Chapter Twenty-Five #2
As they walked along the shore, Bryce found himself lost in thought. Each piece of sea glass told a story of the ocean’s patient
polish. He bent down to pick up a deep cobalt piece, holding it up to the light. The edges, once sharp and dangerous, had
been smoothed by time and tide into something beautiful.
Like the glass, Emma had been tossed by life’s turbulent waves, weathered by storms of heartbreak and loss. Yet here she stood,
not broken, but transformed. The harsh edges of her past had been softened, leaving behind a woman of remarkable strength
and beauty.
Her infectious laughter, mingling with Olive’s giggles, rang out across the beach. Bryce marveled at how she had emerged from
her trials somehow polished into something even more beautiful.
The thought filled him with a profound tenderness and a surge of protectiveness. He vowed silently to be the shore for her,
a safe haven against whatever waves might come. Even if she didn’t want him to be that yet.
“We should probably head back,” she said after they had wandered the beach for nearly an hour. “The tide’s going to start coming back in. I would hate to be trapped here.”
Bryce would love to prolong the rest of this day, though he understood she would worry about her daughter being in the sun
for too long and exposed to the elements.
He gathered the dogs’ leashes and they made their way back around the point, scrambling over rocks.
Olive was tired, he could see, so Bryce handed the leashes to Emma, then picked Olive up to give her a piggyback ride. She
curled up against his shoulder, her head nestled in the crook of his neck with a trust that made his throat feel tight and
achy.
He was almost certain she fell asleep as she cuddled against him without a sound except her slow, even breathing.
In the parking lot, Emma led the way to the battered car that he had seen before in the bookstore parking lot. She opened
the rear door and he carefully deposited a still-sleeping Olive in her car seat, where she leaned her cheek against the headrest
without opening her eyes.
After Emma secured her seat belt, she turned to him. “That was fun. Thanks for carrying her.”
“Thanks for letting me spend the afternoon with you.”
“I don’t think we let you do anything. We kind of made you. Olive can be very bossy when she wants to be.”
“Good. She’ll go far in life.”
“I hope so.”
“She’s an adorable girl, Emma. It’s impossible to be unhappy when you’re around Olive.”
She sent him an appraising look. “Do you consider yourself unhappy?”
He mulled her question. Did he? Yeah, things with his mom could be tough but for the most part, he enjoyed his life. He had a challenging job he loved and friends he could always count on when he needed them.
Still, he had to admit he sometimes felt like something was missing.
“Not unhappy, though maybe not quite . . . content. Does that make sense?”
“Yes,” she answered, her voice low. “Perfect sense.”
Did she feel the same? Was she lonely sometimes?
Their eyes met and Bryce felt the air between them change. The empty trailhead parking lot faded away, leaving only Emma,
bathed in the late-afternoon sunlight. Without conscious thought, he found himself stepping closer, drawn by an invisible
force.
“Emma,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the distant crash of waves and the breeze in the treetops.
She didn’t back away. Instead, her gaze flickered to his lips, then back to his eyes. It was all the invitation Bryce needed.
Slowly, giving her every chance to pull away, he leaned in.
Their lips met softly, tentatively at first. Emma tasted of sunshine and lip balm, with a hint of cinnamon that reminded him
of the cookies they’d shared earlier.
The scent of sunscreen lingered on her skin, mingling with something uniquely her. Bryce’s heart raced as the kiss deepened,
becoming more urgent, more needy.
His fingers found her waist, pulling her closer as her hands slid up his chest to rest on his shoulders.
Bryce wanted to lose himself in her, to keep kissing her forever. Each brush of her lips sent sparks through his body, igniting
a fire he’d long tried to ignore.
But even as he reveled in the kiss, a small part of his mind reminded him of reality. Emma wasn’t ready for this, for them.
With immense effort, Bryce slowly eased away, his breathing ragged.
As their eyes met again, a mix of emotions swirled in Emma’s gaze—desire, confusion and a hint of fear.
“I thought we said we weren’t going to do that anymore,” she murmured, her voice husky with lingering desire.
He gave her a long, slow look. “When I’m with you, Emma, I can hardly think of doing anything else.”
She sent him a startled glance, and he saw color flare on her cheeks. After that kiss, did she really not have any idea how
attracted he was to her?
Even if she didn’t know the deeper feelings he was only now admitting to himself, she had to have some clue that he wanted
to go on kissing her forever.
“I always had a crush on you in school. You knew that, right?”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “No! You had a funny way of showing it. You were always teasing me. I always felt like you were
laughing at me for not being as cool as you and your friends.”
“I was never laughing at you. If I teased you, it was out of sheer jealousy. I wanted you to smile at me instead of smiling
at everybody else in school.”
She swallowed hard, looking stunned.
“I planned to ask you to the junior prom. I was trying to get up my nerve and then . . . well, then your dad died.”
“And my whole world fell apart,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. You were in the hospital first then had his funeral and everything. I knew a stupid school dance would have been the
last thing on your mind.”
“Probably,” she admitted.
“If things had been different, would you have gone with me?”
She appeared to consider the question. “I don’t know,” she said, honesty in her voice. “I might have thought you were too
wild for me back then. You scared me, if you want the truth.”
“Do I still scare you?”
Her gaze flickered to his mouth. Her lips looked swollen, her features flushed, and he ached to taste her again.
“For very different reasons,” she murmured, then immediately looked as if she regretted saying anything.
“I need to go. Today was fun. I’m glad we bumped into you, even if I am afraid my mom might have orchestrated the whole thing.”
“Seriously?”
“Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that she suggested hiking to Hidden Beach to both of us separately?”
“Why would she do that?”
“My mom wants me and Olive to stay in Wood Briar. I suspect she wants to push the two of us together in hopes that if you
and I . . . start something together, I would have more incentive to stick around.”
If only he had that kind of power over her decisions.
“Your mom’s pretty crafty. But I’m glad we ran into each other, too, regardless of how it happened.”
Emma nodded, her eyes meeting his briefly before she turned to her car. Bryce watched as she carefully checked on Emma then
settled into the driver's seat.
Unable to resist, he leaned in before she could close the door and kissed her on the forehead.
“Drive safe.”
She nodded, closed her door then started her engine.
Bryce stood rooted to the spot as her car pulled away, watching until it disappeared around the bend. The weight of his feelings
pressed heavily on his chest.
He wished things could be different, but he knew he had to respect her boundaries.
As the sound of Emma’s car faded into the distance, Bryce let out a long sigh. He turned to walk back to his own vehicle, his mind replaying the kiss they had shared and wondering if there would ever be a chance for more.
Despite the ache in his heart, he couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. For now, it would have to be enough.