Page 15 of Silver-Tongued Devil
It was probably time for a break. She checked her phone and blinked. Well, yeah. Two-thirty, and she’d been at her table for seven hours. She was starving, and she needed to pee. Time alone meant time in the zone, but it could also lead to what some people called “excess.”
The conch tugged at her, but the fatigue and stiffness did, too. Plus, she reallydidhave to pee. All of a sudden, that was an emergency. Her obsession screamed, “No!” But her body told her that a snack, a bike ride, and a swim to loosen everything up would make her more productive. Her conch would still be here when she got back. Ready and waiting.
Tearing herself away was always the hard part, but by the time she’d biked to City Beach and swum for twenty minutes along the farthest edge of the floating-log barrier, she felt refreshed and ready to go again. She maneuvered around a group of noisy, rambunctious boys, waded up to the beach, and did her usual squint-and-stumble effort to find her towel and bag.
Somebody said, “Dakota. Over here.” Evan’s voice.
She navigated by sound and fuzzy sight over to where he was sitting with Gracie and said, “Can’t find my stuff.”
“I figured,” he said. “Come on.” He guided her to her red bag, and she reached for her glasses and, as always, felt more secure when she had them on.
“Why don’t you just wear your contacts when you swim?” he asked.
“Not worth it.” She grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her waist. “I save them for when it matters how I look, and as contact-worthy occasions are sadly rare in my life, I still have plenty of pairs left. But if I’m wearing this suit, contacts wouldn’t help. I know you were going to say it.”
“Nah, I wasn’t. Haven’t said anything yet, have I?”
“Not that much. But you tend to be fairly restrained in general.”
“Why’d you buy that, anyway? Since you brought it up.”
“It was cheap.”
“Well, yeah,” he said doubtfully. Then he shut up, because somebody else was walking over to join them.
Beth Schaefer, whodidn’thave an ugly bathing suit. She was wearing a conservative but beautifully designed aqua bikini that showed off her slim figure and pale skin, and her blonde hair was in a French braid. She looked like what she was. Rich, classy, and poised, exactly the same way she’d looked last night when she’d been out with Blake Orbison.
“Hey, Beth,” Dakota said. Jealousy was ugly, and she had nothing against Beth. Not really. Not anymore. “How’re you doing?”
“Oh, I’m good,” she said. “Really good. Fine. Just home to see my parents for a few days. Visit, you know. How are you?” She glanced at Evan and Gracie, and Gracie did one of her big smiles, which made Beth smile back. Evan didn’t smile, and he still wasn’t saying anything, either.
“Great,” Dakota said, then couldn’t think of anything else.
“I need to get going,” Evan said. “The baby.”
“Oh,” Dakota said. Clearly, they were done. “Hey, if you’ve got the van, can I shove my bike in the back and get a ride to my place with you? Maybe you’d help with that storage unit.”
“Sure,” he said.
“Well,” Beth said, “nice to see you, anyway.”
Dakota waited until she and Evan had left the beach and she was unlocking her bike to say, “So that wasn’t awkward much.”
Evan didn’t answer, just went ahead to the van and opened it up, then started to buckle Gracie into her car seat. “If you hang on a minute,” he said while Dakota wheeled her bike around to the back, “I’ll put that inside for you.”
“Nope.” Dakota wedged it into the back of the van, careful to position it so it wouldn’t fall on Gracie. When Evan finally shifted the big old Ford Econoline into gear and eased carefully out into the crowded parking lot, she said, “You know, when you didn’t say anything last night about Beth being out with Blake, I thought you were being careful of my delicate sensibilities after my unfortunate encounter on the rocks. Guess not.”
A muscle ticked in his hard jaw, and there was a long pause before he said, “No.”
She sighed. “That’s communicative. ‘No’ what? No, you weren’t being careful? No, you don’t want to talk about it?”
“No both.”
“You know, many experts recommend talking out one’s issues with a trusted friend. It’s a concept.”
Evan made the turn onto Cedar. “What’s the point? It’s not going to change how I feel. It’s not going to change what I do.”
Dakota hesitated, then probed the tender spot anyway. “It was a long time ago. None of us is the person we were then.”
