Beach Lane

“Mack?” she said, a questioning note in her voice. “What’s going on here?”

“I wish I knew,” he said with frustration.

Before he could do something they’d both regret, he scrambled to his feet and held out his hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Now?” she said, regarding him incredulously. “You want to go for a walk now, in the middle of the traditional football game?”

“I do.”

She looked around at the speculative looks on the faces of the men in her family, then nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Grateful that she wasn’t going to give him an argument, Mack tossed the football back to Trace. “Count us out. We’re going for a walk on the beach.”

“In the middle of the game?” Matthew demanded, staring at his sister as if she’d betrayed him.

“Seems like as good a time as any to me,” she said.

Matthew turned to his brother. “Do you have any idea what is going on with her?”

Luke laughed. “Oh, yeah, and if you ask me, it’s about time.”

All the way across the endless expanse of Uncle Mick’s lawn and down the steps to the beach, Susie clung to Mack’s hand and cast sideways glances at his unexpectedly grim expression.

“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” she asked eventually, when the silence had gone on way too long.

“Not really,” he said. The soft sand made walking difficult, but he was eating up the distance as if he had some destination in mind.

“Are we going someplace specific?” she asked, glad for her track experience and long legs. She had no problem keeping up with him, even though she would have preferred a leisurely, romantic stroll.

“Nope.”

“Are we on a deadline?”

He scowled. “Of course not.”

“Then could we slow down? I know I ran track in high school, but I stopped competing years ago.”

He glanced at her. “Sorry,” he said, slowing his gait.

“Mack, if you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t seem happy about going on this walk. Why did you suggest it?”

“Because I didn’t like what was happening back there.”

She studied him in confusion. “Me getting tackled?”

He shook his head. “I knew I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

“Then what?”

He heaved a sigh, stopped and met her gaze. “I came within a heartbeat of kissing you.”

She blinked at the shock in his voice. “Would that have been so terrible? Do you think the world would have come to an end or something?”

“I can’t just start kissing you because I feel like it,” he said angrily. “Not after all this time.”

“Maybe you should leave that decision up to me. Maybe I want you to kiss me. Maybe I think we’ve been waiting way too long to start kissing like crazy.”

“No way,” he said adamantly. “Not now.”

“Why?”

“Because the timing’s all wrong.”

“Because we had an audience?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. What makes you think I’ve ever cared what anyone else thinks?”

“Okay, then, if it’s not because you were afraid that Will, Jake, my brothers and all the rest of them would give you a rough time, what was going on?”

“I told you the timing was bad,” he practically growled. “Now leave it alone.”

“No,” she said fiercely. If he’d wanted, even for a second, to change things finally—and hallelujah for that—and she wanted to change their relationship, why shouldn’t they? They were both consenting adults, for heaven’s sakes. “I’m half of this equation, and I get to have a say in what happens, too.”

“Not now,” he insisted grimly.

“Are you worried because my dad and Uncle Mick were there? Do you not want the pressure of getting those two all worked up, because believe me, I get that.”

“It’s not that,” he insisted.

“Then enlighten me, because I am totally confused.”

“You just have to take my word for it that this isn’t a good time for us to be thinking about getting any more involved than we already are.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, stopping and looking directly into his eyes. “But I happen to think it’s way past time, so if there’s something I’m missing, you need to fill me in.”

“No,” he said. “Once I’ve worked everything out, we’ll talk. Until then, you just have to give me some space, Susie. I mean it. It’s the only thing that’ll work right now.”

She scowled at his edict. He’d obviously made yet another arbitrary decision and was expecting her to go along with it without argument. Well, not this time.

“You want space?” she said heatedly. “You’ve got it. But don’t count on me being at home waiting when you’ve worked everything out to your satisfaction. That’s not how it works, Mack. Either we’re friends or we’re not. Either we’re something more or we’re not. Whatever you want to call what we have, we both need to be all in. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

He regarded her miserably. “Susie, please don’t pick now to start issuing ultimatums.”

“Why not? Isn’t that exactly what you just did? Give me space, or else, Susie. That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?”

“Okay, yes. If you can’t accept that I know what’s best, then I won’t have any choice but to walk away.”

Fighting tears, she simply nodded. “Your decision,” she said quietly.