Page 29 of Finding Forever

Fern exuded so much childlike excitement as she tripped along the beach—dodging waves with delighted laughter, inspecting shells and at one point nearly poking at a washed-up man-of-war before Cade leaped forward to stop her—that he couldn’t help but be reluctantly fascinated by her.

“Aren’t you getting sand in your shoes?” she asked him, after he cautiously led her around the man-of-war’s two-meter-long tentacles.

“What?” he asked, still wholly focused on ensuring her bare feet got nowhere near those tentacles.

“Sand? In your shoes? You should remove them.”

“Remove the sand?” he asked, completely losing his train of thought after looking up to find those dove gray eyes finally meeting his gaze head on for the first time since they’d left his apartment.

“Remove your shoes,” she clarified.

“I’m fine,” he dismissed and she cast a skeptical glance down at his feet before pursing her lips and shrugging.

The beach was filling up rapidly and soon—in addition to picking up and discarding dozens of shells, and inspecting washed up seaweed —Fern began staring at the people around them in rapt curiosity.

“I love this,” she breathed, then turned her eyes on him again. “Don’t youlovethis?”

“What?” Her mind seemed to flit from one thing to the next every other second and he couldn’t quite keep track of what she was on about this time. He wasn’t sure if he found the quality annoying or endearing. All he knew was that he wasn’t bored.

“Justpeople… from all walks of life. Out enjoying a sunny day at the beach.”

He glanced around dubiously and to him it didn’t look like anyone was having a particularly good time. Some were flexing for cameras—craving the attention and approval of strangers online—harassed young parents were dealing with recalcitrant, unhappy kids; teenagers were vying for one another’s attention keen on making the exact right impression; others were engaged in games of soccer or rugby or volleyball, their laughter and cheers a little too loud and boisterous to be genuine. It all struck him as too fake, too fucking desperate and disingenuous. And yet Fern was staring at it all with the kind of naive wistfulness that made Cade feel jaded and cynical.

They walked all the way from Third to First beach and backagain and by the time they reached the steps leading back to street level she was looking pale and peaked.

“We should rest,” he told her and immediately regretted his gruffness when her face fell and she gave him a wary look.

“You look tired,” he pointed out.

“I’m f?—”

“You’re not fine,” he interrupted harshly.

He sat down on an empty patch of warm sand and took hold of her small hand to tug her down beside him. “Come here.”

She folded her legs beneath her and sat down without further protest, then smiled in delight as she buried her fingers in the powdery white sand and brought up fistfuls to sift through her fingers.

Chapter

Eight

Fern wouldn’t admit it, but she definitely needed this break, and she was happy Cade had suggested it. As she watched the warm, soft sand fall from her fingers, she smiled at her new husband’s grim profile and bumped her shoulder against his bicep in a bid to get his attention.

His head turned immediately, and he pinned her with his stare.

“This was a good idea,” she told him.

He made a rough sound of acknowledgment in the back of his throat before turning his gaze back on the ocean and saying without a hint of humor or irony, “I only have good ideas.”

God, Fern really liked the unapologeticarroganceof him.

“Yes, I have found your ideas to be somewhat adequate so far,” she concurred and he swung that intimidating stare back on her.

“Somewhat adequate?” he repeated sounding affronted and she stifled a giggle. She didn’t reply, letting him stew over her words while she continued to sift sand through her fingers,watching the world around her as she did so. Everybody just seemed so carefree and happy and she envied them that.

“Have you heard from my stepfather yet?” she broke the silence to ask.

“Hah, he’s apoplectic, left an incoherent rage fest of a message on my phone. Threatened to sue, breach of contract, the works.”

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