neighbor didn’t sleep with me, something bad might happen to me.”
I squinted. “You’re so full of shit.”
He chuckled. “Okay…but if I break a leg tomorrow, that’s all on you.”
We stopped as we reached my house and stood at the bottom of the stairs. We had to have walked five or six miles, yet I could have kept walking for another five talking to him—it was just so easy to do.
“For what it’s worth, you should be proud of how you’ve handled things since the accident—especially your sister. You might not have done everything perfectly, but she seems like a regular nineteen-year-old who’s pretty well adjusted.”
“Yeah. I had a lot of help, and it wasn’t always pretty. But I wound up in the right place, even taking a different path than I’d expected.”
Modesty was another quality I found attractive in a man. Why couldn’t Ford be an egomaniac?
“Even though I’m divorced and starting over at thirty-seven, I wouldn’t change a thing either.”
“You see? We’re not as different as you think.”
Maybe not in values, but an entire generation gap stretched between us. “Oh yeah? Who’s your favorite musician?”
“I listen to everything. But I’m into Jack Johnson right now.”
“Never heard of him. My favorite band growing up was The Backstreet Boys.”
Ford shrugged. “That’s not a difference. That’s an opportunity to share new things with each other.”
“I don’t have an Instagram or SnapFace.”
“You mean SnapChat.”
“Whatever. I just proved my own point. I don’t even know what social media is called anymore. Are you on Facebook?”
“No.”
“Let me guess, because Facebook is for old people?”
“No. Because we don’t know my mother’s passwords, and when I had an account, it kept sending me reminders of stuff with her tagged after the accident.”
Shit. Now I felt awful. “Sorry. I didn’t realize.”
It had grown dark, and Ford and I lingered at the bottom of my stairs for a while longer, but eventually it felt like I needed to call it a night. I thanked him for joining me on my walk.
“Hey!” he yelled up as I reached the top step. “Have dinner with me tonight?”
I frowned. Not because he’d asked, but because I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.
“I can’t.”
“Have plans already?”
I shook my head.
“Too tired from your drive out and our walk?”
I shook my head again. “I’m sorry, Ford.”
He gave me a sad smile. “It’s okay. I’ll wear you down. I don’t give up easily. Goodnight, beautiful.”
Chapter 10
* * *
Valentina
I heard the music from my kitchen and assumed people must’ve come to the beach early today. Stirring my coffee, I found myself singing along as I went to enjoy the morning view with my cup of caffeine on the back deck.
A shirtless Ford held up a mug as I walked out. “Morning, neighbor.”
What a view, alright. I could get used to seeing that every morning.
“Good morning.” I forced my eyes back to the screen door to slide it closed and then turned to look out at the beach, shielding my eyes. It took me a minute to realize no one was out there yet, and the music was coming from next door. I squinted at Ford. “Backstreet Boys just happens to be playing this morning at your house?”
He grinned and waved for me to join him over on his deck. “Come have your coffee with me and listen to my new favorite band.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Come on. I downloaded two full albums.”
I laughed, but went to join the crazy man on his deck anyway.
Boy.
Crazy boy.
I walked down my stairs, took a few steps on the sand, and went back up his stairs to the deck. When I reached where Ford was sitting, he stood and took my mug from my hand, setting it down on the table.
“What was your favorite song? Wait…let me try to guess… ‘I Want it That Way’?”
“Nope. But I think that was their most popular song.”
The song ‘Everybody’ was currently playing—it had a disco dance rhythm to it, and Ford took my hand and led me into a twirl. I giggled when he then took a turn at twirling under our arms.
“I’m not a great dancer,” I said.
“No one’s watching, I promise.”
We fooled around dancing for the rest of the song. It felt really good. When the next one came on, he still had my hand.
My eyes lit up after the first few bars. “This is it! This was my favorite song. It’s called ‘Incomplete’.”
“Yeah? Well, then we definitely can’t stop dancing yet.” Ford tugged my hand, and I practically tripped into his