Page 76 of The Scars I Bare
“You mean, it might help lessen the shock that the man he thinks you’ve been happily married to for the last seven years is a—” my eyes found Lizzie’s in the rear-view mirror and I caught myself from saying anything more.
“Yeah, right—that.” She paused for a moment. It was one of those heavy pauses, and I knew she was debating on what to say next.
“Hey, do you happen to watchDoctor Who? Go to Comic-Con? Or maybe you’re a closet Potterhead?”
Of all the things she could have said, I didn’t expect that.
I couldn’t help the smirk that spread across my face. “I literally have no idea what you just said.”
She laughed and patted me on the leg. “Well, we will just have to work with what we have then.”
“And what would that be?” I asked.
“Your charming good looks and the fact that you adore me.”
Lizzie giggled in the background as I looked deep into Cora’s eyes, realizing they’d done a pretty good job of distracting me. Because any Star Wars geek knew the order in which to watch the movies.
Well played, evil genius. Well played.
“Yes, I do,” I answered, forgetting all about the sea and the dark grasp it had on my heart as they both continued to divert my attention for the next full hour until we were back on solid ground.
“Wake up.” Cora’s panicked voice rang through the darkness, causing me to bolt upright. “We’re late!”
I shook my head, taking a quick look around as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. A light flipped on as Cora ripped a very sleepy Lizzie from the bed next to me.
Double beds, a cheesy beach motif. Hotel. We were in a hotel.
It was all starting to come back to me.
I looked down at the clock on the nightstand that separated me from the girls.
“Shit!” I cursed, causing a still very sleepy Lizzie to giggle from the bathroom.
“Dean said a bad word.”
Jumping out of bed, I threw on the clothes I’d pulled out of my suitcase the night before and did my best attempt at a hasty dressing.
Cora came out of the bathroom just as I finished buttoning my jeans, a toothbrush in her mouth as she threw clothes at Lizzie, who was beginning to understand the situation. Mommy was not messing around.
“It’s only half an hour, right?” she mumbled while she brushed. “We can make it up on the road.”
“Yep,” I assured her, struggling to pull my shirt over my head, but it wouldn’t budge.
She ran into the bathroom and returned a moment later to help me.
“I’m fine. Really. I am just not usually this rushed,” I snapped.
She averted her gaze, turning her attention to Lizzie.
I let out a giant breath as I finished getting dressed. Walking toward her, I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I said. “My frustration wasn’t aimed toward you.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her attention still focused on getting Lizzie dressed. “Because this is me, Dean. Late and unorganized. I mess up first days of school and have random outbursts about bad driving. I sleep in when I’m not supposed to, and I don’t take directions well,” she confessed. “And I need…” She let out a deep breath as she finished Lizzie’s hair. She knelt down and whispered for her to go pack up her things. Turning to me with those deep brown eyes, she said, “I need someone who is going to love me. All of me. The good, the bad, and everything in between. I’ve already had one man try to change me into something I wasn’t, and it cost me nearly everything.”
“Well, let’s make a deal,” I suggested, looking at the clock before adding, “a quick one because we’ve really got to go. How about we agree to accept each other at face value, right here, in this shitty hotel room? I’ll always let you be you—the sometimes unorganized but always involved mother with the heart of gold—and you let me be the smart, sexy ex-fisherman who loves you.”
Her eyes widened, glistening with emotion. “Deal,” she said, her voice heavy and hoarse.
I didn’t know how long we stood there, staring at one another. Too long probably, but neither of us wanted to break the spell I’d cast with my words.
