Page 51 of Sunset

“Dance with me?” I ask her.

Her smile lights up her pretty face, as she stands and takes my hand. I pull her off the porch into the sand, and we dance.

“Last time I danced, before Lin’s wedding, was at prom with you.” She says.

“I remember at prom I spent every dance, trying to hide how hard you made me just being so close. You were so beautiful in that emerald, green dress.” I tell her.

“I still have it. Couldn’t bear to get rid of it.” She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder.

“Well, keep it. The memory of what we did after prom is one of my favorites.” I chuckle.

That night wasn’t the first time we had sex, but it was the first time we made love.

“It was one of the best nights of my life,” I tell her.

“I agree it was.” She sighs.

I pull her closer, not hiding how she makes me feel. I’m hard as steel, and having her so near, is intoxicating. Her scent fills my lungs, and her skin on mine makes my body crave her.

But not on a first date. I won’t mess this up.

“Can we go for a walk on the beach?” She asks.

“Of course,” I tell her and grab my phone. I shoot off a quick text for one of the kitchen guys to come out and clean up the porch. Then, I take her hand, and we walk down the two shorelines.

Brynn switches sides to put me between the water and her, and something Kade said to me in passing about Lin comes to mind.

“Brynn, have you been back in the water since?” I ask her.

She hesitates for a minute. “No, and not even on a boat. I hate even driving over the bridge.” She says honestly.

I get that. Her parents died in the ocean right off The Island, and it was the same storm that caused the one bridge in and out of town to collapse.

Maybe, this time, when the storm knocked out the bridge, it was a good thing, because it trapped Kade on The Island and brought him and Lin together. It also pushed Brynn and me together.

“Ever think the bridge going out this time was your parents way of pushing you and Lin to your happily ever after? Think your parents got tired of you waiting around?” I ask.

She’s quiet for so long that I think maybe she didn’t hear me.

“I thought so for Lin. The events were just too perfect. It’s like maybe her mom handpicked Kade and delivered him on a silver platter. The jury is still out on you.” She forces a smile, but I see the thought in her eyes.

“Every so often something happens, and I look back and just know my dad had a hand in it. I’m pretty sure my dad was conspiring with your parents to trap us together like this. Not long after the bridge went out, I felt this pull to go visit my dad’s grave. Lin and Kade showed up. She came over and offered me an olive branch that I didn’t know I needed. Helped me heal in a way. If I didn’t have the pull, I wouldn’t have been there.” I tell her.

“Well, our parents always did like to meddle and play matchmaker.” She says.

“Very true.” By this time, we have walked around The Island point and are over on the other side, where we held The Sunset event.

“How long before it stops hurting so much?” I ask her.

She seems to know exactly what I mean. “I don’t know if the pain of losing them really stops, or we just become used to it. I think around two years I got so busy I forgot to grieve. By the time things slowed down, it hurt a whole lot less.” She says.

We turn and start heading back to The Inn, and once again, she changes sides to keep me between her and the water. I take that moment to wrap my arm around her, as if to say, I won’t let anything take her away from me.

“I hope you know you can talk to me about this. I’ve been there, so has Lin. Either one of us would be happy to listen.” She says.

“I know, Firefly, I know,” I say and desperately search for a way to get our date back on track.

“So, think you can sneak away from The Inn tomorrow mid-day?” I ask her. I want to get our next date lined up.

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