Page 24 of Sea Glass Serenade

Alexis swallowed, watching his face. He wondered what she was thinking, and why she still seemed hesitant and distant. He guessed that she had many questions for him, but perhaps she didn’t know where to begin. After all, the distance between them had become more than just the miles. He knew he needed to tell her how he was feeling.

He took a deep breath. Expressing his emotions had always been hard for him, but he was determined to make it clear to her how he felt. “I know that I haven’t put the effort into ourmarriage that I should have,” he told her. “I know that I focused too much on my job. I let it become a distraction—no, more than a distraction. I let it become my life. I’m sorry for that, Alexis. I wish I’d done better.”

He hesitated. He didn’t know how to tell her about the way he’d been struggling with needing to feel successful, and never reaching a place where he felt as though what he’d done was enough. To share that with her felt too emotionally vulnerable, and he didn’t know how to put those thoughts into words.

“And I know I can’t go back in time and change the way I’ve treated you.” He had an impulse to reach across the table and take her hand, but he resisted it. He was worried that she might pull her hand away. “But I am ready to fight for our relationship. From now on, I’m going to treat you differently. I promise.”

Alexis rubbed her face with her hands. When she pulled her hands away, she was frowning and she looked confused and uncertain. His heart sank, since he had been hoping that after he’d told her he wanted to fight for her, things would begin to warm up between them.

“I need time to process this, Grayson. I—I feel overwhelmed. I’m grateful that you want to fight for us, but—well, I’m not ready to disrupt the healing I’ve been finding here in Rosewood Beach. I’ve found a lot of fulfillment here, and I’ve been able to focus on my family. I think they need my care right now, and I don’t want to drop them for… for someone who feels more like a stranger now.”

His heart ached a little when he heard her words, but he nodded slowly, since he didn’t want her to see how upset he was. He felt a sense of panic when he realized that their roles seemed to have switched and she was now the one who wasn’t thinking very much about their relationship.

“I understand what you’re saying.” He suddenly had a frog in his throat, and he cleared it awkwardly. “I’d like to stick around town, though, if that’s all right with you.”

I want to stop being a stranger, Alexis,he thought desperately.

She nodded. “Okay.”

He watched her face for a moment, hoping she would suggest that he could stay where she was staying. Where had she said she was living now? With Hazel? Even if Alexis didn’t want him sleeping in her room with her, maybe there was another guest bedroom, or a couch in the living room he could sleep on. He wanted to be able to see Alexis in the morning and at night, to start and end their days together like they used to.

Alexis didn’t say anything, and he repressed a deep sigh. “I’ll check into a hotel,” he said after another moment.

“There’s the bed and breakfast,” she suggested.

“Well, I’d like to stay somewhere for more than one night.”

She nodded, looking almost wary. He wished she would at least smile a little about the idea of him staying in town, but her expression seemed to be a mixture of doubt and uncertainty.

This is going to be harder than I thought,he realized.

Although he felt worried and disappointed, a firm resolve rose in him. He wasn’t going to give up easily. He was there in Rosewood Beach, near his wife again, and he was going to fight to show her how much he loved her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Hazel stood in front of her dresser in her bedroom, slowly brushing her hair. Her mind was going over the events of the day, and she felt a little overwhelmed.

Alexis had returned home late in the afternoon, almost in tears. When Hazel had asked her what was the matter, Alexis had replied that Grayson was in town.

Hazel had been shocked, and her first thought had been that Grayson was coming to file for a divorce, since Alexis looked so upset. But it soon came out that he wanted to repair his relationship with his wife, and that he’d quit his job to come there to Rosewood Beach and try to win her back.

Hazel wasn’t quite sure what to think. She’d made her sister a nourishing dinner and given her tea to take to bed with her, since it was clear that Alexis seemed to be in some kind of troubled daze. Although Hazel didn’t understand the way that Alexis was reacting to Grayson’s attempt at winning her back, she knew that love was a complicated thing, and that Alexis had been very hurt by her husband in the past.

Maybe she doesn’t trust it, Hazel thought, setting her hairbrush down on her dresser.Maybe she thinks that he’s justgoing to go back to working too much and ignoring her once he’s back in her life.

Still, the fact that he had left his incredibly lucrative company was staggering. Hazel felt impressed, and she hoped that it did all work out well in the end. She’d always liked Grayson, despite the half-hearted way he’d participated in family events. She guessed that underneath his shy and quiet exterior, he had a heart of gold.

She went over to her window, which was open and was letting in a breathtaking night wind. It smelled of all the surrounding flower gardens, and held the musky, exhilarating smell that night winds always seemed to. She curled up on the armchair that was placed next to her window and hugged her knees, smelling the wind and listening to the leaves rustling in the trees outside.

She sighed, wishing that she’d gotten a chance to talk to Alexis more about ways that she could tell Jacob how she felt about him. She’d been juggling ideas around in her head all day, and she’d wanted to ask her sister for advice and guidance. Now that Grayson had shown up, however, Hazel didn’t think it would be right for her to put more on her sister’s plate. Alexis was clearly overwhelmed and didn’t need anything more to think about.

She leaned her head back onto the armchair and closed her eyes, imagining herself enacting some of the ideas that she and Alexis and Samantha had come up with at the kitchen table the other day. She pictured herself surprising Jacob with a banner strung across the wall that said, “Will you go out with me?” or showing up at his place with an invitation card to get coffee with her sometime. She shook her head as she pictured the ideas. They’d seemed fun at the time, and she’d felt as though making some kind of big gesture would somehow make it easier for her to be brave about the whole thing, but now she didn’t like theideas. They felt like too much. She was starting to get more and more nervous and was beginning to wonder if making a move at all was too bold.

She opened her eyes when she heard someone knock softly on the door of her room. She assumed that it was Alexis, wanting to talk, but when she called, “Come in!”, Samantha stepped into the room.

Samantha was wearing pajamas with little ice cream cones printed all over them and grinning from ear to ear. In her hand was a notebook and a pink pen and she hurried over to her mother and gave her a hug.

“Hi,” Samantha said, whispering because they weren’t sure if Alexis was asleep or not. “I have something I wanted to show you.”

---