Page 53 of Diving In

I knew she meant well. I knew she assumed that having Ian down here would help me, but if only she knew how much I would rather be alone.

“Fine. We can do lunch, but that’s it, Ian,” I relented.

A smirk spread across his face, clearly pleased.

Every single thing that’d happened on this island was messing with my head, but running into Blair and Cal at The Grounded Bean solidified one thing: I needed off this island, now.

I was going to stop at The Rogue Shallot, and to my surprise, I was going to be accompanied by Ian, and thentogether(literally, not figuratively), we would get on a plane and head back to New York City. I’d finally be able to close the book on Sullivan’s Island once and for all. Except for Beau, but I’d figure out that part later.

Ian stepped closer.

“Don’t,” I said, crossing my hands over my body as I stepped back.

The only thing swimming through my brain was Ca—

I caught myself before I let his full name slip into my brain, leaving it in some sort of limbo. It didn’t matter. Even if I knew what I had with Cal was special, he’d been in a relationship and lied about it, and that wasn’t something I could look past.

“This house is incredible. Your old man sure did have a taste for the finer things in life,” Ian said, his tone teasing.

“Yeah, not really. This house is sounlikeJack. I didn’t even know he owned it until I got here.”

“Maybe we should stay here for a few days. Enjoy a little vacation, just the two of us?”

“I’m going to go ahead and say absolutely not.I’d prefer to go back to the city instead of sitting on this island for a second longer,” I huffed, feeling a tinge of irritation.

Ian was so unaware of my feelings, the situation, all of it.

“Goddamn, I missed your sass,” he admitted, clearly still trying to fix what was permanently broken.

“I have a few things I want to do before our flight.” I turned away. “I need to hop in the shower, and then we can get lunch. There’s a place I’ve been wanting to try before I leave,” I said quickly.

He sat on the bed before plopping onto his back, his feet dangling as he said, “Okay.”

His disappointment flooded the room, but I pretended not to notice.

I moved to the bathroom and shut the door as quickly as I could, pressing my back against the wall. I stepped toward the shower and turned the water on as hard and as hot as it would go, letting the steam fill the small bathroom as I slowly undressed, allowing the warm air to calm me.

Pulling out my phone, I texted Ivy.

Me:

Tell me it’s going to be okay, please?

In a matter of seconds, she’d responded.

Ivy:

It’s going to be okay, G. It always is, remember that. I have a few minutes. I can call.

Me:

No, it’s okay. We’ll chat later. I love you.

Ivy:

I love you too.

My thoughts swirled around as I stepped into the shower, letting the steaming water run down my body. I kept telling myself that once I was off this island, everything would go back to normal. And even if I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted, it seemed like what I needed.

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