Page 49 of A Future in the Bay

“What about you?” he prompted when she turned back to face him. “What’s your story?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She let out a long sigh and sat quietly for a moment, thinking. “I think I took my ex’s words too much to heart. He told me that the way I was so inflexible made me impossible to deal with, and it was all too much, etcetera, etcetera. But I think I became that way in our relationship because he was so irresponsible. I overcompensated. He made me feel stressed out by how he lived and how little he cared about details, and it made me try that much harder to keep things in line in order to feel like everything was going all right. And who knows—maybe I could see that the relationship just wasn’t working, and unconsciously I thought that fixing all the little details would fix the relationship itself.”

He watched her, feeling his heart stir with compassion for her.

“I’m sorry you went through that,” he told her.

She smiled at him. “It’s all right. I’m learning better now. I’m feeling like I don’t have to be responsible and rigid all the time, and that’s been nice. The truth is that there’s room in me to have fun and still take things seriously.”

He nodded, feeling that her words applied to him as well. “Absolutely. Just like there’s room for me to take things seriously and still have fun.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her, then pretended to fall off the pilot’s chair.

“See?” he said, lying on the bottom of the boat and grinning up at her. “I never would have done that if the boat was moving. I take safety seriously, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to be silly.”

She chuckled, reaching down to help him back up.

“You are a very silly man,” she told him, pretending to scold.

“You’re welcome,” he said cheerfully, taking his seat again. “I made you laugh, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you certainly did. You make me laugh a lot. I like it.”

He felt his stomach warm with happiness. “I didn’t see this coming, but I like it. I mean us. You make me want to make you laugh.”

“I feel the same way. I didn’t see this coming, but I’m glad it’s happening.”

For a moment, they smiled at each other. The wind rocked the boat gently back and forth and it bobbed up and down on the waves. The sunset shifted in its magnificent colors, allowing more deep blue to spread across the eastern edge of the sky.

His mind traced over the events of the past few weeks, wondering how he’d ended up sitting there across from her on adate. He started to laugh, thinking about the conversation that he’d had with Olivia.

“What?” she prompted curiously, her mouth curving up into a smile.

He shook his head. “Olivia. She predicted all this. She was right about you and me becoming interested in each other—and I’d told her she was wrong and that I wasn’t looking for a relationship and that was that, and now—well, now she’ll never let me live it down.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she teased. “That sounds rough.”

He laughed, enjoying her teasing. “It’s totally worth it, though. I’m so glad I met you.”

Her eyes seemed to glow a little more. “I’m so glad I met you,” she said softly. Her shoulders were turned toward him, and her hands were clasped in her lap.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, his heart hammering in his chest all of a sudden.

She nodded, looking a little wide-eyed. “Yes, I would like that very much.”

He leaned in toward her, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear. The whole world seemed to stop for a moment as he placed his lips gently on hers.

She gazed up at him as they pulled away from the kiss, her eyes shining.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, grinning at her.

“I’m thinking that was an amazing kiss,” she said, blushing a little, “and that I definitely have something to tell Heidi tomorrow.”

He laughed, brushing his fingertips over her cheek again. His heart felt light and his stomach was fluttering with happiness. It had been an amazing kiss, and he felt excited about continuing to talk with her for the rest of their time out on the boat.

“Heidi’s also matchmaking us, huh?” he asked, lifting a brow.

“I think so.” She laughed too. “I think she got suspicious when I kept talking about our first boat ride almost nonstop.”

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