Page 36 of Waves of Time

“I like to think of myself as a pretty compassionate person,” he agreed.

Hilary pressed her lips together, studying him, his sharp cheekbones, his lustrous hair.Was she really good-looking enough for him? Shouldn’t he have been dating a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, a woman who could still give him a child?

And, perhaps just because of the stress of her eyes, or the stress of Aria’s potential drug addiction, or any number of fears, Hilary heard herself ask, “Do you know a young man named Thaddeus? He lives here on the island.”

Frank’s eyes twinkled.

“He said he worked for you,” Hilary finished, ready to judge everything based on Frank’s reaction.

“Hmm. Thaddeus. Let me think.” Frank sipped his wine. “There were so many guys over the years, you know. But Thaddeus isn’t exactly a common name. Big, curly hair?”

Hilary nodded.

“Yeah. I think he worked for me a few years ago,” Frank said, frowning as though he dug himself deeper into his memories. “Good kid. If I remember correctly, things weren’t that comfortable at home. His mom couldn’t hold down a job, and he had a lot of siblings.”

“A hard life,” Hilary said. “What did he do for you?”

“He helped with things here and there,” Frank said. “A jack of all trades, honestly. I had purchased a house to flip in Martha’s Vineyard, and he helped refurbish it. And after that, if I remember correctly, my car was acting up, and he fixed that, too. After that, I called him for a few other things, and then, well, I left for a consultancy job in New York for a little while and just forgot to contact him again. I haven’t flipped a house in a while. And this—” He gestured toward the big house beside them, “isn’t a flip job. I want this to be a labor of love so that I can stay here for a long time.”

Hilary remained quiet, captivated by him. “Thaddeus sounds like a great guy?”

“He really is,” Frank said. “At least, he was back when we worked together. How do you know him?”

“He’s a friend of my daughter’s,” Hilary answered, before adding conspiratorially, “I think they might be in love.”

Frank smiled and shook his head. “Young love. I hope they know what they’re getting themselves into.”

“Right? Falling in love at that age is tricky because there’s still so much at stake,” Hilary said. “Maybe, if I’d known my ex wasn’t going to be around forever, I wouldn’t have let myself fall head-over-heels for him, you know? Then again, I never would have had my daughter.”

Over the table, Frank took Hilary’s hand and gently massaged the top of it with his thumb. His eyes glowed with adoration. “But every decision led you here. So, you can’t blame yourself for that, right?”

“No. I can’t,” Hilary said, her heart skipping a beat.

For dinner that night, Frank ordered quesadillas and fajitas from the high-end Mexican place downtown. The food was delivered within the hour, complete with margaritas, tortilla chips, and plenty of salsa and queso dip. As Frank set everything up on the back porch table, Hilary’s mouth watered, and she blinked away the frantic white blotches in her vision. As she dunked a tortilla chip into the queso and took a bite, she closed her eyes and moaned, saying, “I haven’t had Mexican food in ages. This is perfect.”

When she opened her eyes again, Frank was nearly swallowed in the white lights from her eyes, but she could just make out his smile as he said, “It’s perfect for me, too.”

After dinner, Hilary and Frank wandered up and down the beach, slightly tipsy from margaritas, watching the waves roll in.

“What was wrong with your car?” Frank asked.

“I’m not sure,” Hilary lied. “I’ll have to take it into the auto shop tomorrow.”

Frank nodded contemplatively. “Let me know if I can help you in any way.”

“That’s sweet.” Hilary stopped walking and wrapped a strand of hair around her ear to keep it out of her face. Her head thrummed with curiosity and fear, both about what Frank had told her earlier about Thaddeus and about the future she felt brimming between them.Could she trust it? Could she trust him? Could anyone trust anyone, honestly, in a world of egos?

But before Hilary could second-guess herself a moment more, Frank stepped toward her, wrapped his arms around her, and breathed, “Can I kiss you, Hilary?”

Hilary’s knees nearly gave out beneath her. All she could do was nod yes. As his soft lips fell upon hers, her eyes closed, casting her into a world of only emotion, of hope, as the waves licked across their toes and the last of the August sunlight lingered on their shoulders. This was her first kiss in eight years— and it was sensational. It made her wonder why she’d wasted so much of her life not kissing. It felt like oxygen.

When the kiss broke, Hilary’s cheeks burned, as though she were thirteen years old with a crush on a boy. Frank’s smile was electrifying.

“You can sleep over if you want to,” Frank whispered. “Not to be too forward or anything.”

But Hilary’s heart had gone through too much already that day. “I really want to,” she told him, pressing her nose against his. “But I have to get back home tonight.”

Frank nodded, clearly hurt. Probably, he was used to a very different kind of woman— the sort of woman who was a lot braver than Hilary. The sort of woman who didn’t hesitate.

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