Page 91 of Play Pretend

“The widow?”

I turned toward him, bracing my hand on his forearm. “You don’t know about the widow?”

“I thought it was just a ghost story kids told each other?”

“No,” I breathed, shaking my head. “She was a real person. Her husband went out to sea and never returned. She spent the rest of her life manning the light in case he came back. Shewaited for him. She never gave up on him. I don’t know her name, or what she looked like, but I know a little bit about her story. But there had to be more to her, right? She had to have had friends and a family. She must’ve had a life. She couldn’t have spent her entire life just staring at the ocean, right? Waiting?”

I looked back at the lighthouse. “But it is kind of romantic, don’t you think?” I continued. “Knowing she loved him so much that she’d rather wait for him than continue living.”

“Do you think you would’ve waited?” he asked quietly. I nibbled my bottom lip at the question. Slowly, I faced him once more.

“Yes,” I finally said. “If he was the love of my life, I would’ve waited forever for him.”

His eyes flicked between mine, and suddenly all the oxygen in the world seemed to disappear. “Me too,” he whispered. “I’d wait a million lifetimes if I had to. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for the woman I love.”

My heart lurched into my throat, and a question I’d asked myself a year ago floated through my mind.

What would it be like to be loved by a man like him?

We stared at each other for just a moment too long, a moment that passed the comfortable level and moved to something else. Something intimate.

“Have you thought of researching her more? Or maybe figuring out a way to restore it?”

I shifted my gaze back to the ocean. “I’ve thought about it, but I wouldn’t know where to even start.”

“My brother is an architect,” he said. “Maybe he can help you. Even if he can’t restore it, he might know someone who can. I can ask him for you.”

“Really?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“Of course.”

Ronan reclined back on his hands as we stared at the waves crashing in the distance. After a few moments, he let out a soft groan, and I turned my attention to him. “Your family is gonna be watching us like hawks, aren’t they?”

A breathy laugh escaped as I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Definitely. I think Vanessa will be payinga lotof attention to you.”

He scrunched his nose. “Isn’t she married?”

“I don’t think that’s ever stopped her before.”

He grunted, a noncommittal sound. I dug my fingers into the sand, needing to ground myself.

“And your dad?”

“What about him?” I asked.

“Will he be asinterestedas Vanessa?” His blue eyes looked like sea glass in the sunlight. I couldn’t stop staring at them.

“I think so,” I said softly. “But not for the same reasons. I think he’ll judge everything you do and say.” His lips pressed into a frown.

“If he’s an asshole to you, I won’t keep my thoughts to myself,” he said firmly. “I won’t stand there and let any of them treat you like shit.”

“It won’t be that bad,” I mumbled, looking back at the sand.

“If it is, I’m putting a stop to it and taking you out of there immediately.”

Tears gathered on my lashes, and I blinked them away. I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t breathe. No one had ever promised anything like that to me before—they’d never putmefirst.

“You don’t have to do that,” I rasped. “I can handle it.”

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