“Yeah.” I smiled, pushing my hands into the pockets of my swim shorts to keep them from reaching out to her again. “You mind if this idiot walks you back to your apartment, though? Just so he knows you get home safe.”
“Home,” she said with a small sigh. “That's the last place I want to go right now.”
“I didn't mean?—”
“I know.” She hitched the straps of her bag farther onto her shoulder, using that as her life support. “I know you meant the apartment, but even the mention of home...” She shook her head, letting her thoughts drift again.
“I understand.”
“You do?”
“Mmhmm.”More than you know.
“Okay.” She nodded. “Sorry, I just?—”
“Don't say sorry for things like emotions. That's ridiculous.”
“Jesus, Henry.” She blew out another unsteady breath. “All this niceness. It's unsettling.”
I smiled again. “Maybe if I spend a bit more time with you, you'll irritate me enough into becoming the arsehole version you prefer. Walk with me?”
She nodded again, and even though I didn't want to make this moment all about me...
I could have sworn I saw not only a smile on her face, but a blush in her already sun-kissed cheeks, too.
Chapter Seventeen
Phoebe
Irefused to focus on him saying I was the better version of him, or that he didn't want me to be alone in my suffering. I refused to focus on anything nice he'd said or done, because doing so felt akin to cheating on my family back home somehow. As though finding a little relief from the phone call I’d just had with my mother was the most selfish thing I could do right now. Especially with this man walking beside me, kicking sand out of his way effortlessly as we strolled together along the beach like two people who’d known each other a lifetime already.
Like we somehow belonged.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked, focusing straight ahead as though it was nothing more than a casual question, when in reality, Henry was asking his way into my life.
The thought didn’t repulse me as much as it should have.
“It's my grandpa,” I found myself saying anyway. “He's not doing too well in his care home. Alzheimer's.'
“Ah.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Mum wanted to give me an update on his decline.”
“You guys close? You and your grandfather?”
“He’s the only member of my family I truly adore.”
Henry nodded slowly, not delving any deeper into that particular statement like most people would.
“How serious is it?” he asked, kicking sand up with every slow step he took.
“Serious enough for them to be talking about how he has months left to live now, if that.”
“That sucks.”
I studied his profile, his blank expression, his lack of judgement or pity. “You're not going to say you're sorry like everyone else does?”
“Would that make you feel better?”
