Page 84 of Saltwater Memories
“Will…”
He stared back at her. “I know that you had a thing going on, and – ”
“No,” she shook her head. “That’s over.”
“Ha, so Morgan was right. Youaresingle.”
She smiled. Of course Morgan was involved. “Yes, but Will – ”
“I was inspired by your bravery. Not just with the pepper spray, but all the time. And I want you to know that you don’t have to worry about protecting yourself from me.”
She stared at him, studying the now fully outlined bruising on his face. The mask only partially hid it. “I think that you’re way braver than I am.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s a lot easier for me to taser someone than to tell them how I feel.”
He smiled. “I’m ready, then. Pull out your taser. If that’s what you need to do to show me how you feel.”
She stepped in closer. She had no desire to tase Will – nor did she want to keep running from him, or making excuses as to why he should stay away from her. “Are there any other options?”
He smiled, leaning in. “I could kiss you, if you’d prefer?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, her voice almost at a whisper. “Kiss me before I find the taser.”
“Gladly.”
Their lips met, and though Amanda was pretty sure that they’d stopped dancing, it felt like the room was spinning. She closed her eyes, falling into his grip, a lightness overtaking her.
She snapped back to reality when Will’s phone rang. Amanda pulled away. “Go ahead – answer it. It might be about your new job.”
“Right.” He flashed a smile. “Hello? Yeah – you’re good. Well, first she threatened to taser me, but I think she’s digging me now.”
Amanda’s mouth popped open, and almost immediately her questions were answered as Morgan, Jade, and Margie came bursting through the door, dressed up and masked. They were followed closely by her dad, Matthew – and Luke!
It took a moment before Morgan spotted Luke, standing in the back with a bouquet of flowers, but when she did, she screamed. “I thought you weren’t coming for another two weeks!”
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” he said, wrapping her in a hug.
Amanda was too stunned to know what to say. “You wereallin on this?”
Jade shrugged. “Wellsomeonehad to help you.”
Amanda looked at them, astonished. “Now I really feel underdressed.”
“Don’t worry!” Morgan called out, stepping away from Luke. “I brought your dress. And your mask. Just, you know, in case you decided you weren’t going to attack Will and we could all have a nice masquerade ball of our own.”
“Ah, so that’s what this is. You just wanted a chance to wear a mask.”
“It does seem that way,” Will said with a smirk.
Amanda didn’t care. She couldn’t stop smiling. Even her dad was wearing a mask; it managed to partially hide his suspicious glare at Will.
Will noticed, quickly dropping the arm that he’d had around Amanda’s shoulder. “Good to see you again, Chief Kowalski.”
He grunted in response, and Margie elbowed him.
“Go ahead,” Margie said. “Tell them what you told me.”
Amanda tilted her head. “What was it, Dad?”
He sighed. “I might’ve admitted that I’m alittleimpressed with what he did with the place.”
Margie beamed. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Amanda laughed. Her dad relented, and shook Will’s hand. “Nice to see you again too, Will.”
For an absurd moment, Amanda felt like she might cry. The moment was halted, however, when Morgan screeched from across the room. “Get over here before you miss out on this ‘99 Red Balloons’ dance-offgoodness!”
