Page 33 of Catch Me When I Fall

We fell into a somewhat awkward silence, and I looked away from him once more. A few moments passed before he spoke again. “Do you—would you mind if I took a seat?” he asked, tripping over his words a bit.

Immediately, my mind drifted to Robert, to his handsome face and his rare smile. I waited for the guilt to swallow me whole, but it never came. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about that.

So I looked to the kind fisherman I’d been having light conversation with for the past two days and nodded. “Sure,” I said, my voice shaking.

He gave me a crooked smile that should’ve made me blush.

I was worried as to why it didn’t, but then again, the guilt wasn’t here either.

Silently, he took a seat beside me, keeping a respectable distance between us. I liked that. It made me feel most comfortable, and I knew he knew that too. We watched the water in silence for a few more minutes before he leaned over slightly, holding out his tanned, weathered hand.

“I’m Leo,” he introduced, meeting my eyes.

Green.

His eyes were green. I held out my hand and he gently enveloped it with his, his palm warm and rough. “I’m Carrie.”

Leo smiled at me, giving me a view of his pretty teeth as his sandy hair fell in front of his forehead. “Carrie,” he parroted, holding my hand a moment longer before releasing it. “Nice to finally have a name to go with that pretty face of yours.”

The heat that had been missing in my cheeks finally made itself known. “T-thank you.”

He looked down, still smiling as he leaned back before looking out to the water again. “You’re new to town, yeah?” he asked as I looked away from him.

“Yeah,” I softly confirmed.

“You’ve been the talk of the docks lately,” he told me casually. “I don’t think any of these men have shut up about you since you came down here a few days ago.”

I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The last thing I wanted was to cause attention to myself, but I seemed to be failing at that.

“Yeah, I just moved to town last week. Sheriff Humbly and his wife helped me get settled in,” I told him, and I felt his eyes on me.

“Sarah and Michael are good people.”

I looked at him, eyes wide. “Does everyone know each other in this town? Because Sarah told me they didn’t.”

Leo chuckled. “I went to high school with Michael.”

“Oh.”

“But as far as small towns go, this is just big enough to keep your secrets safe,” he teased.

Thank heaven for that.

We spent the next half hour chatting, and I learned he owned two small fishing boats, one belonged to his father, and when he took over the business, he purchased a second one. I didn’t tell him much, other than I was starting a new chapter. When he asked about the camera, I went on to tell him I was trying to find a new hobby, that I’d bought the camera two days ago.

“Is that why you came out here? To take pictures?” he asked, gesturing to the camera.

I nodded and looked up to the few seagulls circling in the evening sky. “The seagulls interest me,” I told him. “They’re the only thing I’ve been taking pictures of, really.”

He shook his head. “I grew up on the sea. I hate them.”

I laughed—really laughed. “They’re pretty.”

He shot me a look. “When they try to steal my bait, they aren’t pretty, Carrie,” he deadpanned.

“How else are they going to eat?”

He gestured to the water. “Get it themselves? Seems like a good place to start,” he shot back.

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