Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Layla
I was so shaken; I couldn’t sit still. Nash had walked me into the cottage. I paced around the small living room. “I can’t believe he showed up here. I don’t think he meant me any harm.” I looked at Nash. “Do you think he would have hurt me? Admittedly, for a few seconds there, I was scared. Okay, more than a few seconds.”
“I’ll be honest, Layla. I think you should talk to the police. Maybe you need a restraining order.”
I knew he hadn’t meant to scare me, but I could feel the color drain from my face. “Restraining order? That’s what they do in the movies, on detective shows when someone psychotic needs to be kept away from a victim. Surely not in this case.” I looked at him, hoping he’d say “you’re right.” But he didn’t.
“Let me get you a glass of water,” he said. “You look pale.” He walked to the kitchen.
“That’s because you mentioned a restraining order. That sounds so big, so legal, so dramatic.”
Nash filled a glass with water and returned to the living room. The look of concern on his face only made my heart ache more for him.
“I’m sorry I mentioned it,” he said as he handed me the glass. “It’s just that the guy standing on your driveway a few minutes ago needs help—some serious help—and in the meantime, we need to make sure he stays away from you.”
The pacing was only making me more agitated, so I finally settled into the comforting, worn cushions of Nonna’s big chair. Sometimes I got lucky, and the lightest scent of her lilac hand lotion would puff up from the chair. I really needed that lilac scent right now. I drank the water.
“He seemed like a regular guy,” I said. “If he hadn’t upset me so much, I’d almost find it in my heart to feel sorry for him.”
Nash sat on the end of the couch closest to the chair. “I agree. It’s just hard to work up too much sympathy because he was so harsh and angry.”
“I had no idea he’d react like this. Like I said—I’ve read stories like this online, but you never think it’s going to happen to you. I was sure I knew how to weed out the bad eggs on those dating sites.”
“Some people are really good at hiding their true selves. Ronnie dated a guy for a year, and she was really into him until she found his second phone. The one where he kept all his family photos—recent family photos. He had a wife and kids, and there was no divorce in their future. Although that probably changed after Ronnie followed him home one night and threw all the stuff he’d been keeping in her apartment on the front lawn.”
“Like I said—these are all plots for movies. Not real life.” I finished the water. “And I’d had such a nice morning. Emily and I rode bikes.” Then something important came back to me. The main event of the morning had been washed away by the unsettling experience, but I was thinking clearer again. “Let’s not talk about it anymore right now. It’s giving me a stomachache. Now, sir, please tell me—” I rested my elbow on the arm of the chair and settled my chin casually on my palm. I blinked a few times dramatically. “Anything out of the ordinary happen to you this morning?”
Nash smiled. “You saw the video.”
“I saw a viral video of an incredibly hot man singing a great song, a love song that will have all his fans swooning.”
“I only wrote it to make one woman swoon.”
I lifted my chin from my hand. “Do I dare dream that the copper-haired girl in your song is yours truly?”
“Don’t know any other copper-haired women.” He tapped the side of his head. “Scratch that. I know one other, and your sister is incredible, but her boyfriend looks like the kind of guy who could turn me into mashed potatoes, so I’m sticking with my original inspiration for the song. You.”
“You met Aria and Dex?” I asked excitedly.
“I went to the diner. They’re both very cool.”
“Dex is really protective over all of us.”
Nash nodded. “I’ll remember that.”
“Ella thinks I should have Dex talk to Dustin.”
“Hmm, might not be a bad idea. But I think a restraining order is the best way to go.”
I sat up straighter. “I know. Hmm, if only I had access to a big dog, a dog who could be by my side all day for protection.”
Nash laughed. “I’m going to assume you’re not talking about my giant, stuffed animal dog who would just as soon lick an intruder’s face as growl at them. And I could see him now in the bakery. I don’t think he’d be focused on protecting you.”
“Yeah, I suppose the baked goods might be a touch distracting for him.”
“A touch, yeah. What are you doing the rest of the day? I thought we could hang out. But after this morning, I’ll understand if you just want to stay home. I do, however, plan to stand sentry at your door. Rocky will, too.”
“I’m not going to hide, and you’re right, I’ll give some thought to getting a restraining order. But it’s Sunday, day one of my weekend, so let’s do something. We could go down to the beach or take Rocky for a walk. Aria’s got the café open till noon on Sunday, so we could go grab sandwiches.”
“The beach sounds good to me. Then we can play it by ear. I’ll go home and change, and be back here in twenty?”
“That works. Oh, and Nash, thanks so much for being there just now. I’m not entirely sure how bad it was going to get.” A shiver went through me as I replayed the scene in my head. “He didn’t even look like the Dustin I knew standing across from me on the driveway.”
“I’m sorry this is happening to you, Layla. But I’m here, right next door, and I’m not going anywhere.”
A baby blue sky with small, wispy clouds hung over a mostly calm ocean. A group of gulls were floating peacefully about twenty feet off shore, just far enough to make Rocky give up the idea of trying to chase them. He’d settled on the end of Nash’s towel with a big chew bone. He was in a complete trance as he gripped it with his big, furry paws and gnawed on the end.
Nash glanced at his phone.
“Everything all right?” I asked. “How is your mom doing?”
“I talked to Becky briefly this morning. They’re still talking about the specialist.”
I sat forward in my chair. “Do you think you’ll be able to manage it? I wish there was something I could do to help, Nash.”
He spun around on his towel to face me. “You already have.”
“I have?”
“You know that song? The one about the copper-haired girl?”
I felt my cheeks get warm. “I vaguely remember it,” I said with a smile.
“You were absolutely my inspiration. Moonstone’s sales are off the charts today. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but I think I’ll at least have enough for the initial payment. Maybe even more.”
“Wow, I had no idea. I knew it was getting a lot of views this morning when Emily showed it to me.”
He stood up. “It’s getting hot. Let’s go for a swim.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” I started walking and then picked up my pace. “The sand is hotter than I expected. My sisters love to tease me about my overly sensitive feet. They used to imitate me running down to the water. Nonna used to say I looked like a high-stepping, gaited pony.”
Nash put out his hand. “Hop on my back. I’ll carry you down to the water.”
I hesitated. “Really?”
“Hop on.”
I climbed on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my legs. I rested my chin against his shoulder and pressed my cheek against his. “I can’t remember the last time I had a piggyback ride. I highly recommend it on hot sand, although I don’t think I’ll be able to return the favor.”
Nash started jogging to the water. I laughed and tightened my grip on him. His feet plunged into the frothy water lapping at the shore. He carried me a few more feet, then I let go and floated into the cool waves. Seconds later, I was wrapped around him again, this time face-to-face. He held me while treading water. The tide lifted us up and dropped us down.
Nash kissed me lightly on the lips. “Hmm, salty. Not bad. Ever have one of those days when you can’t believe how great everything is going, and because things don’t always go great, instead of enjoying the day, all you can do is worry that all the greatness will stop and something terrible will happen?”
“I think that’s a normal feeling,” I said. “Nonna used to say ‘enjoy the good stuff and don’t fret about the bad because you know both of them will always be somersaulting through your life.’”
“She sounds like a cool grandmother. You and your sisters, you were really nuts about her, weren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah. She’s still with all of us in spirit. Always. She just had that kind of presence, and she was such a big influence on our lives. So, I guess what I was trying to say, in Nonna’s words, is just enjoy it for now and deal with the bad when it happens.” I wiped a streak of sand off his face.
I hadn’t planned for the simple gesture to turn into something, but it did … turn into something. Nash reached up and held my hand against his face. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. “This is turning out to be so much more than I expected, Layla. I can’t stop thinking about us. I feel like there’s been something important, something crucial missing in my life for a long time. Even when the band was doing well, I never felt settled, and that was long before my mom’s accident. And now it feels like I have that missing piece. It’s you. I needed you in my life.”
Every word was winding its way softly and soundly around my heart. “I feel the same way, Nash. I’ve never felt this. This is different, so much more, so significant that I almost feel like I can’t let go for fear that you’ll disappear and this will just be a dream.” I knew now how my sisters felt when they met their soulmates. There was dating and relationships and then there was this. I couldn’t put a solid description to the way I was feeling. All I knew was it felt overwhelming and right.
We stayed entwined together floating up and down in the cool water of the cove. Yep, it felt overwhelming and it definitely felt right.