Page 28 of Finding Forever

“You sure you’re up for this?”

“Definitely,” she said gamely and he tilted his head, eyes shrewd.

“These go down to street level,” he told her. “After which there are more steps leading to the beach. Going down is fine, but coming back up is a bitch.”

“Have you walked here often?”

“Not really. I’ve never been down to the beach.”

“But you live right here,” she said, unable to wrap her head around the notion of living at the beach and never going to the water. “Why’d you get an apartment here if not for the beach access?”

“The view, the location, it’s a sound investment because it’ssought after…,” he itemized with a careless shrug. “But I’m not here often and when I do stay it’s because I’m in town on business or visiting family. No time for the beach then.”

Fern thought that was a terrible shame to have the freedom to come and go as you please but not take the time to enjoy the beauty around you. Such a waste.

She kept her own counsel though, refraining from saying as much to him. It wasn’t her place to judge the way he lived his life, but now thatshehad these simple freedoms and pleasures, she would take full advantage of them. Starting right now.

“I don’t mind the steps,” she told him, adding the strength of her convictions and determination to her voice. “I want to see the beach.”

“Let’s go then.”

She was winded,Cade could tell. Despite her determined smile, traversing these endless fucking steps was taking a toll on her. They were halfway down the second set which led down to the beach, when he made her stop and wait while he refastened his laces for no other purpose than to give her a reason to take a breather.

Cade was beginning to fathom that the woman he’d married was stubborn as hell, so he’d been finding excuses for them to slow down, or stop just so that she would take a fucking break.

When they finally made it down to the water’s edge, the fake grimace of a smile disappeared from her face to be replaced by a wide, beautiful showstopper.

It was similar to the smile she’d bestowed on his father the other day… only this one glowed with delight and wonder. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she’d never set foot on a beach before. But that couldn’t possibly be true. She kicked off her sandals and curled her cute little toes in the wet sand, her smile settling into contented bliss.

Cade stared—arrested—wondering how she’d look in the throes of an orgasm if that’s how the feel of sand between her toes made her look. He felt another sharp pang of remorse that, while heshouldknow what that looked like, he didn’t.

And that was on him.

“This isamazing,” she practically squealed, sounding like a repressed Disney princess who’d only recently escaped her stepmother’s evil clutches.

Which, well…accurate.

“When were you last at the beach?” he asked.

“Not since before my mother died,” she said, staring down at her toes, which were still curling and uncurling in the sand. Her smile was now bittersweet and tinged with nostalgia. “I have this perfect memory of her, on a beach somewhere—I can’t remember exactly which one—I was only seven or eight at the time. She’s standing there with a shell held up to her ear and smiling at me. She told me to listen, that the ocean had whispered all its secrets to the shell and if I held it up to my ear, the shell would tell me—and only me—those secrets as well.”

She lifted her gaze to his and his breath caught. Her eyes were bright with tears, love, and longing.

“I felt so special. So honored to have been chosen. That was our last visit to the beach together. My mother met Granger not long after, and she and I didn’t spend as much time alone together after that. She felt it was important to bond with her stepdaughters. And thereafter all of our mother-daughter activities included Antonia and Allegra. And they weren’t interested in going to the beach or having picnics. They preferred spa treatments and manicures. Shopping. Because they were older—more sophisticated—than I was, my mother encouraged them to help me choose clothes. She thought it would bring us all closer together.”

Cade’s eyes dropped to what she was currently wearing. Another shapeless knee length skirt—this one white—combined with a silky yellow top, neither of which did anything for her complexion. The entire ensemble reminded him of a soft-boiled egg and aside from being the absolute worst color choices for her, they were ill-fitting and baggy.

Fern laughed when she caught his look—the sound was edged with bitterness.

“I know right,” she said, plucking at the hem of her top. “Halfway through every school semester, I’d received acarepackage from Toni and Allie. Some toiletries, snacks—most of which contained peanuts to which I’m deathly allergic by the way—and new clothes.”

“God, what fucking bitches,” he gritted out unthinkingly.

“Absolutely. But I don’t want to talk about them. I want to enjoy all of thissplendor,” she said with an infectious grin, before twirling in the sand, arms outstretched, nearly taking out an influencer type dressed in a tiny white string bikini who was making pouty faces at her phone.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she instantly apologized to the woman, who gave her a flat stare of dislike in return. Fern turned toward Cade and gave him a discreeteekface and he felt the corners of his lips tug upwards in reluctant amusement at the goofy expression.

It didn’t suit her earnest, plain features but it charmed the hell out of him for precisely that reason.

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