Go Away, Darling - Alexis Anne Page 0,61

much, too different. I couldn’t blame past me for feeling scared or skeptical. I needed time. And now that I had it, combined with finding a piece of me I didn’t know I needed to find, I felt excited and confident to see where this next chapter took us.

“This a good spot?” Chris asked as he pulled the boat as close to the tiny speck of beach as possible.

“Yep. Anchor here. We won’t be here too long.” We secured the boat, shed our outer layer of sun protection, and waded into the beach. “Summer and I used to race each other through the hammock.” Cayo Costa was a state park so it was mostly mangroves and tree hammocks surrounded by beaches. There were a couple of houses, wild boar, an old cemetary, and camping though.

“I don’t have anyone to race since I don’t have a brother or sister.” Linc looked pointedly at me.

“I’ll race you!” Chris moved between us, ending the staring match.

Thank goodness. I could only imagine what would happen if Linc decided to clue Chris in on his plans now. I followed them close behind until we burst from the hammock out onto the much wider, sandier beaches of the island’s west side. Linc immediately went running down the beach, hands in the air as he screamed at a seagull.

The wind was strong as usual, whipping around us as we wandered. “Game tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Three game home stand. You coming?”

“You pitching?”

He paused and grinned. “That sounded almost like a dare.”

I shrugged. “It’s just more exciting when you’re in the game.”

“Well you’re in luck. I’m the starter tomorrow.”

“Well then I guess we better come.”

A look flashed through his eyes as they wandered over me. It was a curious look. “How have you been? Really?”

I shuffled forward, toeing the soft sand. “Good. Now that I’ve had a few days to rest and relax I’m feeling really good, actually. Like everything is in front of me.”

“What do you mean?” He stopped to pick up an olive shell.

“When we met last year? I was living in the past. I didn’t know it at the time but I’ve had this slow realization ever since and now I can finally say that I’ve put the past where it belongs. Behind me.”

He stopped and turned to face me. “And what is this future in front of you?”

Did he realize he was standing in front of me? I didn’t think he did. It was an accidental physical representation of my thoughts. “I’m not entirely sure but I’m not going to use Linc as a reason why I can’t travel or work long hours or date who I want to date.” I held my breath after that. It felt entirely too honest and yet, somehow not honest enough.

“That’s great, Liv. Sounds like things are really starting to move in the right direction for you then.” He moved to the water lapping onto the sand, picking up and chucking a couple of broken shells into the waves.

I stood still watching him, confused by how I felt. Something in his words sounded wrong, made me want to protest and correct him, but I wasn’t exactly sure how. Things are moving in the right direction. That. Why didn’t I like it? It wasn’t wrong. Things were moving forward for the first time in a long time.

I followed behind him a few feet watching Linc run up and down the nearly empty beach with complete abandon. That’s when it struck me. For years I’d been standing with my feet in the sand, letting the incoming tide suck them deeper and deeper, all while I tried to keep everything in balance, not change too much, get through each day so I could tackle the next.

I was done living like that. I didn’t think I could go back.

I wanted to live like Linc, to not always be thinking about how every single thing I did might have a domino effect down the line. I wanted to run head first into my future with the wind in my hair.

So when we finally pulled back up to the dock at sunset and Linc had run off into the yard to play with Sheba, I handed up a cooler to Chris and blurted out exactly what I was thinking.

“I want to start dating again.”

He blinked at me, in a full crouch, cooler in hand. “I’m...okay...that’s good.”

“You. I want to date you. If you’re still interested.”

Understanding washed over his handsome features and he practically threw the cooler to