Chapter 52
When the weekend rolled around, I took the time to call Emily and catch her up on life. I sat on my balcony with my legs tucked beneath me, my phone on the table in front of me on speaker.
“So,” Emily said. “You’ve been weirdly evasive all morning.”
“I have not,” I said defiantly. But in truth, I had been.
“You said ‘good’ three times in a row and then changed the subject,” she countered. “That’s called evasion.”
I smiled despite myself. “I just… don’t know where to start.”
“Is this about Jay?” she finally asked.
I bit my lip. “Maybe.”
Emily gasped. “Oh my gosh. What happened?”
“Well,” I said, hesitating. I had yet to tell anyone we were official. And I was a little worried about how she might react. “We’re… sort of dating.”
I should’ve expected the choking, gasping sound that came from the other end of the line.
“Are you serious?” Emily squealed. “Oh my gosh, Hope, why didn’t you start this conversation with that!”
I laughed, feeling a delightful giddiness spread through me. “I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“Okay. Okay. Start talking. Immediately.”
I told her what happened. Not everything, of course, but enough.
I told her all about the conference, about Jay standing up for me in front of Dr. Pike and how he’d given me his mother’s manuscript and I confronted him about it.
Then I told her he’d confirmed we were dating and I relayed how our first week together had been pretty great.
We’d somehow managed to balance our relationship and work, and I’d worried it wouldn’t be possible.
“I just realized I was the one overthinking everything, and I didn’t want to keep holding back from something we both wanted.”
Emily laughed. “You’ve always been a pretty intense overthinker, Hope.”
“Am not,” I insisted with a pout, but if I was being honest, I knew I was.
“This is so good. I can hear how happy you are.” Her voice quieted from her typical rambunctious, bubbly voice to something softer, more subdued, and that was rare for her. “This is what I was hoping you’d find, Hope.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “Never did I think I’d meet someone in Big Bear. But he’s changed everything.” I bit my lip and fiddled with a stray thread on my shirt. “He’s been urging me to go after Pike. He helped me submit a complaint against him to the dental board.”
“Wait,” she said. “Hold on. You’re actually reporting Dr. Pike?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I submitted the complaint a few days ago.”
There was a moment of stunned silence. I was worried I might’ve caused her to have an adrenaline crisis in this conversation. I probably shouldn’t have dropped all these things on her at once.
“Hope,” Emily said gently, “that’s huge.”
“I know.”
I looked past the railing then down to the deck below. Jay was outside in an old T-shirt, sleeves pushed up, cleaning the grill.
Something started fluttering in my stomach.
“He doesn’t know I submitted it yet,” I said.
“You should tell him,” Emily said without hesitation.
“Yeah, I was going to this morning,” I admitted.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” she said and I chuckled.
“I’ve missed talking to you. I wanted to update you on everything first.”
“Go,” she said. “You can give me a deeper debrief later.”
“We’ll talk soon.” I stood, already moving toward the door. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said. “Call me later.”
I hung up and slipped the phone into my pocket. I grabbed a jacket and headed down the stairs toward the back of the house.
When I got outside onto the patio, Jay glanced up from where he was working on the grill. He paused what he was doing and took out his AirPods so he could talk to me.
“Morning,” he said, flashing a perfect-toothed smile and leaning in to kiss my forehead.
I wonder if my reaction to him would ever stop being so intense. It was butterflies every time he touched me, and I got a little breathless, too.
“Hey,” I replied. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” he said easily. “Wanna go out on the lake?”
I blinked. “Right now?”
“Best place to talk,” he said. “No interruptions out on the water.” His smile was a challenge. He did say at one point he was going to try and convince me to do outdoorsy things. Maybe this was just the beginning.
I gave him a skeptical look. “Okay.”
He smiled and held out his hand. I took it.
I followed him down the dock to a set of kayaks already tied to the dock, rocking gently in the lake waves. I hovered uselessly nearby, trying not to think too hard about the fact that I was voluntarily about to paddle out onto a lake.
Once he got the kayaks situated, he handed me a life jacket, and I slipped it on, trying to keep my face steady as I buckled the clips. That smug half-smirk still tugged at his lips.
“You’ll be fine.”
“That’s what people always say right before someone tips over.”
He laughed. “I won’t let you fall in. I promise.”
“You better not,” I grumbled, causing another chuckle to escape him.
He held his hand out to me and helped me into the first kayak. I let out a little squeak when it wobbled slightly, but Jay steadied it quickly with one hand.
“You’re okay,” he said. “See?”
“I hate you,” I muttered, pushing off from the dock and using my paddle to get a little further away.
He grinned and quickly jumped into his kayak before following after me.
The lake was somehow even prettier when I was up close to it like this. The water was barely rippling as we paddled out, and the sound of it hitting the kayaks was actually really soothing.
We both slowed our paddling when we reached the middle of the private lake. He stayed close, drifting right alongside me.
“So,” he said. “What did you want to tell me?”
I rested my paddle across my lap and looked out at the view around us. For some reason, it felt too heavy to look him in the eyes when I said it.
“I submitted the complaint.”
“Really?” he asked.
“A few days ago.”
He remained quiet. As if waiting for me to continue.
“I thought I’d feel more afraid,” I said quietly. “But mainly I just feel glad that I got it over with.”
“I’m glad you did it, Hope.”
I swallowed, nodding. “Me too.”
He pursed his lips. “I’ve been looking for other people who could’ve had encounters with him.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that for me.”
“I want to,” he said simply.
We drifted in silence for a moment.
“Thank you, Jay,” I said, looking down at my hands. For some reason, it made my eyes sting when he supported me like that.
For a minute or two, the only sound was the gentle lapping of the water on the sides of our kayaks, and then I felt a sudden tug on my boat.
“Wha—”
Jay’s hand clutched the edge of my kayak and dragged it over to him so they were side by side.
He reached for me, his hand coming up to cup my face.
“I’ll always protect you, Amapolita,” he said, taking my breath away for a moment.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“No one is ever going to hurt you again, okay?”
I nodded, swallowing back a lump in my throat. He didn’t know how much I needed that reassurance.
I was about to reply, about to lean in and kiss him because, gosh, this man was healing parts of me I didn’t even know could be healed.
But then there was movement in my periphery, and my attention was drawn to the dock again.
Confusion washed over me when I saw what looked like someone coming up the deck and across the dock toward us.
I squinted, and as they drew closer, I made out a tall figure with dark hair.
My stomach dropped and panic settled like a brick against my lungs.
“Jay,” I barely squeaked out, “Are you expecting someone?”
He followed my gaze. “No.”
I knew that posture, that walk. I would’ve recognized it anywhere.
Jay frowned, noticing my panicked expression now. “What is it?”
My hands tightened around the paddle in my hand.
“That’s my dad.”