Page 97 of Shattered

“Okay.” Sam nodded, still not sure what he was planning.

“Alright. Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the street.

She expected him to let go at some point, but he never did, and they walked hand in hand all the way down King Street.

“Where are we going?”

“I have an Uber meeting us at The Market in a few minutes.”

Sam tried to keep her face as neutral as possible, not betraying the true level of excitement she was feeling. As they passed by a stand on the edge of the market and waited for the light to change, she saw another woman making those baskets out of grass and yanked on Callum’s arm.

“I saw someone doing that earlier. They’re making those things out of grass,” she said in disbelief.

“It’s called sweetgrass. They’re all over Charleston.” Sam let go of his hand to make her way toward the woman and her beautiful creations. She examined a few before picking up a gorgeous bowl with a ribbon-style wrap. She gasped in shock when she flipped it over and saw the price.

“Oh my god. Callum. That’s, like, three hundred dollars,” she whispered in shock.

“Yeah, they can get expensive.” He chuckled at her reaction.

“They’re really beautiful, though. Maybe I’ll get one someday.”

“Maybe so.” He then grasped her hand again and leaned down to speak more closely to her ear. “Come on. The car should be here soon.”

Chapter 42 - Sam

“Are you Callum?” the driver asked, and Callum nodded. “Headed to Folly Beach Pier?”

Callum tensed, then nodded once more just before they slid in. He then looked at Sam and flipped over her hand to start his finger drawings on her palm.

“We’re going to the beach?” Sam asked with more excitement than she had intended.

“Yeah. I wanted it to be a surprise, but…” He shrugged his shoulders and indicated to the driver in the front. “It’s about a thirty minute drive to Folly, but I didn’t think you would mind.”

“No, that’s fine,” she assured him.

The ride was comfortably silent, except for the few times Callum pointed out a special location or told her a story about some mischief he’d gotten into when he was younger. He held her hand in his the entire time, drawing small circles and designs with his thumb. When they finally pulled up to the pier, he thanked the driver and they headed off in the opposite direction of the water.

“This way,” Callum tried to direct her to a shop across the street.

“What about the ocean?”

“As much as I would love to see you get into the ocean in that dress, I think we should find something more suitable.” He winked.

“What? I was just going to wet my feet. I don’t have any money to get anything, anyway.”

“It’s fine. I’ve got you. You can’t go to the beach for the first time and expect to not actually get in.” He pulled her across the street before she could argue.

She paused in the shop as she looked through the price tags on all the swimsuits. They were outrageously expensive.

“Callum. I can’t let you pay for this. I promise, I just want to get my feet wet.”

“What if I promise to let you pay me back. Will that make you feel better?”

Sam sighed. She wasn’t going to win this argument. She also knew Callum would never let her pay him back.

They each grabbed a suit and one towel to share and then changed in the dressing room before heading for the register with tags in hand. He grabbed a bottle of sunscreen from beside the register while she fidgeted with the hem of her dress. Something about knowing he was going to see her in what basically amounted to socially acceptable underwear made her stomach turn to knots. The last time she’d been this undressed around him, he had turned her down.

Callum grabbed a bag to throw all their stuff in and they were on the other side of the street in a matter of minutes. He took her hand again just as they made their way across the dunes and the ocean came into view.

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