Page 36 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

‘I don’t have any.’

‘Everyone has secrets.’

She paused, her wide eyes studying him. ‘Okay, deal.’

He could have made something up, told her any number of stories from his life that no one around here knew, but he found himself wanting to tell her a real secret. He didn’t know if it was the grogginess from their nap or the soft lines of Hazel’s face but he wanted to know what she would think of him if he told her something true.

‘I never graduated high school.’ The beach was quiet. The mother and her little boy had gone home, the seagulls were asleep, their heads tucked against their white bodies. Even the tide had gone out far enough that the waves were a faint whisper.

Noah’s words fell quietly between them.

Hazel blinked. Once, twice. ‘Well that makes sense.’

What?That certainly wasn’t the response he was expecting. Maybe a ‘why not?’ or the always dreaded ‘you could go back and finish.’ But not a very matter of fact ‘that makes sense’.

‘It does? Wow, I didn’t think my inability to use the quadratic equation was showing.’ He sounded snarkier than he meant to, old wounds opening up and threatening to ruin their afternoon.

She shook her head a little, pressing her cheek into her arms. ‘No, that’s not what I meant. It makes sense now why you’re always disparaging your own intelligence.’

He wanted to laugh that comment off, but did he do that?

‘I do?’

‘Yep. You make little comments about how not smart you are. Just today you told me you’re not ‘that deep’. Remember?’

Huh. Was he making this thing he’d always kept as his shameful little secret obvious with his own words?

‘I guess I didn’t realize.’

‘So, it bothers you? That you didn’t finish?’

Did it bother him? He’d never been good at school. He hated sitting inside all day. It made him itchy and prickly. He was happiest out on the water, so at the start of senior year he’d decided to stick with what he did best. It had made sense to him at the time even when his parents lost their minds about it. His father had told him in no uncertain terms that he’d ruined his life. Only when he promised to start working full time for the seafood business did his dad calm down. And then Noah had screwed that up, too. But instead of confessing any of that, he said, ‘Not really.’

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

Noah sighed. ‘It’s just not something I like to broadcast.’

‘And it’s why you left your sisters to run the family business. Because you don’t think you’re smart enough?’

‘Damn Haze, this line of questioning isn’t exactly fun beach talk.’ Of course he didn‘t think he was smart enough. What the hell did he know about running a multi-million dollar company? He couldn’t even pass pre-calc. And he’d tried. He really had. He’d gone to work with his father every day for a year after he quit school. He’d sat in that office and tried to understand the inventory spreadsheets and the delivery schedules and the restaurant contracts. And he’d never been more miserable in his life.

So, one day he just took off. Took one of his family’s old boats, scribbled his dad a check to pay for it, and left. It was a shitty way to leave but he couldn’t face his father’s disappointment again. It was why he rarely went home, rarely talked to the old man, rarely saw his beautiful little nieces.

But Noah had no intention of talking about his family today. One open wound was enough.

She winced. ‘Sorry. I have a bad habit of doing that.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Spoiling the fun.’

He inched a little closer and ran a finger down the bridge of her nose to un-crinkle it. ‘You don’t spoil the fun.’

‘Well, I turned this little secret-telling game into a terrible therapy session, so...’

‘Tell me your secret, then, and I’ll psychoanalyze you. It’ll be fun.’ He flashed her a grin and she let out a quiet laugh.

‘I mean, I already told you my whole afraid to turn thirty thing...’