Page 65 of Saving Shepperd

“Out here,” I heard her muffled voice call from the patio. I had a very small backyard. Really, it was criminal to even call the postage-stamp sized bit of grass a yard, but it was pretty typical for southern California condos.

I found my beautiful woman lounging in the sun with black, oversized sunglasses perched on top of her blond hair. The sun had already kissed the apples of her cheeks, and she looked livelier than I’d seen her look in the past month.

“Wow,” I muttered.

She smiled up at me. “What?”

“The sun looks amazing on you. Do you like going to the beach?” There was so much we didn’t know about each other.

“I used to when I was a kid. I haven’t been in a really long time. I guess that’s kind of lame when you think about it, huh?”

“What do you mean?” I lowered to sit on the end of her chair beside her feet. Kindly, she moved over a bit to make more room for me.

She shrugged. “People come from all over the country to visit our beaches, and we live here and just take it for granted.”

“True. But we also live here and have to make our livings here. We aren’t on vacation every day. Sometimes life gets in the way of the fun stuff.”

“Absolutely. But maybe we just need to make a bigger effort to enjoy what’s right here in our backyard.”

“Good point. Would you like to go to the beach? Maybe next weekend?” The more I thought about it, the more fun it sounded.

“I think I’d love that,” she said with a sweet smile. “How was the shower? You must have been solving world hunger in there.”

“Yeah, I definitely do serious thinking in the shower. You too?”

“Oh, absolutely. Although, growing up in a house with so many other people, someone else always wanted in the bathroom while I was in the shower, so I couldn’t really take my time.”

This conversation was sweet and normal, and I dreaded the fact that the one I had to initiate next had the potential to wreck the whole day. Shit, maybe worse than that.

“What’s up?” she asked after studying me for a few seconds.

“What do you mean?” I asked but also marveled at how astute she was.

“You’ve got something on your mind, I can tell. You have since you came home. Do you want to talk about it?”

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “You’re very smart, Ms. Farsay. You know that?” I said with a heartfelt smile. I truly adored this girl and didn’t want to hurt her. In any way.

She looked down at the book she was holding and shyly said, “Thank you.”

I put my hand on her leg and enjoyed how warm the sun had made her skin. “I’m afraid you might be upset with me, and I don’t want to make you mad.”

“Ohhh kaaaay,” she dragged out with worry clouding her features in an instant.

“I’m sorry,” I said at once. “That’s not a great opener, is it?”

“Nope. Not really,” she said, still concerned about what was coming.

Might as well rip the Band-Aid off. “I had coffee with Elijah this morning.”

“Elijah Banks?” she quickly filled in, her voice immediately gaining volume and fear.

I just nodded and stroked her leg. At least she didn’t pull away.

“Why? Did he call you?” she asked, and I couldn’t figure why that mattered—who called who.

“No. I reached out to him and asked him if we could talk. He said he was free this morning, so I took the opening. He’s one busy guy. Did you know he also has a private company in addition to working for Sebastian Shark?” I was totally rambling.

She just slowly shook her head while keeping her eyes glued on mine. Suspicion was all over her body like an ill-fitting, uncomfortable suit.

---