“Everything okay?” Rowan called after him.
“No,” he said. “Not even close.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re leaving?”
“I have to fix something.”
“You missed a call. Not a heart transplant.”
He spun around. The wind whipped some strands out of her topknot. Her nose was a shade too pink. Sunlight danced off the droplets on her bare skin. Why did this woman frustrate him, yet make his fingers itch to touch her? His temper flared. “You think this is about a call?”
“Pretty sure it is.”
He barked a laugh with no humor in it. “No, it’s about the thing that pays for my daughter’s education, and the roof over her head, and fancy dinners like the one you enjoyed the other night. It’s about the thing that keeps me sane.”
Rowan didn’t flinch, or snap back. “Funny, you look the opposite of sane right now.”
He felt like one of those old cartoon characters with smoke coming out of his head. How was she able to push his buttons with one comment? He opened his mouth to set her straight, but Kelsey’s shout carried from the water: “Dad! Did you see that?”
He hadn’t.
The truth hit him like a clean right hook. Sharp. Fast. And impossible to ignore.
He’d shown up anyway and still managed to miss it. This plan wasn’t working, splitting himself in two to please everyone. He needed to commit to the job, and Kelsey would be fine.
“Kels! I’m sorry, honey, I have to go back. You did great.”
She flicked the water off her face and gave a half-hearted smile. “I understand! Bye, Dad.” Without another look, she went back to the water and it was all forgotten. She was used to him leaving. And damned if that fact didn’t piss him off more.
He dragged a hand over his face. “I can’t do this,” he said, mostly to himself.
Rowan stepped closer. Was that a flash of sympathy in her green eyes or just the sunlight? “Do what? Be human?”
“Be distracted! Be irresponsible! I haveresponsibilities, Rowan. You have none.” He stopped, breath rough. “You make me forget mine.”
She jerked back and her face shut down. Everett could literally feel the wall between them, the wall that had been lowered during dinner and the hike, hinting at the possibility of more. Making him lose sleep while he thought about her. “That’s not on me, Mr. Hale.”
Oh, he hated when she called him that. Not once had his first name been uttered by her lips, making it almost a battle between them. The fantasies he’d spun about kissing her and hearing his name whispered with need wafted away like smoke. Everett stared at her for a few moments, their gazes locked in some battle where he still didn’t know the rules, and then he turned on his heel and strode up the beach. Sand slipped in his shoes. His shirt stuck to his chest, damp with sweat. Now he’d have to change and take up more time.
This was what happened when he let the wrong things in. When he let himself want more than control.
He started the engine, drove away, and didn’t look back.
Chapter Thirteen
“Hey, do you want to hang with me tonight? There’s a small get-together with surfers I know. Some younger girls will be there.”
Rowan didn’t know why she’d suddenly decided to go. Or why she invited Kelsey. The lesson had been strong, but after Everett left, Kelsey got quiet. Rowan found her furiously texting and swiping through her phone, a dark cloud replacing the light in her face she’d just had in the water. She had a sense it was either her father or friends back home bothering her.
“Really?” Kelsey perked up. “Brie will be there with her friends?”
“Yes, and my friend Lea. She’s a big star on the surf circuit. But we’re just going to have some fun and be super casual. I can drive you back.”
“Yeah, that sounds amazing.” She nibbled at her lower lip, unsure. “But I don’t think Brie and those girls like me. I’m different.”
Rowan grinned. “Yep, you’re a kook. And everyone has to start like that.”
Kelsey giggled. “A what?”
