Chapter 11
TAYLOR
‘I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up tonight,’ I called out, watching him pick his way across the rocks towards the pool. The moon was bright, bathing everything in a beautiful silvery blue light.
‘I told you, I come down here every night.’ His voice carried easily in the still of the night, the silence broken only by the sound of the tide gently lapping against the rocks.
‘I know, but with your friend arriving back in town today I thought you might be busy catching up.’
He stood at the edge of the pool and tilted his head up towards the sky. I heard him exhale slowly, as if releasing stress from his body. ‘I’ve just left her actually.’
‘Everything OK?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘Your tone seemed… weary.’
‘You’ve known me twenty-four hours and you can pick up on my mood just from my tone? Impressive.’
‘I’m an empath. I pick up on the small clues people often don’t realize they’re dropping.’
‘Hannah’s fine.’ He sighed. ‘It’s just hard for her. She’s struggling, without Alex.’
‘I bet. It must be awful, being widowed so young.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Want to talk about it?’
‘Not really.’ He dipped his toes into the water, then gently lowered himself in, exhaling again as the water embraced his body. ‘I needed this.’
‘Better than any expensive spa, right?’
‘I wouldn’t know. I’m not exactly a spa kind of guy.’
‘You’ll just have to take my word for it then.’
He smiled, his teeth bright in the moonlight. ‘I guess I will.’
I swished my arms gently through the beautiful clear water.
In the day, it was a gorgeous blue and you could see right through to the bottom.
But at night the water was pitch-black, with only the reflection of the stars above.
It had always been my secret place. An escape from reality.
‘I used to think this pool had magical powers.’
‘You did?’
‘Yeah. When I was a kid, and my parents would argue, I’d sneak out of the house and come down here. My mom would have killed me if she’d known; I was only eight or nine at the time.’
‘You swam down here by yourself in the dark when you were a kid?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I’m beginning to understand why you weren’t scared of me last night.’
‘I used to swim under the stars and wish that I was a mermaid so I could go anywhere I wanted. Failing that, I’d wish that my dad would leave us. Leave my mom alone. And then one day he did.’
‘I take it he wasn’t a nice guy.’
I shrugged. ‘I used to think that, but now I realize he was just human. Had flaws like we all do. I think he was just miserable with his life, and so he took it out on us.’
‘That’s horrible.’
‘I know. But plenty of people make the wrong choices, right? Choose a career because it pays well, but secretly hate it. Or marry someone just because they’ve been together for a few years and it’s the logical, generally expected next step.
They don’t stop to think about whether spending the rest of their life with that person is actually going to make them happy. ’
‘Is that what happened with you and Adam?’
‘No.’ I pulled a face. ‘That was a disaster right from the get-go. Doomed in fact, from the very moment of its conception.’
‘Wow.’
‘Anyway, here I am spilling my deeply personal secrets with you and you’re giving me nothing in return.’
‘I’m not trying to be secretive, I just don’t like rehashing the past. I find it counterproductive.’
‘So you’re just going to stick with the whole mysterious vibe thing you’ve got going on. Gotcha.’
‘I have a mysterious vibe?’
‘Don’t act like you don’t know it.’
‘I didn’t, until you pointed it out.’
‘Yeah right. It’s like the plot of a romance book. Hot, broody, single guy moves from the city to a small town to help out an old “friend”.’
‘Why did you say “friend” like that?’
‘Like what?’
‘You know what.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You had a tone.’
‘No, I didn’t. What’s your problem?’
He sighed. ‘It’s just… people like to gossip. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about Hannah and I.’
‘Number one, I’m not a gossip. And number two, what is the deal with you guys?’
‘There’s no deal. It’s like I told you, she was married to my best friend. He died. Now I’m helping her out with her business. That’s it.’
‘That’s it?’
‘That’s it.’
‘OK. I believe you.’
There was a brief silence and then he swore. ‘OK fine, that’s not all of it.’
‘I knew it.’
‘About eight months ago, when I first came out here to help her out, she had a bit too much to drink and she kissed me.’
‘Ah,’ I said. The proprietary looks Hannah had given me at the restaurant suddenly made sense.
‘That’s it? I open up to you like you wanted and that’s all you have to say? Ah?’
‘What did you expect me to say?’
‘I don’t know. Something other than, ah, I guess.’
‘It’s none of my business what you two get up to.’
‘That’s the point. There is no “us two”.’
‘And are you sure she knows that?’
‘Of course. That’s why I moved out here to the cabin. To put a bit of space between us.’
‘Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.’
‘I have.’
‘Good.’
He swam closer to me, the moon contouring the lines of his face. ‘How did you do that?’
‘What?’
‘Get me to tell you something I had no intention of telling you.’
I shrugged. ‘Special talent, I guess?’
‘I thought your special talent was guessing what food people have ordered.’
I snorted at the reminder. ‘A girl can have more than one special talent.’
‘Well, thank God you’re better at getting people to open up than you are at guessing their food.’
I splashed him without thinking, and he splashed back. Bigger.
I wiped water from my eyes. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’
‘You started it.’
I swam towards him. ‘I happen to be a bit of a champion at water fights.’
He grinned. ‘Another special talent of yours?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s less of a talent and more of a survival skill.’
‘I’m not scared of—’
His words were cut off as I leapt on him, my hands on his shoulders, pushing him underneath the water before releasing him. He re-emerged above the surface seconds later, spluttering.
‘What was that for?’ he gasped.
‘Payback, obviously. You splashed me; I dunked you.’
He narrowed his eyes at me as he shook the water from his hair. ‘Oh, it is on.’
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ I called over my shoulder, already swimming away from him. The next thing I knew, I was underwater too, his hands clamped around my waist. I squealed, releasing bubbles, before he let go and I burst through the surface.
‘I guess I do dare.’ He laughed as I gaped at him. ‘Weren’t expecting that now, were yghusfh?’
The last word came out incoherent thanks to the mouthful of water I’d just splashed in his direction.
‘Do you give up?’ I asked, grinning.
He shook his head. ‘Never.’
He lunged towards me and I squealed again, freestyling away from him but not getting far before I felt his fingers wrap around my ankle.
I was yanked back through the water, only stopping when I came smack bang up against his chest, face to face with him, one of his hands curled behind my back, holding me against him.
Our laughter trailed off as we stared at each other, before his eyes lowered to my lips.
I could feel his heartbeat, strong and steady beneath my palm.
See water drops beading on his sharp, angular jaw.
Without thinking, I lifted my hand and touched them, tracing my fingers along the length of his jaw, stopping to rest my fingertips in that soft place beneath his ear.
I heard him suck in a breath sharply, his eyes probing mine.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said suddenly, releasing me and almost pushing me away. ‘I misjudged the distance. I didn’t mean to…’
‘It’s fine,’ I reassured him, hoping my face didn’t reflect the emotions I was feeling.
‘No, I shouldn’t have…’
‘Do you give up?’ I interjected, cutting him off before he could overthink what had just happened, or rather almost happened.
He smiled. ‘Never.’