Page 20 of The Art of Loving Lacy
“I’m so embarrassed.”What is wrong with me?Lacy hadn’t thought of her run-in with the shark in such detail for years. Why would it send her into such a tizzy after all that time? Why hadn’t she seen some clue over the years that she was that scared? She grasped for answers, wishing Danica were there with her. She’d have the answer. She’d help her to understand what was going on in her crazy head.
“Don’t be silly. The first time I went down in a shark cage, I freaked. Really freaked.” He smiled. Dane reached up and tucked a wayward curl behind her ear. “Want to tell me about it?”
I’d rather be locked up with Jeffrey Dahmer.Lacy shook her head.
“Okay. I’m here if you want to.”
Slowly, the tension in Lacy’s body drained, the shaking subsided, and she realized that Danica had already given her the advice she needed. Her sister’s voice ran through her mind.He deserves to know.She needed to tell Dane what she’d been through, even if she didn’t understand the depth of her fears.
“You said you thought you were afraid of sharks, but I had no idea it ran so deep,” Dane said.
Neither did I.He’d never want to see her after this nonsense. Heck, she didn’t even want to be around herself, but if she’d learned one thing from her mother’s affair with her father when he was still married to Danica and Kaylie’s mother, it was that living honestly wasn’t just the right thing to do—it was the only way to live. Filled with doubts over what might come next, she drew courage from his strength.
“I want to talk about it.”No, I don’t, but I should.
Dane didn’t rush her, or push her to spill her guts. He simply folded her hand into his and stroked her back. He snuggled against her, and Lacy couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt so loved, which she knew was completely ridiculous. He was being kind, comforting, nothing more. She had to remember that. He was doing what anyone else would do in that situation.Was he?Would any of the men she’d dated have done the same? She doubted it. She thought most of them wouldn’t have known what to do.How does he?
Savannah appeared in the doorway. “Are you guys okay?” She walked into the room slowly and touched Dane’s shoulder. “What can I do?”
Dane looked up at his sister. So much love and appreciation passed between the two of them in that instant that Lacy’s question was answered without ever being asked. Of course he knew how to handle silent fears and unspoken emotions. As the second-eldest, he must have cared for his siblings in some fashion after his mother’s death.
“We’re okay,” Dane said. “Thanks, Vanny.”
Vanny.She loved the way they were there for one another and the way Savannah looked at her, with tenderness in her green eyes that matched Dane’s concern—absent of judgment and filled with empathy.
“Okay. Hugh’s got everything under control, so take your time.” She came to the side of the bed and touched Lacy’s shoulder. “The first time I had to meet with a celebrity, I had a panic attack. I was struck numb. It took me twenty minutes to remember my name.” She smiled. “I think it’s a show of strength in some ways.” She shrugged when Lacy crinkled her nose in question. “Think about it. It’s easy to be suave and cool, but it takes real courage to come back after falling flat in front of others.” She bent down and whispered in Lacy’s ear, as if she had read her mind, “Hang in there. He’s worth it.”
Lacy looked at her then and was surprised when Savannah squeezed her shoulder. She smiled again, feeling the warmth and generosity of another Braden. She watched Savannah leave the room and took a deep breath.
“She’s so nice to me,” she said.
“She likes you. I can tell.” Dane placed his hand beneath her chin and lifted her face so she was looking into his eyes. “I like you.”
She smiled and dropped her eyes.I like you too—too much.They sat quietly for the next few minutes, the boat moving swiftly, the gentle rocking soothing Lacy’s worry.
“It was a shark,” she said, touching her scar. “I was seven.”
“I wondered,” he said, and covered her hand with his.
“Why?”
“At first I wasn’t sure. It could have been a rock-climbing accident, or maybe a viscous fight with sandpaper—that you lost. I work with sharks, Lacy. There isn’t much I haven’t seen.”
“Right.”Of course you’d know.
“It could have been a hundred things, but when I saw your reaction to Savannah’s comments and the way you reached for your scar. You were kicking your feet, thrashing around like you were swimming, which is very different from running, I might add.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“We were in Bora Bora, at this restaurant, which was more like a hut on stilts. I jumped into the water next to the kitchen.” Her eyes remained trained on her scar.
“And that’s where they threw the excess and rotten fish and meat, which drew the sharks,” he said.
“How did you know?”How did my parents not know?
“You’re talking about twenty years ago, on a remote island. It’s not like the United States, where everything is micromanaged. I’ve done a lot of research, Lacy. There’s little that I haven’t heard about or seen when it comes to sharks.” He placed his hand on her scar, and when she tried to move it away, he held firm. “Sharks don’t go looking for humans, Lace. You were in their chum bucket. I wish you would have told me.”
So you could end it before we even got started? You can’t get serious with someone who is afraid of sharks.“I didn’t realize I wasthatafraid,” she said honestly.
“You went into the water seamlessly in Nassau.”
