Eryn walked in further, her satisfaction growing with each step she took. She released a contented sigh as she stared through the picture window in the living room. It offered a view of a long stretch of beach, the pier off to the right, and the waves straight ahead falling eagerly over themselves onto the sand. Boogie-boarders and surfers slid down the waves and children played at the edge of the water. Eryn tasted freedom.
“This is so perfect,” she said, emphasizing each word.
Melissa looked relieved. “Good. I’ll give you a few days to get settled and then I’ll be by with a bottle of wine to give you a proper housewarming, okay?” She placed the keys in Eryn’s hand and closed her fingers around them.
Eryn hugged her friend hard. “I’d like that.”
When the door shut behind Melissa, the silence settled in. Eryn smiled and let the coolness inside the cottage drape over her skin.
Now, she thought, her decisions no longer had to be measured by what kind of impact they would have on someone else. They would not have to be filtered through others’ feelings or beliefs. Every corner had been swept clean. No baggage was left behind. No cobwebs from the past crowded the corners of the rooms. She looked around at a totally clean slate.
With a satisfied clap of her hands, she took a deep breath. The boxes stuffed into the back of her car could wait, she thought. She had taken so little with her; some clothes, dishes, and her photographs. The rest she would buy. Start fresh. For now, though, it was time to start documenting her new life.
She grabbed her camera out of the case, kicked off her sandals, and headed out into the afternoon. The warm on-shore breeze met her at the door and teased her hair out from under the sunglasses perched on her head. For so many years she lived at this beach, running miles and miles of it back and forth. She thought she knew every nuance, every smell, every color of the water, and the texture of the sand. But today it all felt different. The sand seemed to sift slower through her toes and seemed, somehow, sandier. The seaweed lying twisted here and there filled her nostrils with its pungency.
She pulled down her sunglasses against the glare of the sun and walked towards the water’s edge, then across towards the pier, toeing at broken sand dollars and shells along the way.
A lone figure stood higher up on the dry sand, arms folded across his chest, watching other surfers jockey for waves. Against the backdrop of the pier, the surfer’s muscular body wrapped in a wetsuit and long brown hair blown off his face by the salty breeze, was a picture just too good to pass up.
Framing in his profile, Eryn captured a few images before checking the results. After making a couple adjustments to the settings, she lifted the camera back up to her eye and zoomed in. The shutter clicked again just as he looked directly into the camera. Her finger froze as a smile spread across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
She peeked from behind her camera. There was no mistaking that smile and those eyes. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. It was the one from the gallery. The same one she practically ran over months before in the beach parking lot.
His eyes never left hers.
She looked down, fiddling with the settings on her camera in an effort to appear busy. She tried to look nonchalant, though she was well aware that he was still looking at her. She lifted the camera again, this time out towards the water where a half dozen or so surfers sat straddling their boards, rising and falling with the rolling water.
So here we are again, she thought. This is becoming quite the habit, running into him. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the camera, pressing her hand to her stomach to quell the beginnings of a butterfly infestation. She let her hair fall over her face and peeked through the strands at him. I really should go over to thank him for buying my photos. Most people only buy one. Buying three definitely deserves a personal thank you.
She looked back out at the surfers. So what are you doing still standing here? She laughed at herself. Just stop stalling and get your ass over there!
“Here goes nothing,” she said under her breath. She made her way over to him, her toes sinking deeply into the warm sand. The distance between them shrank quickly. Before she reached him, the feather-light butterflies doing a tap dance in her stomach had found a way to her chest and began to tickle her throat.
He was sinfully beautiful and he had more charisma rolling off him than was healthy for a woman to be around. His thick mane of hair fell easily around his shoulders, framing his high cheekbones and strong jaw. Tanned skin showed telltale signs of good humor; laugh lines cupping his full, sensual lips, with crinkles fanning out from his vivacious eyes. The black rubber of the wetsuit molded to his wide, athletic shoulders, corded biceps, and stretched itself across the wide expanse of his chest. Like a second skin it lay snug against his taut stomach and wrapped around his strong thighs.
And still his eyes never left her.
Her mouth went dry. Come on, Eryn. He’s just a customer who likes your work, her mind prompted her. She slowed to finally stand a step away from him.
Her heart swooned. Oh, but you know he is so much more than that, don’t you? Who does he remind you of? Eryn shook that thought away.
“Hi,” she said, clearing her throat. “I, um, think I saw you at The Image Gallery about a month back.”
If it was at all possible, his smile grew wider and his eyes brighter. “Yeah, that was me.”
“I never got a chance to thank you for being there,” she said apologetically.
“That’s okay. You were busy.”
“Still…” She bit her lower lip. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. I’m Eryn, by the way.” She extended her hand.
“I saw a picture of you and your husband in the newspaper,” he said as he took her hand and held it tight. “I think it was for the music hall opening some years back. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Shawn.”
She glanced down at the difference in their hands. Hers felt so small wrapped in his. Small…and protected. She shook her head as she looked back up. “Bryce, my husband…I mean…We’re not together anymore.”
His brows drew together. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, don’t be. It’s really okay. I mean, I’m doing all right now.” She flushed hot, realizing she hadn’t yet let go of his hand. “Um, sorry.” She pulled back, shifting her camera. She indicated the row of cottages that overlooked the beach. His gaze followed to where she pointed.
“I’m renting that cute cottage down the way. Green house, yellow door.”
“Old man Henry’s house.”
“Did you know him?” Eryn asked.
Shawn nodded. “He used to sit out there and make lures all day. Nice guy. My friends and I would hang out with him every once in awhile.”
He turned to face her fully now. “You know, your work is really good. You’ve got a great eye.”
She felt her cheeks start to flush again. “Thanks. I’m glad you like it.”
Silence drifted between them, but to Eryn, the ferocious way her heart was beating was deafening.
“So, what is it that you do?” She finally broke the silence.
“I have a small business. I shape boards.”
She looked down at his board lying in the sand at his feet. Despite the wax that had been rubbed down onto the top, she could still make out the deep orange and red that bled out from a vibrant yellow spot, spreading like a sunset, before reaching the unmistakable logo of a triskele.
Now she remembered. “Epic Breakers?” she asked.
He nodded.
Her jaw went lax. “Small business? But…but it’s international, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, well, I like to travel. I guess it just seemed natural for my business to follow.” He looked down and toed his board a little, looking almost apologetic.
Wow. Eryn mouthed. Her camera was suddenly very interesting as she blew off sand that wasn’t there. She had heard sometime ago that some of the larger banks were vying for Epic Breakers’ accou
nts because it had some big holdings. How ironic, she thought. Some of those very same bankers who had sat in her living room puffing their Cuban cigars, were chomping at the bit to get a hold of Shawn’s money. She stole a glance at him. She never would have guessed.
She draped her camera strap over her shoulder. “So, is your business based overseas?”
He dragged a hand through his hair to smooth it back off his face. “No, I grew up here. I didn’t see any reason to base it anywhere else. When I started it up and began taking some orders, I taught a bunch of my friends how to make the boards, and we’ve been doing it that way ever since.”
Somehow she had known he would be that way. Loyal and giving to the core. At ease with the elements and one with the sea.
Something about his eyes reached somewhere deep down inside her. Just like…yeah, like the Jonathan of her memories. Her insides flipped. Wow. Even it she were to entertain that thought, that wasn’t something she was willing to say out loud.
“You know,” Eryn said thoughtfully, “we’ve met before. About ten years ago at Solstice Beach.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he flashed her a grin.
“You were playing volleyball and I…” she started.
“You came over to watch. Sure. I remember that.”
His smile took them from strangers to friends in the space of less than her runaway heartbeat.
She smiled and shook her head. “I knew it was you. I realized it the day I almost hit you with my car in the parking lot.” She wrinkled her nose. “By the way, sorry about that.”
He laughed. “No worries. Besides, it was Kenny you almost hit.” He nodded in the direction of the water. “I was behind him.”
Eryn shielded her face from the sun with her hand, searching for Kenny. She would have to figure out which one that was so she could apologize to him.
“I almost asked you out that day at Solstice.”
His admission caught her off guard. With Kenny totally forgotten, she turned to him. “Really?”
Shawn gave her a boyish, lopsided grin. “Yeah, really. It looked like you had a boyfriend, though.”
All these years I’ve been kicking myself that I didn’t ask him out and here he had the same idea!
“Would you have said yes?” he asked.
Her brows furrowed as she sought for an answer. If she knew then what she knew now, then definitely, she would have said yes. But at the time she believed it was Bryce she needed to be with.
“I would have wanted to,” she admitted. “I mean, I definitely would have considered it, but things were kind of complicated with him.”
He nodded in understanding. “That’s what I figured.”
Already she was securing packing tape over her box of memories from years past. She rubbed her finger where her wedding band used to be, to remind herself she was on her own now. No more guilt. She was single. Free to follow her heart. A heart, she thought, which was beating unreasonably fast.
“What about you? Wife? Girlfriend?”
His attention drifted back to the waves, watching his friends. “I’ve had a few relationships. Nothing very serious, though.”
Eryn had no idea her heart and stomach could do simultaneous flips, but the fact that he was unattached sent everything in her body spinning.
He started toeing the sand again. For a few minutes the gentle breeze swirled around them with its tantalizing breath.
“So what about now?” He was first to break the silence.
She raised her brows to his question. What about now?
“Would you say yes now?” He locked his eyes with hers and held her there.
She found she couldn’t look away. She swallowed the thudding of her heart, but it just slammed even harder against her chest.
“Are you asking me out?” She teased, trying not to sound as giddy as she felt.
He laughed. “Only if you are going to say yes. Otherwise it would be idle curiosity.” He put his hand over his heart. “I do have my male pride to protect, you know.”
That was the moment she knew. Without a doubt this was where she was meant to be. This felt right. He felt right.
“Then yes. Definitely yes.” She felt flushed, hot, tingly, lightheaded, girlish, womanly, sexy, scared, all at the same time.
“Cool.” His white teeth flashed under his entirely too-enticing lips. Relief seemed to wash over his face. “Would tonight be too soon?”
She was amazed. It never occurred to her that maybe he was just as nervous as she was.
“Not at all. It’d really like that.”
He nodded and grinned. He bent down to grab his board and said, “I’m going to get a few sets in, okay?”
“Oh, sure. Please, don’t let me keep you.”
He reached out and gently wrapped his hand around hers, grazing her knuckles with soft strokes of his thumb.
Everything but Shawn seemed muted as he touched her, his eyes locking with hers.
He lifted her hand and brushed his lips across the top of her fingers. “I’ll pick you up at 6 o’clock then.”
All she could do was nod. He did things to her heart she couldn’t explain, filled her head with notions she couldn’t ignore. She watched in silence as he tucked his board under his arm and jogged down to the water and into the oncoming waves.
Eryn slowly turned and walked back down the beach, a smile lingering on her lips. Looking around for something to photograph, she watched as a crab scuttled towards the safety of the water. Down at the water’s edge a baby in droopy, soggy diapers crouched down with a fistful of sand, and a black Labrador paddled in the foamy surf. So many choices lay before her. Her choices. She closed her eyes and listened to the drumming of her heart.
With another glance at Shawn, she smiled. There would be plenty of time to talk and discover everything about him. But for now, this was it, she realized.
She was home.
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