Page 4 of Beach Cottage Kisses

“I’m sure they’ll let us know about it tomorrow.” Scott’s chuckle sounded different, somehow. Familiar, and yet new. Because of the waves?

They sounded different, too. More open. As opposed to their beach that was protected on both sides by large walls of mountain rock.

She felt sorry for Scott, who couldn’t as easily find the same solace as her, strapped up as he was in dress socks and patent leather dress shoes.

“You feeling better?” she asked him.

They walked as always, staring ahead. Around. Not at each other.

“Are you?” His question unsettled her again.

Sent her back to a place she didn’t want to be.

“I’m fine,” she told him, purposely lightening her tone, almost as though she was talking to Leigh.

“You weren’t.”

Scott’s strange tone had her looking up at him as she walked. He was watching her, too. Not something they did. She didn’t stop it, though.

Instead, she said, “I…don’t…believe in love lasting forever.” And wasn’t sorry that she’d done so. She had a strong feeling she was with a like mind. Other than Sage, Leigh, Gray and Iris, Scott’s relationships were all casual.

As were hers.

“Why not?”

She snapped her gaze from his, looking out at the ocean. Hadn’t anticipated the question. Should have. “Do you?”she verbally sidestepped. Leading them back to their long-established comfortable territory.

“I do.” Scott’s answer shocked her to the point of staring back at him again. Was he kidding?

Kidding himself?

Because of the wedding? The deeply felt promises they’d just witnessed Sage and Gray make?

“Seriously?” she asked him, stopping to sit on a bench facing the ocean. Keeping her gaze focused on the one thing she did count on. Those waves. Flowing in and out. Receding. But always, always coming back in again.

He sat down beside her, and she was glad. She hadn’t been sure he would. And yet, she felt uncomfortable about even that much vulnerability—needing him outside their established parameters. Even for a minute.

“I do,” he told her, also staring out toward ship lights bobbing in the distance. A few other hotel guests shared the beach with them. From a distance.

“You looking for it for yourself?” she asked then. And waited for his answer as though it somehow defined her.

“Nope.”

Relief flooded through her. She hadn’t lost her like mind. And knowing that, she was suddenly curious. Both Scott and Sage had told Iris that Scott was divorced. Sage had made a comment or two about her own interpretations of what had gone wrong. About her less-than-stellar impression of Scott’s ex-wife. But the conversations hadn’t gone any further than that. Iris hadn’t needed or wanted them to do so.

But sitting there in her own depths, struggling to get back to an even keel, she asked, “Why not?”

She just didn’t believe. But couldn’t imagine believing and not reaching.

“That kind of love takes a commitment and dedication that I don’t excel at,” he told her. Shocking her.

“You’re kidding, right?”

His glance at her was long. She didn’t want him seeing things inside her, but, again, didn’t stop searching his gaze for what she didn’t know.

“No.” One word that seemed to carry many.

She wasn’t sure what he was telling her. Or himself. But had something to tell him. “Sage? Leigh?” The man was as committed as they came.