do you mean? Like at all?” I didn’t like that thought. Everyone should know how to swim. Teaching her would take priority.
“Austin, my mother barely fed us,” she chuckled. “Swim lessons certainly didn’t make the cut.”
I squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her the best way I could.
Seaside, Oregon, was going to be the next town and Cannon Beach would be a few short miles after that. Being nervous hadn’t really ever been my thing, but I’d literally disappeared two years ago. Gone off the grid. Lost touch with just about everyone. I hadn’t been back to see my parents. I hadn’t been back to see friends. Everyone was going to be here. Everyone.
Our home was big, to say the least. The most photographed home on the beach. Perfect view of Haystack rock. Six doors down from the Hendricks’. Their driveway was packed with cars as we drove past.
“Holy buckets, Austin. How rich are you?” Her eyes peered out the windshield as she leaned up toward the dash to view the house.
“Does it matter?”
“This is the most beautiful home I’ve ever seen.” Her lips parted as she stared at the enormous house. My first thought was to kiss the perfectly plump and parted lips, but she had kept her distance today for some reason. I didn’t want to intimidate her any more than I already had. As cliché as it sounded, the ball was going to sit in her court until she was ready to volley. It would be hard, but I’d sit back and wait. And hope.
The smile that stretched across my mother’s face as she waddled out to the car brought instant regret. I should have come home before—two years was too long.
“Here we go,” I said to Phoebe and grinned. “Meeting the parents.”
“Oh God. My heart is pounding.”
My mom went straight to Phoebe’s side of the car.
“She loves hugs.” I barely got the words out before Phoebe was exuberantly engulfed in Mom’s arms. Phoebe’s wide eyes latched onto mine.
“Welcome. We are so excited to meet you. You’re only the second girl we’ve ever met. For him to bring you from Texas...” that pause hung in the air as my mother winked at me and came around to my side, pointing a finger into my chest. Phoebe’s gaze fell to the ground. I knew what was going through her mind.
“And you. I’ve missed you.” Her familiar scent reminded me of home. “Your father is out back. Let’s go introduce this beautiful girl to him.”
I left the suitcases and walked with them to see my dad. Mom stood between us, or I’d have taken Phoebe’s hand. If she was half as nervous to see my dad as I was, she would need it. His expectations of me were different than they’d be of her. From the second I was born, there was motive and intent behind every move he made in my life. A pawn in his game of life. My life.
Joe, my security detail in Dallas, basically went undetected, but I knew he was there. Always. I didn’t ever want Phoebe to see him. I didn’t want her to know. I knew he’d followed us the entire way here.
The moment I spotted my father, I noticed he was grayer in the little patches of hair on the side of his head. Thank God, humans get their hair from their mothers. He’d been bald for as long as I could remember. Mom opened the French doors and the breeze busted through the room. Sliding right in next to Phoebe, I slipped my fingers into hers. When her grip tightened, I squeezed her hand in return. Hand telepathy.
“Father,” I said, drawing his attention.
“Son!” The inevitable handshake and pull-in for a hug. A couple of forceful pats to the back. Then a kiss to each cheek. Every damn time. “You must be Phoebe.” He extended his hand to her, kissing each of her cheeks. “Welcome.”
Phoebe’s gaze drifted to my father and then focused behind him as she said, “thank you,” and stared at the ocean. I’d completely forgotten this was her first time to see the ocean. I held up my index finger to my father, who had raised his eyebrows, and then walked her to the edge of the deck. Tears pooled in her eyes.
“Phoebe?”
“Austin.”
“Talk to me.”
“Why in God’s name are you in Dallas? This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The sound. The smell. All of it.” She drew in the deepest of breaths.
“Why are you crying?”
“She