Page 73 of The Summer that Changed Everything
He scowled as he asked what was wrong with his clothes, and she teased him, saying he looked like a model for Tommy Bahama, at which point he laughed, too. He seemed more relaxedand happy than she’d seen him so far this summer as he hooked his arm around her neck and drew her in for a kiss before sayingshelooked perfect, so perfect he was torn as to whether he really wanted to leave the house.
Pretending that getting naked again wouldn’t be an option right now—she knew he was joking, anyway—she caught his face in her hands and stared into his green eyes.
He sobered, probably because she was wearing such an intense expression. “What is it?” he murmured.
The words lodged in her throat. She was afraid to reveal how she was feeling for fear it would only hasten the end of this fairy-tale interlude. She knew what was coming. He’d already sort of indicated that he’d return to his estranged wife for the sake of the baby, and she couldn’t fault him for that. She admired his commitment and the fact that he wanted to be a good father. “Nothing,” she said.
He lifted his hands to cradle her face, too. “Last night was one of the best nights of my life, Lucy. No matter what happens, I want you to know that.”
She wanted to tell him basically the same thing. But she still couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was convinced it would jinx everything. So, with a single nod, she dropped her hands and stepped away from him, but he pulled her in for a final kiss before they drove to the restaurant.
“I feel self-conscious,” she whispered, after the hostess seated them.
“Why?” He seemed totally unconcerned about being seen together in public.
She rolled her eyes. “You know why. Going out together makes a statement—creates anger in this place. Who knows what people will say, what they’ll do.”
“They’d better not say or do anything,” he responded. “We have every right to be here.”
“Maybe, but we’re already drawing attention.”
“If someone has a problem with us having lunch together...”
“What?” she said when he didn’t finish.
A wicked grin slanted his mouth. “Fuck ’em.”
His attitude was contagious. If he didn’t care, why should she?
Finally, she relaxed, and they enjoyed a delicious meal—she got a teriyaki salmon salad and he ordered oysters on the half shell, which he insisted she try.
When she made a face because she could barely get the slimy thing down, he couldn’t stop laughing. “No?” he said. “You don’t like it?”
She guzzled half her water to get the taste out of her mouth. “Absolutely not.”
“Maybe you didn’t get enough Tabasco sauce.”
“No amount of sauce could make that taste good,” she insisted.
He was still laughing when she glanced toward the street and spotted an orange truck like the one she’d seen at her place the other day.
Shifting right and then left, she tried to get a better look at it. She wanted to catch a glimpse of the driver, but all she could make out was a dark-headed individual at the wheel before a building obstructed her view.
“What is it?” Ford peered in the same direction.
Lucy couldn’t say it was anything. Nothing had happened the day she’d heard those footsteps. It just felt like someone had been lurking around the Smoot cottage, which made her uneasy.
Could whoever was in that truck be responsible for the break-in last night and the message on her mirror?
“Lucy?” Ford prompted.
“Do you know anyone who owns an old orange truck?” she asked.
“No, why?”
She sat back, once again relaxing into her seat. “Never mind. It’s probably just a coincidence.”
Ford couldn’t help thinking that this was exactly the kind of summer he needed—one that was cathartic and restorative, one spent with the beautiful girl he’d been so excited about fifteen years ago, one with the kind of laugher and warmth that left him feeling whole again. He knew it couldn’t last. All his problems would be waiting for him when it was over. But he wasn’t going to think about that. Not yet. Not after the kind of night he’d shared with Lucy. It’d been so long since they’d been together, and yet it felt as if all those years had just melted away. They were carrying on exactly as they once had—completely caught up in each other, fulfilled and satisfied.
