Page 37 of Fools in Love

The scar looked a million times worse than her little L-shaped one, making her feel foolish for the slight vanity she’d felt earlier when he’d traced it with his fingertips.

She traced the jagged white skin with her fingertips and when she reached his ribs, he sucked in a breath.

“This is more than just skin deep.” She turned again until their eyes locked.

“There’s nothing really there. Under there is fat, a few smaller muscles, bone. Which wasn’t affected.” He shrugged. “Thirty-six stiches, some antibiotics, and I was good to go. Compared to your months of physical therapy and possible lifelong limp, my incident was a cakewalk.” He took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips. “Want to take another dip?” He motioned to the water.

But it had already cooled off. The sun had shifted and gone behind one of the tall rocky walls that closed the cove off from the Pacific.

Shaking her head, she sighed. “I’m tired and a little cold.”

He reached over and handed her clothes to her. “We can head back?” he suggested.

She stopped him from standing up by placing her hand on his arm. “Tom, thank you for today. It’s been my first full outing since coming home.”

He smiled at her and nodded quickly, then he pulled on his shorts and started to gather everything up.

When he helped her back into the rubber raft, she took one last look at the cove and tried to sear every detail into her brain, not knowing if she’d ever return to this spot.

Getting up the ladder to the sailboat was somehow more difficult than going down. Finally, Tom flipped her over his shoulder and went up the ladder as if she weighed nothing.

She laughed when he set her down gently on the bench.

“You could be a fireman instead of a police officer,” she joked.

His smile didn’t reach his eyes, but he chuckled softly. “My second choice in careers.” He pulled up the raft.

When he was done deflating it, she asked, “You never did tell me why you picked Pride. I mean, you said it was luck, but why did you stay?”

He glanced over at her as he rolled up the raft. “That’s an easy one. Your family and the rest of the people in Pride. They saw that I was broken and set out to fix me, even when I didn’t want to be fixed. For the first year after moving to Pride, there wasn’t a day that went by where my doorbell didn’t ring. Someone was always dropping off meals or delivering baked goods or even offering to lend a hand fixing up my place.” He chuckled as he pulled up the anchor. “I swear I thought there was a sign on my back that said ‘in serious need of help.’” He sighed.

“That’s one thing that has stuck with me my entire life. Whenever you need something, all you have to do is ask anyone in Pride.” She smiled. “You know how normally there is always that one gang of bullies in every school? Not here. At least not in my class. We all knew one another and still reach out to chat. Even now, besides a few rotten apples, there isn’t anyone in town that wouldn’t gladly give a kidney to another.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s why I stuck around. I’d never realized I needed that in my life before. Not until I came here.” He steered the sailboat farther out.

She frowned. “Why are we heading out to deeper water?”

“We’ll catch the north wind back to Pride. It’s usually about half a mile out.” He motioned to the horizon.

Suddenly, she was worried. To get to the cove, they’d stuck close to the shoreline. Now, he was talking about taking them much farther out.

“What if the wind isn’t there?” she asked.

“Then we use the motor to get back. It will take us a little longer, but we’ll still get home.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ve done this many times, the north wind is always there.” He glanced off the boat as if he could see the breeze already.

She held her breath until she saw the massive white sails fill with a gust of air. When the boat took off, heading back down the coast, Tom smiled over at her.

“It’s colder.” She felt a shiver race up her spine.

“Northern winds usually are. There’s a blanket underneath the seat.”

She quickly pulled a wool blanket out and wrapped it around herself and instantly felt better.

“So, what do your folks think of you moving out again?” he asked once they were on their way.

“I think they’re happy to get their room back.”

“What do you have to move in? You mentioned that Nick is lending you a hand.”