“But…?”
“But when I found out you were actually a friend of Matt’s, it kind of…it freaked me out.”
“Liv, we’ve talked about this. I’m nothing like him, I swear.”
“I know. I know that now,” she says firmly. “And the more I get to know you, the more embarrassed I am that I ever thought…you know…that.”
That’s a huge admission from her and it makes me feel good.
Part of me still struggles with admitting that I knew anything about her from Matt years ago, and I want to put that chapter behind us. We don’t need his ghost to be part of this relationship. We’ve got enough obstacles ahead of us already.
“To be clear,” I state, “I don’t want to focus on the past. I know it’s weird that we had a common acquaintance, but that’s not who we are.”
“It is a little. I mean…he’s the reason we’re here. I wouldn’t be here in North Carolina, and we wouldn’t be at this beach house if it weren’t for him.”
“O-kay…but we’re here like this—me and you, right here, right now—because of us. No one else. It doesn’t matter to me how we found each other; I’m just freaking thankful that we did.” I hold out my hand to her and when she reaches for it, I gently haul her into my arms. “I know this has been fast, but I’m looking forward to things slowing down and us getting to know each other without so many people hovering.”
“Me too. Although…”
“What?”
“The pace here on this vacation has been relatively slow overall. Things between us just escalated quickly.” The smug smile she gives me is everything.
“Yeah, well…that just means that this is meant to be.”
Whispering my name, Olivia’s hand cups around my nape and slowly pulls me close until she touches my lips with hers. It’s slow and sweet and I feel like a giant weight has been lifted now that we’ve at least opened the dialogue about how we feel.
When we break apart, I rest my forehead against hers. “How about lunch?”
“Mmm…that’s sounds good.”
So we get up and make sandwiches.
We go out for a walk on the beach and discuss potential book plots, but I literally have no idea what I’m talking about, and she just laughs at every suggestion I offer.
Back at the house, we go for another swim and lazily discuss dinner plans.
“I wish we knew if Mike and Loren were coming back,” she comments wearily. “I don’t mind ordering in again. Hell, I wouldn’t mind ordering a ride so we can go into town and eat.”
“Let’s do that,” I say, liking the thought of taking her out on an actual date, and even consider finding a car rental place and just getting a car so we don’t feel like we’re stuck here.
“Really? Do you want to check with them and see if they want to meet us?”
“No. I would really like to take you out. Just the two of us.”
“Aww…”
We’ve had Mexican, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, but we ultimately decide that we’d like to go out and have seafood again. And why wouldn’t we? We’re at the beach.
“We should probably see if we can even get a reservation on such short notice. I get that Cape Breeze isn’t a big, touristy town, but that doesn’t mean people don’t travel from other places to eat here.
I watch as she gently tips over her tube and swims over to the ladder to climb out.
I, however, opt to stay and float.
Olivia gets comfortable in one of the lounges and starts looking up places. When she finds something she thinks I like, she calls out the details, but after four different options and no available reservations, I’m losing hope.
“Okay, how fancy do you feel like being?” she asks.
