His fiery eyes watched mine. “So you can write it down in your little notebook and use it against me?”
I tried unsuccessfully to bite back my humor. Surprise, perhaps even shock, made my heart stutter. Graham had never spoken so openly with me. He’d never shared exactly what he was thinking outright. In the subtlest way, he’d turned my bait against me.
I wanted this game. I wanted to play, and desperately. “I won’t.”
He faced the sea again. “I have a hard time believing you.”
“I do not blame you. But I’d rather like to hear what you have to say. I won’t write it down.”
He eyed me carefully, cautious and obviously wary of my promise. “Very well.”
We looked away from each other, anticipation warming the space between us on the blanket. What would he say? If it wasn’t embarrassing or strange ... if he said something just to charm me again ...
“I ...” Graham shook his head, then crossed his legs.
I waited with bated breath. Whatever he was about to say pained him, and stupid as it was, I’d never wanted a secret more. Graham was a gossip paper. A mystery to unfold. Waiting for his words was like unearthing a fossil on a beach in Lyme.
He drew a very long, very deep breath that he huffed out. “I wear ... spectacles. To read.”
I threw up my hands. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, is that all?” What a show he’d made for something so common. To think I’d thought him interesting for a half a second.
A crease formed between his brows, confusion writ upon his features.
“Put them on, then. Let’s see them,” I said. He owed me that much for ruffling me so.Graham Everettin spectacles. I could not picture it.
“No, thank you,” he said. “I do not like to wear them.”
“But you have them on your person?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his spot. “Of course. I need them to read.”
I widened my eyes, waiting. This was perhaps the longest conversation we’d had in a solid year.
“Must you always have whatever you want?” he muttered through evident frustration, patting around the chest of his tailcoat and waistcoat. Then he undid a few buttons of his coat, reached in to what I assumed was a little pocket, then pulled out his hand, and there they were.
His spectacles were round, bronze circles. The sides were the same color, stretching out and forming a curl at each end. I shrugged. Why did they embarrass him so? “Those look like my father’s. Put them on.”
He tossed them into my lap. “Youput them on.”
I let out a laugh. “Saucy, are we?”
But Graham just shook his head and watched Tabs fill up a little bucket with shells. “I won’t be made a fool.”
“Oh, you do that already without the spectacles.” Perhaps that barb was too far. Too mean. But honestly, how boring could he be? Business, business, business, and never any fun.
I unfolded the arms of his spectacles. His lenses were thin and unscratched and clearly well cared for.
Was this odd? Me, trying on Graham’s spectacles? Surelyhewas the odd one, always so rigid but playing sweet and oblivious. Why would he hide such a silly thing as wearing spectacles?
Let him think of me what he would; at least I could say I hadn’t anything to hide. I curled the edges of his spectacles around my ears and pushed the frame up the bridge of my nose. They were too large for my face, so I leaned my head back just enough to hold them on. Everything turned blurry.
“Ah, yes, the view is much improved. I much prefer Brighton from this perspective.” I pushed them down to the tip of my nose and glanced at Graham.
He was watching me with a raised brow, humor evident on his quirked lips, but he swiped the smile away with a hand. “Are you satisfied now?”
I pretended to pout. “No words of flattery? With how freely your prose flows, I should think you had a whole book of poetry at the ready for such an occasion.” I took off his spectacles and handed them back to him.
“I am honestly at a loss for words,” he said, pulling out a small square of cloth and wiping his spectacles down as though I’d tainted them.
