Page 32 of The Magic of Sea Glass
When she reached his car, he leaned over and opened her door.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“A little,” she replied, climbing in.
“As expected, Stephanie can’t wait to hang out. She said she’ll meet us at my house.”
“Oh shoot, I need to go back in and get my laptop,” she said, reaching for the door handle. “We need to talk about wedding planning.”
“Or, we couldnottalk about work,” he said.
She sank back into the seat, the wedding deadline and the looming TV show like weighted chains around her ankles.
“Tell me something,” he said as he turned out of the parking lot. “What were you hoping for with this job at the inn?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“From what I know so far, you left a very lucrative career in New York to come here to the Outer Banks to fold towels and complete entry-level administrative tasks. And while all of that is perfectly fine, if that’s what you want to do, I was just wondering what the big picture was for you.”
It was a simple question, but one without a simple answer. She wrestled with how to respond to it, his blue eyes on her with no judgment. The reality was that she didn’t want to talk about Mason because she didn’t really know how. All that ever came out was the pain of it, shocking everyone in its wake. She didn’t want to put Brody in that uncomfortable position.
Letting him in might put a damper on the whole evening. Would he be able to handle her truth? But if she didn’t tell him, he’d keep asking, and they had a lot of time still ahead of them. She’d have to eventually spill the beans. “My fiancé died last year,” she finally admitted. “I came here to try to find my way through it, and it’s proving more difficult than I’d ever imagined.”
Brody drove silently, probably trying to figure out how to reply to what she’d just told him.
“I can’t begin to understand what that’s like,” he finally said, his voice so soft and tender that it almost brought tears to her eyes.
The sympathy was taxing as well. It was as if she were being given permission to grieve, and everything she tried to bottle up in an attempt to act like everyone else came tumbling out. With a deep breath, she tried to push the emotion back down, focusing on the view out the window as the coastline slid past them. She inwardly scolded herself for telling him now. It didn’t impact just tonight. The last thing Lauren wanted to do with this news was to cast a dark shadow over Stephanie’s wedding.
“I’m glad you told me,” he said.
She swallowed to force herself to speak. “Why?”
He pulled the truck to a stop at a red light and looked at her. “Because it’s a step. It’s the first step I’ve seen you take since you got here. Now you can tell me anything, since I knowthat.” He gave her an encouraging grin, a clear attempt to make her smile. “And I’m kinda fun to be around if you’ll ever hang out with me.”
She smiled back. “It’s hard to see the lighter moments sometimes.”
His face fell to a more thoughtful expression. “Maybe we can look for those moments together. Just a tiny ray at first, and then eventually, one day, the sun will peek through.”
“And the storm will pass,” she heard herself saying, the memory of Mason’s advice bubbling to the surface.
“It always passes.”
If Brody was anything, it was optimistic. She couldn’t imagine a day when she would wake up feeling okay. The heaviness had become a part of her, and it had been with her for so long now that she couldn’t reach who she’d been before. But as she took in Brody’s calm nature and the way nothing at all seemed to ruffle him, she wondered if maybe—just maybe—he might be the perfect person to help her see the brighter side.
NINE
Brody pulled the truck onto a gravel drive nestled in the woods and parked next to an old Winnebago outside a small cabin with a detached garage. They were so far from the coast that the stillness was almost shocking. As they came to a stop, Stephanie hopped off the hood of her jeep where she’d been waiting for them.
Lauren eyed the large vehicle beside them from the passenger seat.
“Like my vacation home?” Brody asked, following her line of sight to the Winnebago.
She nodded while she took it in. The body style gave away its age, but it had a coat of new paint and looked to be in good condition.
“It’s been my little project over the last few years. I got it for nothin’ and then fixed it up,” Brody said.
Lauren let herself out of the vehicle.
