Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,81
Maybe even relocate your business to North Carolina?”
“I honestly haven’t thought that far into the future,” she admitted. “There wasn’t any reason to. I thought we were just starting to test the waters, find out if we had anything left.”
“Do you at least agree that we do?” he asked.
She walked around the bed and sat down beside him. “How could I possibly deny that? The sex has been amazing.”
The frown on his face only deepened at her words. “That’s all this has been for you? Great sex? I thought we were reconnecting on a whole lot of levels.”
Now she was frowning. “Why are you deliberately misunderstanding me? Do you want this to turn into a fight? Are you hoping we’ll break up here and now, then go back to the way things were, not speaking or seeing each other? It would make your life less complicated, wouldn’t it? No problems with Jodie. No worries about B.J. getting hurt.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said irritably. “Didn’t I just suggest marriage?”
“But when I didn’t leap at the suggestion, you started picking at things, Boone. You’re trying to make me feel guilty because I need time to see how this can work. There are a dozen practicalities we need to consider.”
“And I think if you were really in love with me, you’d commit to marrying me, and we’d figure out how to make it work.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No,” he said flatly. “I’m saying I love you enough to take a huge leap of faith into the future. You’re saying you’ll see how you feel once all the details are ironed out. This is exactly the way it was ten years ago.”
“It is not the same thing at all,” she said emphatically. “And I’m being reasonable,” she added, though her voice rose to a very unreasonable pitch when she said it.
“I guess that’s one perspective,” he said, yanking on his shirt and shoving his feet into his shoes. “I’ve got to pick up B.J. If I don’t see you before you leave, have a safe trip.”
Emily stared at him incredulously as he headed for the door. “That’s it. You’re just walking out?”
“I have to pick up B.J.,” he repeated. “And it wouldn’t hurt for me to cool down. I’d say I’ll have that accomplished by New Year’s, which ought to fit into your schedule perfectly.”
“You’re being a stubborn idiot,” she called after him.
“Pot, kettle,” he retorted, his voice fading as he went downstairs.
She heard his car start, then peel out of the driveway, spewing gravel undoubtedly.
“What just happened here?” she muttered under her breath, clutching a pillow in her arms.
She and Boone had gotten back together, had a few hours of being closer than she’d been to anyone in years, he’d proposed, they’d fought and now they were broken up? Not likely, she thought angrily.
Though how on earth she was going to fix things, or why it was even up to her to try, was pretty much beyond her right this second.
* * *
“Daddy, you look mad,” B.J. said hesitantly when he crawled into the car after school.
Boone forced a smile. “Not mad, just preoccupied,” he told his son.
“Did somebody mess up?”
That was one way of putting it, Boone thought. Now that his temper had cooled ever-so-slightly, it was hard to say if Emily was the one who’d messed up, or if he had. He had an uncomfortable feeling that at least a share of the responsibility belonged to him. He’d pushed too hard. He could see that so clearly now without the leftover glow of mind-blowing sex clouding his judgment.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” he assured B.J. “Want to stop for ice cream to celebrate your first day back at school? I want to hear all about your new teacher and the kids in your class.”
“Can Emily come, too?” B.J. asked. “I have to tell her what the other kids said about all the cool stuff we bought on Saturday.”
“She’s working this afternoon,” Boone said automatically, not eager for another confrontation quite so soon.
“But I bet she’ll take a break if we call her,” B.J. said, clearly not interested in being put off.
“I said no,” Boone snapped, then sighed at the immediate rise of tears in B.J.’s eyes. “Sorry. I just know she’s busy, son. Maybe you can give her a call later on and fill her in. I know she’ll want to hear all about your day.”
“When’s she leaving?”
“I’m not sure,” Boone admitted. “Tomorrow, I think.”