Deeper

Bess looked up, shocked that Eddie might have thought so. “God, no! Can you imagine?”

She couldn’t, actually. Married to Nick? How her life would have changed.

Eddie shrugged. “I didn’t know. He up and disappeared. Missy said she thought he joined the army. I thought maybe he went with you.”

“No. I married Andy.” She paused. Eddie had only met Andy once. From what she could remember, Andy hadn’t been too nice.

“Ah.” Eddie didn’t ask any more questions. “Sounds like you’ve been doing well. I’m glad for you,” he added, though something in his face told her he hadn’t quite been convinced she was doing as well as she pretended.

Of course, maybe she was just projecting the truth she knew onto him.

“I should get going,” Bess said. “Thanks so much for the coffee. It was great seeing you.”

“Tell your boys about the job offer.” Eddie stood, too. “And don’t be a stranger, Bess.”

“I won’t.” This time, she held the door open for him.

Eddie paused on the sidewalk. “You’re staying at your grandparents’ house?”

“It’s mine now. But, yes. Same old place.”

“Yours?” Eddie whistled low, then grinned. “Nice.”

Bess laughed. “By default. I lucked out. Mom and Dad didn’t want to deal with the hassles and the taxes.”

“Even so. It’s a great property. They had it up for sale for a while, didn’t they?”

She nodded. “Yep, but then decided not to sell.”

“I know.” Eddie grinned. “I tried to buy it.”

“Eddie Denver,” Bess said in admiration. “You really are a mover and a shaker, huh?”

He laughed and made the same sort of shooing motion Kara had given them in the shop. “I wish. Someday, maybe.”

Bess joined his laughter and looked toward her car, still parked close to the market. “I’ve really got to go. I need groceries.”

“You know there’s a Food Lion now, right? It’s bigger than Shore Foods.”

“There’s a lot of stuff that wasn’t here before,” Bess told him. “It’s like I’ve got to relearn the whole town.”

“If you ever want a tour,” Eddie offered, “you know where to find me.”

She smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well. See you.” He waved and loped across the street, back to his shop.

Bess watched him go, trying to fix the memory of the old Eddie over this new version, and pleased to find she couldn’t.

Chapter

10

Then

Bess wanted a shower. She wanted to wash away the smell of sticky sweets from her hair and skin, and stand under pounding hot water until the faint headache behind her eyes went away. That was all she was thinking about, a shower and bed, when she closed up Sugarland and found Nick waiting for her again.

“Hey,” he said as casually as ever, as if there was nothing odd about him showing up there.

“Hi.” Bess made sure the doors were locked, and tucked the keys into her backpack. “What’s up?”

Tonight he wore the bandanna again, along with a black, tight-fitting T-shirt with white letters that read Better to Be Dead and Cool Than Alive and Uncool. Somehow Bess doubted Nick had ever been uncool in his life.

“Nice shirt.”

He glanced at it, then gave her a grin that squinted one eye. “Thanks. They sell them at the Surf Pro.”

“I’m sure they do.” Bess laughed. “I’m sure they’re very popular, too.”

Nick shrugged. They stared at each other. The orangeish light from the streetlamp made his eyes look more gray than brown, and she wondered what it did to her blue ones. Probably turned them some nasty color the way it did her skin.

“So…” Nick got off the bench where he’d been lounging and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You going home?”

Bess nodded. “I was planning on it.”

“Want to walk along the beach?”

“With you?” The question blurted out, potentially insulting, but Nick didn’t seem offended.

He looked from side to side and held out his hands. “I’m the only one asking.”

She crossed her arms. “How do you know that? Maybe I have tons of offers for moonlit walks along the beach.”

Nick saluted her, mocking. “Maybe you do. But you also have a boyfriend.”

“Sort of.” This blurted out, too, and she frowned.

Nick’s eyes gleamed. “What does ‘sort of’ mean?”

She waved a hand. “Nothing.”

Nick the Prick is only friends with girls he’s fucking. Missy’s warning should’ve meant less than nothing, but Bess couldn’t forget it. Nick wasn’t fucking her. But they weren’t friends, either. Were they?

“Is that like sort of being pregnant?”

Bess laughed. “No.”

Nick grinned again. “C’mon. You have to walk home. Why not walk with me along the beach?”