If for Any Reason (Nantucket Love Story #1) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,56
seemed shallow.
“But Jimmy helped me with that,” he added quickly. “Taught me that sometimes you have to lose everything in order to figure out what’s really important. Not an easy lesson to learn. Especially because I hadn’t put any time into the things that mattered, like Jolie.”
She was quiet for several seconds, then finally glanced his way. “I’m sorry, Hollis.”
He shrugged as if it meant nothing, when really it meant everything. “It was stupid. I should’ve listened. I should’ve been done right after the accident instead of trying to come back and be the hero.”
Maybe then he’d have figured out years ago what really mattered. But that’s not what he’d done. He’d been so pigheaded, so stubborn, so prideful, that he’d ignored everyone’s advice.
And what had the extra time in the majors gotten him? A whole lot of heartache and a hip and leg that would always cause him pain.
“So they asked you to retire?”
He nodded, doing his best not to remember that moment. The results of his random drug test in the hand of his manager. The signed confession of the doctor who’d been fired that morning. All of it was a black mark of shame on an otherwise-shiny record.
“I got to leave with my reputation intact, though,” he said.
But what good was a reputation when everything that was important was gone?
She had more questions, he could tell. But that’s not how the game worked. She wasn’t allowed to probe him—all she could do was let him talk.
And he was done talking. “Anyway, that was a heavy way to start out the morning.”
“Maybe, but I’m glad you told me.”
He turned slightly to get a better view of her. “You and your stupid game.”
Her laugh was barely audible. She faced the water and inhaled the salt air. “It sure is beautiful here.”
He took her in, studying her profile. “Sure is.”
When she glanced back at him and found him watching her, he imagined it was clear to her that he wasn’t talking about the sunrise.
So many thoughts tumbled around in her head as she stood next to Hollis on the beach. They were in almost the exact same spot they’d been when he’d kissed her for the first (and only) time all those years ago, and he’d just told her something almost no one else knew.
They’d been languishing somewhere out in the strangers-who-used-to-be-friends zone, and now she felt closer to him than she did to just about anyone else in her life.
She wanted to ask more about Jolie. She wanted to know how a father could abandon his daughter—she wanted it out there because maybe it would put things into perspective for him all over again, but more so because it might clear up a few things for her. After all, she’d always wondered how her own father could’ve abandoned her.
But he’d gone quiet. At least for now.
“That lady from the arts center wants me to head up a children’s production,” she said, figuring that was a safe topic to discuss on the beach at dawn, watching the sunrise with the handsomest man she’d ever met.
“Yeah?” He angled himself toward her. “You gonna do it?”
She shrugged. “Should I? I mean, I didn’t come here to revive a children’s theatre.”
“No, but you can’t hang around the house all summer.”
“Why not?” she asked, not letting on that she knew he was right. She was so bored already.
“You’d just be in the way.”
She laughed and gave him a shove. “I’ll have you know I took set-building classes in college.”
“Oh, really? I bet those safety goggles were good and sexy.”
She laughed again. “I was actually pretty terrible at it. I just wanted to be onstage.”
A thoughtful look washed across his face. “I wish I could’ve seen you onstage. I bet you were amazing.”
She tossed him a glance. “Hardly, but I really did love it for a while.”
“You don’t anymore?” His eyes were so earnest.
“That’s a secret for another day, Mr. McGuire.”
He lifted his chin in mock surprise. “Ah, so that’s how it’s going to be.”
She smiled. For a split second, it felt like old times. Maybe old times weren’t all bad.
“Come have coffee with me,” he said. “Mom will force-feed you waffles and Dad will bore you with the latest news from Wall Street.”
She studied Hollis for a few long seconds and realized that if she went with him, her heart would be in danger.
Protect your heart.
“Thanks for the invitation, but I should head in,” she said. “Get ready for the crew.”