“You don’t like it?”
“I love it.” She was stammering. Overwhelmed. “That’s not the point.”
“The fact that you love it is exactly the point. And if you’re worried that you don’t have any occasion to wear it, then don’t. I’ll take you somewhere you can wear it.”
He made her feel special. Or maybe it was the way he was looking at her that made her feel special. But underneath the euphoria that came from being with him, something else lurked. Questions. What did it mean? What happened next? “I don’t know what to say.”
“You say thank you. That’s it.”
“But—”
“You’re worried it comes with strings attached? You think I’m giving you this so that I can have my evil way with you?”
“You can do that for free.”
“Damn. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
The humor in his eyes made her feel better and she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
“Thank you.”
She wished she could switch off her brain. She wished she could stop asking herself what it all meant.
They wandered back to the harbor and when they’d had enough of dodging tourists, they visited the house where she used to live. Frankie was surprised to find it looked different from how she remembered it. The freshly painted outer walls gleamed in the hot August sunshine, and a bright red swing took pride of place in the garden. She thought of all the times she’d returned home with a sense of dread, never knowing what mood her mother would be in, and realized that the dark times had colored the house in the mind.
“It feels strange being here. It’s not how I remembered it.”
“Things rarely are.”
She stepped away from the house and breathed in the sea air. “I’m almost sorry to be going home.”
“Me, too.” Matt turned her to face him. “We can come back again anytime you like.”
We.
The word made her catch her breath.
She’d never been a we before. Or an us.
It felt as strange and unfamiliar as the light press of the necklace against her skin.
Seeing her mother’s life crumble had made her determined to forge an independent life, and she’d done that to the detriment of her relationships.
Before they left the island they made one more visit, this time to Matt’s parents.
“Aren’t they going to think it’s strange you being here and not staying with them?”
“My parents understand that I don’t want to have scorching sex under their roof, and anyway, they had a houseful of friends this weekend.”
“That’s what I remember most about your house growing up. It was always full of people and your mom was always cooking.” But she wondered what Lillian Walker would think of the fact that her son was involved with a Cole.
As it turned out his mother was a
s warm and welcoming as ever, and if she guessed at the change in their relationship, she didn’t comment.
They ate lunch in the pretty garden, home-cooked food that Lillian threw together with the effortless ease of someone who entertained regularly.
“How was the wedding?”