“Oh, yes, she is,” Wolfe says and kisses Luna’s cheek. “They’re both just too stubborn to admit it.”
“I should go, too.” I can’t stop the yawn, so I don’t try. “I have a long day at work tomorrow, as well. I wish Gordy could find more help. As it is, we’re all working doubles right now. And I don’t mind so much, because the pay is great, but I think we’re all going to burn out quickly, and the summer isn’t even here yet.”
“When school gets out, you’ll have more summer help,” Luna reminds me. “Just a couple months left to go.”
“That’s true, and I can’t wait.” I stand and gather my purse, and Tanner joins me.
“Let’s go,” Tanner says, holding his hand out for mine.
“You guys didn’t drink much,” Luna points out.
“We have to get our girls home safely,” Wolfe reminds her as we all walk outside after waving goodbye to the owners behind the bar.
Once in Tanner’s car, we’re quiet as he drives us home. Nothing is far away in Huckleberry Bay, but I enjoy the drive with the window rolled down and the cool ocean breeze blowing in on my face.
Of course, I had the ocean air in California, but it’s not the same as the Oregon Coast. It’s just not quite as magical.
I can’t help but wonder if I’ll be embarrassed in the morning by the encounter with Tanner in the hallway tonight. I don’t think so. I wasn’t lying when I told him that I’ve decided to shed the feeling of shame or uncomfortableness when I’m with him.
And I feelsomuch better now that I’ve let that crap go.
No, I’m not embarrassed at all.
Tanner parks and cuts the engine, but neither of us makes a move to get out of the car. Instead, we sit in the darkness, watching the stars in the clear sky in silence.
Until he reaches over and simply takes my hand in his, pulls it up to his lips, and kisses my knuckles so tenderly, it almost brings tears to my eyes.
“I thought of you often.” His voice is soft, breaking through the stillness. “Do you know how difficult it is to live in this town, where all of our memories live, without you here? Even if we weren’t together anymore, it would have been so much easier with you here, because I know that even then, we would have remained friends, and I could talk to you about stuff.”
“I’d like to think that would be the case.” I press my lips together. “I’m sorry, Tanner. For all of it.”
“Let’s be honest, Sarah, it was my fault. I was the idiot who broke things off and went back to college, thinking that I was free as a bird and could do what—and who—I wanted.”
“How did that work out for you?” I can’t help but glance his way, watching the cringe on his handsome face.
“Let’s just say that I discovered what it means when they say,if you water your own grass, it’ll be as green as the grass on the other side of the fence.I should have fed the relationship I had withyou.It was great, and I didn’t even know what I had until it was gone.”
“You were nineteen.” I squeeze his hand, then turn in the seat so I’m facing him. “You were a kid, Tanner. A boy, and it makes sense that hormones were raging, and it wasn’t easy to be faithful when you were hundreds of miles away. At least you had the decency to break it off with me before you started something with someone else.”
He frowns, still staring through the windshield. “It didn’t occur to me to do anything else.”
“And that’s why you’re a good man. You did the right thing, Tanner.”
He turns to me now, scowling. “How can you say that? I broke up with you, and you married the next guy to freaking smile at you.”
“Wow.” I suck in a breath and let it out slowly. “First of all, I’m not stupid. Yes, I was young and flattered that an older, wealthy man wanted me, but if I hadn’t wanted to be with him, I would have said no. I didn’t do anything that I didn’t want to do, and it had absolutelynothingto do with you.”
“I didn’t mean for it to sound that condescending,” he admits, shaking his head. “I just meant that the rebound guy is the one you ended up marrying, and he was a complete asshole to you.”
“How do you know that?”
His mouth opens and closes for a moment, and then he sighs. “It’s a gut feeling. You came home without much of anything to your name after being married for more than a decade. You were sad, Sarah. You seemed so injured, more than from simply deciding to end a marriage.”
“I think ending a marriage all on its own would be pretty damn sad,” I whisper, but then I shrug a shoulder. “But you’re right. It wasn’t a good marriage, from pretty much the minute we left Huckleberry Bay.”
“Then why did you stay so long?”
“If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that question…” I shake my head and watch as an owl flies overhead and lands on the roof of my little house. “I’d forgotten about the wildlife around here. It’s so cool. Anyway, in the beginning, I felt stuck. I don’t have parents that give a rat’s ass about me, and he wasexcellentat isolating me from my friends and everything I loved here. He had the money and the power.”