kids. Some stuff happened with his dad, and he left suddenly when I was fifteen.” I paused, knowing what usually happened when I said the words I was about to say. “He’s married to my mum now.”
His jaw fell open. “What?”
“Yeah, yeah, my mum married my childhood best friend. Yes, she’s older, yes, I’m fine with it, yes, they are annoyingly happy, and no, I don’t want to know anything about their sex life.”
He laughed. “I take it people are interested when they find out that your mum’s a cougar.”
I dragged my hand over his face. “Please don’t call her that.”
Before either of us could say anything else, a waitress appeared, carrying a tray with legs and placing it down on the sand between our loungers.
“Here you go,” she said. “Michael put some Cokes on there too. He also said he’s settled the bill, so you two can just enjoy your evening together.
I thought about correcting her and stressing that Finn and I just worked together, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t leave my mouth, and before I knew it, it was just the two of us again.
Finn shuffled in his seat, looking between the tray and his outfit as if he was trying to work out how to sit without spilling food down himself. I leant forward.
“Let me make you a plate. I don’t want you getting hangry as I’ve let you go too long without food. I mean, you did warn me, and we must be entering a danger zone.”
Finn’s face fluttered with that expression again. The one I couldn’t place, but I liked seeing it on him. Maybe he wanted someone to take care of him. And I didn’t hate that it was me doing it right now.
“Thank you,” he replied as he watched me pile the plate with food before handing it to him with a napkin. For the next half an hour, neither of us spoke other than to make groaning noises at how good the food tasted. Finn finally gave in after I tried to refill his plate for a third time. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“No, then I’d catch a bee and train it to sting you.” I was smiling so much my face hurt.
“Touche.”
“Sorry. I’m on a fish high. I may be giddy until it wears off.”
“Good to know... fish makes Jasper happy.”
I let out a contented sigh as I settled back into my seat and looked out at the waves. “Diving used to be my life.”
Finn reached for his drink, taking a sip before he unpicked my comment. “Used to be?”
“I mean, I won’t get to do much in my new job.”
“So why take the job?”
“People expected me to advance my career. I couldn’t just be a marine biologist. I needed to take a more senior role.”
“Says who?” he questioned.
“I mean, it’s what people do, isn’t it? In a normal life—they move up the career ladder, get married, have kids, buy a house.”
He shuffled under his blanket as if he was chilly. “Not if you don’t want to.”
I batted the air as if I was slapping away his argument. “Enough about me. Tell me something about you that’s not work-related?” I could sense the shift in him instantly, and I wondered if I’d overstepped the mark. But this was ‘normal’ conversation, wasn’t it?
“I used to live a very different life. I had a different job, but it was unsocial hours and, honestly, it was a lonely life. No one wants to be with someone who works every night or who’s exhausted all the time.”
I wondered if I should pry and ask him what the job was, but I got the impression he didn’t want to share, so I said what I was thinking instead. “They would if they cared about you. They’d want to take care of you.”
