Page 50 of Beginnings By the Sea

“Let’s just cut to the chase, Nyla,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to sugarcoat anything for me. Just tell me what you want.”

I hesitated for a split second before responding. “I can tell you what I don’t want,” I said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

He snorted once and dropped his gaze back to the water. “You’re choosing Miles, aren’t you?”

“I am,” I answered.

His jaw tensed as he considered my words, and he ran his thumb over the back of his hand, probably trying to control his emotions. He then looked up at me and asked a question that made my chest tighten.

“Did you care about me at all?”

I leaned forward so that our faces were closer together, wanting him to meet my gaze. When he did, I stared right into his eyes.

“Of course I did. I still do. But you being related to Miles makes things a little more complicated.” I leaned forward to get closer to him, hoping he’d look at me. When he did, I stared right into his eyes. “How did you not know I was married to your cousin? Surely, you would’ve heard about our wedding when it happened. My name isn’t exactly common.”

Miles’s words of not trusting Cohen rang in my head, which was why I wanted to ask the questions.

Cohen shook his head and laughed. “I wasn’t invited to the wedding, Nyla. Nobody on my side of the family was.” He shrugged as if it didn’t bother him. “Honestly, I doubt I would’ve gone even if I had been invited.”

“What happened between you two?” I asked, wondering what could’ve been so bad that Miles and Cohen hated each other the way they did.

Cohen’s jaw tensed as he threw his arms up and shook his head. He spoke slowly as if stifling a deep rage.

“Guess it was a combination of things. Our grandfather always favored Miles over me, no matter what I did. He hated my father, so I guess his loathing passed down to me.” He scoffed. “My dad was able to give my mother everything she wanted. You would’ve thought that’d make my grandfather happy.” He clenched his fists tightly and turned away from me. “My grandparents paid for Miles to play sports and go off to summer camps, while I had to help my dad with the family business. I hated it when I’d see my grandparents light up when Miles came into the room. As I got older, I grew to resent him.” His gaze met mine again and his face darkened with an almost tangible anger. “I resented all of them. There’s been bad blood ever since.”

A heavy silence fell between us and my heart hurt for him, but I have never been more sure of what I wanted. Cohen’s body relaxed and I could feel the anger dissipate from around him.

“Where do we go from here?” I asked him.

He sat back in his chair and gazed out at the water. “That depends. Do I have a fighting chance or is your heart made up?”

It killed me having to break his heart. I shook my head and reached over to take his hand.

“I’m sorry, Cohen. I don’t want to make things more difficult between you and Miles, but I have so much history with him. Miles has always had my heart.”

Cohen looked down at our clasped hands and sighed. “I guess there’s nothing else I can do.” He grabbed my other hand and helped me up, pulling me closer to him. “If this is going to be the end of us, let me take you out to dinner one last time. Tomorrow night, just me and you. Then, afterward, I don’t see any other option but to take a plane back to New York.”

My stomach clenched. The last thing I wanted to do was to run him out of town.

“Would you be leaving for good?”

He shrugged. “There wouldn’t be any other reason for me to stay.”

“What about the surf shop?”

“They don’t physically need me here, Nyla. I can do what I have to do for them anywhere in the world.” He stepped closer, his eyes searching mine. “One more dinner. That’s all I ask. All you need to do is say yes.” Cohen picked up on my hesitation and squeezed my hands reassuringly. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course,” I replied, but I knew Miles would hate the idea of me going to dinner with him.

Cohen let my hands go and stepped back. “Miles will be okay. I mean, hell, he has you now. He can deal with a couple of hours without you so you can have dinner with me.”

Which was true; it would only be for a short while. I owed Cohen that.

“Okay,” I gave in. “Dinner tomorrow.”

Cohen smiled triumphantly, his face lighting up with joy. “Great. I’ll pick you up at five o’clock.”

He started to walk off, but then I called after him. “Hey, where are we going? I need to know what to wear!”

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