“Yes.” She wanted to add more, but the truth was there wasn’t anyone else local. She had friends from Harvard she stayed in touch with, but they were scattered around different states.
“Willow is a nice girl. She’ll still be your friend if you move away, heck she’ll be vacationing with you when she finds out you’re on the beach.”
Leah laughed. “Yes, you’re right, she will be.”
He pushed her hair back from her face and cradled her head. “It’s a sudden idea, but it’s not a totally batshit-crazy idea.”
“It feels it.”
“So let it bounce around for a while. Settle.” He kissed her. “I have to leave.”
“You do?” Her heart sank.
“Yeah, my work is in Clement, remember? Hudson needs me there for a job that’s going down.”
“Sounds suspect.”
He shrugged. “It’ll pay the bills.”
She gripped his forearms. “I don’t want you to go.”
“So come with me.”
“I can’t … not yet.”
He was quiet. “Think about all of this for a few days, on your own. With a clear head.”
He stepped away, and it was as if there was a gaping chasm in front of her. One she didn’t want to fall into. She felt hollow, empty, and it was because he was leaving.
How can I have fallen so hard and fast for this man?
She knew why. It was because he’d made her feel special and safe, and beneath his hard exterior, he was a decent human being.
“I’ve put the plug back in.”
“In what?”
He shrugged into his cut and slid his Glock into the back of his pants. “The VW. It’s working just fine.”
“And you expect me to thank you for fixing something you broke?”
He chuckled. “Guilty as charged.”
He didn’t kiss her again. Instead, he set his blue gaze on her, as if soaking her up, drinking her in. Then he turned and walked from the house.
Instantly, the silence was deafening. She did hate this place, never had she admitted it, even to herself, but it was as if all the hopes and dreams she’d had for it had died with her mother. Perhaps she would never be able to truly move on in her grief while she still lived within these four walls.
Her father had moved on, and she didn’t blame him for re-marrying. Maybe it was time for her to. He didn’t need her because he had Ellen. And in all honestly, she didn’t need his judgments or meddling in her life. Either of their judgments and meddling.
The beach house.
Just thinking of it put the sound of the ocean in her ears and filled her nose with fresh salty air.
She walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside to watch Carter leave.
His movements as he climbed onto his bike were swift. She didn’t know if that was because he didn’t trust himself not to come back to her, or if he really was in a rush to get to his club brothers and their business.
What she did know was that she wished she was going with him.