Page 60 of On The Beach

And that was where the insightfulnessended!

I let out a long breath. "I don't think she's going tojustforgive me. I was a complete asshole."

She made a sympathetic noise, though I could almost picture her fiddling with some jewelry or flipping through a magazine as I spoke. "Darling, as smart as you are, and you areverysmart, you don't understand matters of the heart."

"Right!" I said, the word dripping with sarcasm.

"You're going to have to make a big gesture, show her that you love her, and apologize for being anarsehole, as you put it. Maybe you'll have to court her, grovel in front of her, make her feel special…you know, do the things normal men do when they're into a woman."

"I'm anormalman," I said diffidently.

She let out a long breath. "I love you, Nick, but you're notnormal. You're ridiculously handsome and wealthy, so women fawn over you. You never had to work to win anyone over."

She wasn't wrong. "Are you saying I'm an arrogant, entitledarsehole?"

"Yes, darling, I'm exactly saying that," she said sweetly.

"Damn it, Mother, how did this happen?" I muttered, rubbing a hand over my face. "I kept the pillow she slept on and…like a complete pervert, have been hugging it."

"That's adorable."

"That's daft."

"I love it when you use British slang.” She laughed thistime. "Nick, you've got to go get her. You know what Willy said?"

"Who's Willy?"

"Willy Shakespeare," she explained. "Faintheart never won fair maiden."

"I didn't realize how much I needed her until she was gone," I whispered as I looked around my hut and sawhereverywhere; remarkably, she'd been in it for about half a minute if you looked at it from the span of a lifetime.

"Oh, my baby." Mother's voice softened, probably surprised by my vulnerability. "Sometimes we don't realize these things until it's too late. But I know you're going towin the fair maiden."

I huffed a small, bitter laugh. "You think so?"

"Of course, darling," she said, a hint of her usual whimsy sneaking in. "After all, you're my son, aren't you? There's bound to be some charm in there somewhere. Now, as Virgy said,fortune favors the bold."

"By Virgy, I'm assuming you mean Virgil?" My mother was batshit nuts. She and Belle would get along like a house on fire.

"Yes, darling. Now, I have a tea party to get to, so I'm going to say ta-ta. Keep me appraised on your attempts to win her back."

I felt lighter after the conversation and then looked at Belle's notes spread around on the kitchen counter.

Yeah, I knew what I needed to do because, as the American adage went, "Go big or go home." I was going to have to do both.

CHAPTER 20

bottoms be crazy

BELLE

Iwalked into the office feeling like I was carrying a hundred pounds on my back. After the endless flights, the missed connections, and the cold that bit through my coat the second I stepped off the plane at Logan International, I felt like a stranger in my own life. Everything looked grayer, flatter,unfamiliar.

The fluorescent lights in the lab buzzed, and the faint smell of chemicals hit my nose as I made my way to my office, pulling off my coat with a heavy sigh.

Out in the lab, my team was waiting; my colleagues were filled with quiet expectation.

I tried to muster a smile, but it must've come out as something else entirely because they all exchanged glances, already knowing what I was about to say.

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