Reclaimed Hearts: A second chance, forced proximity romance

Beyond the Breakwater

Reid’s eyes narrowed. “I’d rather not talk about Storms at all, thanks.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but I closed them briefly and groaned inwardly instead. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

He froze, his mug lifted halfway to his mouth before he lowered it slowly. Heat flushed into my cheeks as I thought about the car all over again.

“Reid…” I started, almost wanting to change the subject now. But I couldn’t. I brought it up. I had to see it through.

His face gave nothing away. Not a single clue as to what he was thinking. I couldn’t tell if he regretted what happened, if he had been happy with it, or where he stood at all.

But then… he licked his lips, tucking the bottom one in, and taking a big, deep breath before closing his eyes for a brief moment.

He knew exactly what I was talking about. And it affected him the same way it affected me.

I wanted to jump off of my stool and launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him until the name Declan Storms was a distant memory.

Yet, I stayed still. Waiting. Wondering if he would make another move.

He looked up and moved his mug away from him, resting his forearms on the countertop instead.

“What about the night before, Reid?” I prompted, wanting him to think of all the times recently that he acted like a boyfriend, not a housemate. I wanted him to remember how much he loved me. How much I had loved him.

I needed him to know that I still loved him. I just couldn’t figure out how to express it without getting my heart shattered all over again if he didn’t feel the same way.

His eyes searched mine, like I held all the answers he was looking for. “You scared me, Marlowe. I came home expecting you to be at work, where Norah said you were. That’s why you didn’t come with us, right?”

I nodded, not wanting to interrupt him. And not wanting to tell him the truth of why I went to the beach in the first place. How jealous I had been. How I let my emotions make decisions for me, which lead to horrible repercussions.

“When I came in and heard noises, I figured you had just gotten back. But when I realized what was going on… my heart dropped. My entire world stopped. I didn’t know what to do. I thought you were physically hurt and I went into some sort of autopilot. And then… when I saw you laying there absolutely broken… Marlowe, I…” He trailed off and my heart ripped open all over again. The agony on his face was devastating.

I reached over and laid a hand over his, which he grabbed and squeezed like he was siphoning all my energy to save his.

“I have never seen you so upset, Mars. And there was nothing I could do about it, which made it worse. I wanted to beat the crap out of Storms, but… but you said stay. So I stayed. No question about it.” He lifted his eyes to mine. “I promised you once that I would always be there for you, Marlowe. Whenever you need me, no matter what. It’s a promise I’ll never break.”

I remembered his promise. He made it last summer, when a huge thunderstorm hit the island and I freaked out, my storm anxiety at an all time high. I hid in my closet as the wind whipped against the house, rattling the shutters. Then, out of nowhere, like a superhero, Reid appeared, soaking wet in my doorway. He had hurried over and sat next to me on the closet floor, wrapping me up in his arms and covering my ears. He had launched into a comical story in order to distract me from what was going on outside. It was then that he had also said those same words—“I’ll always be here for you, Mars. No matter what.”

Did promises like that hold true when we weren’t together?

Reid stayed silent, now looking down at the rings on my fingers, examining them as if he had never seen them before. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier. And I’m sorry for being the one who hurt you, too,” he whispered.

“You didn’t…” I started, before realizing what he was talking about. He apologized for not being here earlier in the summer for my birthday. The crash with Declan. To stop it all before it even began.

But he was apologizing for hurting me last summer. When he broke up with me.

He let go of my hand and pushed his hair off his forehead. A tiny water droplet fell, splashing onto the counter next to my arm. He squeezed his eyes shut, like he was in pain, before responding.

“Mars… I… Honestly, nothing this summer is going according to plan. Once I got word that the guys at home were all headed to Beckham’s family cabin on the lake for the summer, I spiraled.”

My heart plummeted. Every thought about me, about him and me, about the two of us, flew out of my mind as I pictured Reid back at his house. Alone. This wasn’t about me anymore. I had been focused on myself for so long now, that I never stopped to think about him and the circumstances leading up to his unexpected arrival. “They were all headed to the cabin, and you…”

“Weren’t invited. Yeah.”

“So you…” Full sentences weren’t needed anymore. We were both on the same page, playing catchup with each other.

“Threw a bunch of stuff into a suitcase and booked the first flight to the Cove.” He paused, his eyes searching the kitchen now instead of me. He took a deep breath before continuing. “I wasn’t thinking. I just knew that I couldn’t stay home anymore. My gut instinct said to get to the Cove and figure out my life when I got here. I blocked everything else out.”

Just when I didn’t think my heart could shatter into any more tiny pieces, I was proven wrong once again.

“You blocked it all out? Reid, you blocked me out. All year. I could have been there for you. I wanted to be there for you. The first thing you could have done when you came here was to find me.”

He dropped his head into his hands, his fingers pulling on his curls before he slid them down and scrubbed at his face. “I screwed everything up, Mars. I know I did. You don’t even know how many times I grabbed my phone to call you. To send you a text. I just… I couldn’t. It hurt, Mars. And I know I have no right to say that, since I was the one who broke up with you, but it’s true. But please, please, don’t think that I didn’t think about you. All the time. Every hour of every day.”

How could he say that? “Were you even planning on seeing me when you got here? Or would you have avoided me?”

“I was going to see you. I just didn’t think it would happen as soon as I walked in the door.” He gave me a sheepish smile, like he had been caught doing something bad.

I didn’t fall for it. As much as he claimed it pained him to think about me, I had been hurt a million times worse. “You—”

But I couldn’t finish before both of our phones lit up with a new text message.

Liam had used the old group chat. The one we had the last few summers with me, Reid, Liam, Livvy, Emma, Caleb, and Norah all on it.

Liam:Livvy and I have our first shift on the tower today. We get off at three. Meet on the beach later?

Emma replied right away.

Emma:Marlowe has a lunch shift. But I don’t. I can come by at two and get some good lay out time before you and Liv get done. Maybe you two can guard me ;-)

Liam:You’re weird, Emma.

Emma:You missed me, Liam.

The two of them were forever flirting, but never went past that. It was fun to watch, though.

Reid stared at the phone in his hands, a look of pure shock on his face, like he couldn’t believe he was still in the chat. Then he glanced at me, holding the phone up like a question.

“What do you say, Mars? Beach day?”

I didn’t want our conversation to end just because we got interrupted. Reid was using it as a diversion. We had so much more to discuss. So many repressed emotions coming to the surface that needed to be addressed. The almost-kiss from the car the other night required a conversation. What was happening between us called for a long, drawn out discussion.

We both needed a bit more closure in order to move past, and unfortunately, it seemed like it wouldn’t be right now.

The part I wanted to talk about had been long forgotten. The urge to kiss him had passed.

I stared into his eyes, seeing a little bit of the light and joy return.

My heart ached for him, knowing the normalcy he craved. The friendships he needed. I wouldn’t be the one to take that away from him.

“Sure. Beach day. We can swing by the cafe first and get—oh wait. Emma’s right, I am scheduled to work. Let me see if I can switch shifts with someone, but maybe grabbing food from there isn’t the best. We can hit—”

“Gennie’s. I’ll call in an order for all of us before we leave and we can pick it up on the way over.”

There we were again, on the same wavelength.

“A beach day sounds fun,” I finally gave in, patting his arm in approval.

“The beach it is.” He lifted one side of his mouth in a small smile, then dropped it, his eyes widening.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I rushed, not sure what caused his sudden change in mood.

“Marlowe. The beach. Livvy. Liam. Guarding. The clue…”