The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,146
that she’d gotten involved with the boy she’d given her virginity to in a tree house when she was in high school.
She’d once said they’d laughed about that through the years. It probably wasn’t so funny anymore.
He managed a smile as one of the patrons of The Daily Catch recognized him and said hello. He would’ve waved, but he had his hand cradled in his lap, a towel wrapped around it so that no one could see the blood seeping out from under his makeshift bandage.
Autumn had to be even more blown away that Nick was back than he was, he thought after the customer was gone. But...was she happy about it? She had to be, didn’t she? How happy? Would they just drive off into the sunset and leave him to put the pieces of his life back together after it had collided so hard with hers?
What else could they do?
Quinn wished he still had a chance with her, but she wouldn’t break up her family, even if she would rather be with him. What they’d had was intense and wonderful—euphoric, at times—but it had been short-lived, probably too short to put him in any kind of position, except that of the guy who was going to lose her.
“Fuck,” he muttered as the picture of what he wanted for his future blurred together in his mind and drained away.
His phone kept going off—his father trying to see how his finger was, no doubt. He appreciated the concern, but he couldn’t talk to either of his parents right now. He needed some space.
When his phone signaled yet another text, he decided to let his dad know that everything was fine.
But the message wasn’t from his father; it was from Autumn.
Can we talk today? Maybe after you get off work?
He considered pretending he was at the restaurant, as she expected. He felt a little silly that he couldn’t even work. But wondering what was going on in her mind was eating him up inside. If he had the chance to talk to her sooner rather than later, he was going to take it.
I’m at the beach. Are you free?
She didn’t respond immediately. He watched all the people who were playing in the surf and the sand or just sunbathing around him, while remembering that first morning, when he and Autumn had gone swimming and she’d let him remove her bikini top. He’d thought he’d been through a lot with Sarah, and he had. His marriage had been a nightmare, especially at the end. But this was, in ways, worse, because he could only accept what Autumn decided. He couldn’t fight for her as he wanted to, not without making things worse for her and her kids.
Finally, he heard his phone buzz.
I’m on my way.
It took fifteen minutes before he spotted her walking toward him wearing a pair of shorts, a tank top, flip-flops, a large-brimmed hat and sunglasses. He wanted to get up and walk toward her—rush to her, actually—but he could tell just by her body language that he’d guessed correctly. She was going to stay with Nick.
The hard thing was that he couldn’t even blame her. It would be the best thing for her kids.
He turned his attention back to the sea and kept it there, even when she sat down beside him.
“You’ve got your work clothes on, and it’s like a hundred and fifty degrees out here,” she said. “What are you doing?”
“Just thinking.”
She indicated the towel wrapped around his hand. “What happened?”
“Nothing big. It’s just a scratch.”
“Let me see it,” she said.
He shook his head. “You can’t see it. I taped it closed.”
“Do you need stitches?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“You’re sure.”
He wasn’t sure of anything, but that had much more to do with her than his hand. “Of course. It’s not a big deal.”
She sighed as she gazed out to sea. “I’m sorry, Quinn,” she said. “I’m so—” her voice broke “—sorry.”
“I know,” he said. “You tried to tell me Nick could come back. It’s my fault for assuming he wouldn’t.”
“I quit believing it, too,” she admitted as a tear ran down her cheek.
“I love you,” he said, suddenly unable to hold the words back. “I know I’ve never told you that before. Seems a little crazy that I would feel that strongly when we haven’t been together very long. But it’s true. For what it’s worth, I love you.”
She wiped that tear before it could fall from her chin. “I know,” she said. “I love you, too.”