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It takes me a moment to steady myself enough to head back to Brody. I’ve muddied the mood with him enough that I don’t want to add to it with Rowan’s ridiculous intervention. But as I wander back to our booth, I can feel Rowan staring at us, and if we stay here, it’s only going to get awkward.
Thankfully, Brody’s finished his drink when I slip back into my seat and take the last few sips from mine.
“Sorry about that,” I tell him, putting on my best smile even though my best efforts to ignore the conversation I just had are falling flat.
Brody nods, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth when he asks, “You okay?”
“Yup. Yeah, I’m all good.”
Offering me his hand palm up on the table, he waits for me to rest mine in it. With our fingers laced together again, he asks, “Wanna grab an early dinner?”
It takes barely a nod before he’s getting up and tugging me with him. While I grab my purse, he gets his baseball cap on. Pulling it low enough so that his face is mostly covered.
“There’s this burger place I want to try,” he says, dropping a few bills on the table to cover our drinks.
“You want burgers for dinner?”
“Maggie says it’s the best, besides, burgers are easy to eat on the beach.” Brody wraps his arm around my shoulders and guides me out of the pub. “Unless you want something else?”
“Burgers are good with me if it’s good with you.”
“Great.”
“I’m not going to get the blame for this, though, am I?”
Glancing down at me confused, he asks, “For what?”
“Your muscles going soft or I don’t know…your ass getting too big to fit in your car?”
Brody bursts out laughing. The sound is loud and rich, and it’s exactly what I need to put me at ease again. Wrapping an arm around his waist, I tug myself deeper into his side while I lace my hand with the one hanging over my shoulder.
The sun is lowering in the sky, but it’s still bright and warm. The town is busy enough as we drive down Main Street toward the beach in Brody’s Wrangler. The roof is off and the radio is playing a local station that varies between country pop and mainstream pop. Not exactly what I expected him to listen to.
“You can change the station,” he tells me. “This is Blaire’s favorite, and she’s bossy enough that I don’t bother changing it anymore.”
I don’t bother changing it either, besides it’s nice background music to our comfortable silence.
When we’ve grabbed our food, Brody drives toward the rockier part of the beach no one really ventures to. The rock pools are warm and full of life, but it’s not as relaxing or fun as the sandy part.
“Want to tell me what happened back there?” Brody asks when we settle in the boot of the Jeep. With the top off and the back seats collapsed, it’s more like a carpeted truck bed that he’s laid out with a rainbow knit blanket so we can picnic. “I heard what your brother said.”
“You did?” My chest squeezes as I pull a fry apart with my fingers. I’m equal parts mortified and afraid that he’ll be done with me after Rowan’s display. “Rowan can get a little too overprotective.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” he snickers lightly while taking the fry from my hand and throwing it.
“You shouldn’t do that, the gulls will surround us.”
“Why, though?” Brody asks, ignoring my remark. “Why’s he so protective of you?”
“He’s my brother.” I shrug, hoping he’ll leave it there.
“I know that, but we’re only ever that protective of our sisters when they’ve been hurt already.”
“Well, I guess I just don’t have a great track record with guys,” I offer, with a half-hearted chuckle, hoping he’ll be satisfied for a while that he’s happy enough to let his line of questioning go.
We eat our food with sparse small talk and the radio still playing in the background. It’s peaceful, however, the air between us is heavy and fraught with the unspoken.
The sun is setting when Brody takes care of our trash, shoving it all in one of the paper bags and stuffing it beneath the seats. Although it’s warm, the breeze is cool, and while we’re sitting watching the ocean and the boats at a distance sail along the horizon, he pulls me between his thighs.
