I grab my phone and keys on our way out the door. Stepping off the porch, I spy his car parked in the distance, also how it should be, and glance back. “Want to walk?”
“We can walk.”
There’s no rush in our steps, nerves making it awkward, or a pull to fill the silence. It’s notable, if not unusual, that we can be this comfortable together when we barely know each other.
The clouds have burned off, leaving us with blue skies, singing birds, and the ocean waves in the distance, if we listen.
We get past the lot the house sits on and walk next to the woods where we keep our secrets. At least some secrets. Others are becoming better known as Winter grows the honey business.
I peek over at Daniel when his gaze hooks on the houses across the street. It’s easy for anyone to be physically attracted to the man. From his face to his body, he’s practically otherworldly. But it’s the other parts of him, not the ones that are visible but who he is, that tug at my attention. Make me seehim. He’s a good father, willing to wake the world for his kid to use the bathroom. I smile, never actually upset to be woken for a good cause or desperate need. He’d do anything for his son, including pausing on giving him a sibling until a valued relationship comes along. That’s sweet in such an unexpected way.
Our dreams aren’t so different from each other’s. A significant other is the missing piece to making that dream a reality for me as well. But this is temporary. The whole reason rule three came into play. I can’t have him and thecottage. He’ll be back in New York City, and I’ll have my heart broken.
But he’s so flirty that my cheeks are in a constant state of blushing flux. It just feels good to be around him. The universe put the most perfect man right in my path, and I can only see a setup for heartbreak.
“It’s nice here,” he says from a few feet away from me with a kind smile that seems to be easy for him to summon when we’re together. “Peaceful. Was it a good place to grow up?”
“The best. It hasn’t changed much. We get shoddy internet, so more time was spent outside than indoors. Friends from school are scattered all over the county, so my sisters were my best friends. My parents, too. They always had something fun planned for us. My mom would sneak in and help us make a blanket tent so we could hide under it and tell stories. S’mores on a warm night down at the shore. We used to have a picket fence around the front of the house that my dad had us paint. Every picket was a random color. Didn’t matter how ‘girly’ it was, my dad loved to see us happy.” Swinging my arms, I step over the cracks in the concrete. “Dolly used to paint in the nude.” I laugh at the memory. “Don’t ask me why, but I remember walking in on her in the middle of what she called her ‘Cove Series.’ Each was an abstract portrait of a man she dated.”
“She’s quite the character.” The midmorning sunlight cuts through the trees to shine in his brown eyes, revealing a few stories of his own hidden inside.
“She is. She taught us never to be ashamed of being exactly who we are.”
“How’d that work out?” I can feel his gaze hot on me as if he sees through the front I portray.
Keeping my eyes ahead, I reply, “It’s a work in progress.”
“What others think doesn’t matter, Summer. Live life how you want. Do what makes you happy. We only get one shot at this. Might as well go for it.”
How does he manage to make me smile so effortlessly? I’m starting to think it’s going to be a permanent fixture on my face. “In other words, you miss every shot you don’t take?”
“Something like that.”
“What about you?” I ask. “Where’d you grow up?”
His gaze drops to the road beneath his feet. “Jersey City, but I don’t have many memories from there,” he replies, returning his eyes to meet mine. “We were rarely home due to travel league.”
“You’ve always been in the New York area?”
“I did a stint in Montreal my second season, then spent two years in Milwaukee before fighting my way back to the city to Brooklyn.”
“What do you mean?”
A horn blares behind us, causing us to scatter on the side of the road. I look back to see a van speeding toward us. Strong arms wrap around me so fast I lose my breath until he sets me down farther away from the pavement. When the brakes are slammed, the tires skid to a stop, and a window is rolled down.
I rush forward. “Why the hell are you driving like that?”
The guy inside laughs, the three hairs his head is holding on to blow back from the wind breezing inside the van. “Plumbing emergency. You know where a . . .” He looks down at an E-pad attached to his dash. “Cottage?—”
“Yes, that’s where we’re heading. I manage the property. It’s up ahead on the right. Drive with care this time.”
“Will—You got to be shittin’ me.” Snapping his fingers, he points over my shoulder. “You’re Daniel Sutton.”
I turn so fast to look at Daniel that my thoughts take longer to catch up. His eyes are secured to mine with some unreadable emotion trapped inside.Fear?Nah, what would he be afraid of?Remorse? We don’t know each other well enough to have regrets yet. Do we?Disappointment? It’s the only one I can’t justify my way out of defending him.
The emotion isn’t aimed at me, but more revolving through his expression in himself.
“Daniel Sutton, right?” The guy chirps at him in an annoying tone. “Am I right?”
