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Pounding up the steps, she made it to her room and out to her patio. The light was fading as the sun set, but she could just see Jagger striding through the shallow water and then diving in and swimming through the waves.
She pulled out her necklace and held her bee ring while she watched him.
How she loved him.
But she doubted they’d ever ‘figure them out.’
Chapter
Fifteen
Jagger was as confused and frustrated as ever. He didn’t blame Belinda—he blamed her dad plenty. Anger at the duplicitous pastor pushed him to swim until well after dark.
Nobody was in the main area when he came through. He showered and restrained himself from knocking on Belinda’s door, instead forcing himself to eat some of the dinner left in the fridge. He should’ve kissed her on the patio earlier, but he didn’t know if his heart could take any more battering.
He slept fitfully, but at least he slept. He worked out with Hays and Paul the next morning, taking part in all the banter with the two of them. That helped. He showered and ate breakfast with Belinda, Hays, and Paul. Belinda laughed and teased with the rest of them. She looked beautiful and apprehensive. Was she worried about her slim chances of winning a million dollars or about saying goodbye to Jagger again? Would it be another fourteen years, or would he ever see her again?
He’d promised her dad he wouldn’t come for her, and he’d kept his promise. On the flip side, the lying pastor hadn’t even told her that Jagger had dropped by. Now that he thought about it, he should’ve suspected as much. Why would Pastor Ralphs go to such lengths to get Jagger to promise not to come for her, knock him to the concrete to win the fight, and leave him miles away with the note of ‘You Promised’ if he wasn’t planning on hiding it all from Belinda? To Jagger’s young and jealous heart, it had looked like Belinda was head over heels for Mike, but her dad had known she wasn’t. The pastor had thought it was God’s will that Jagger had come at the moment Mike and Belinda were together and had kissed. Sheldon Ralphs could probably justify in his mind that he was protecting his daughter from the military man who would only leave her alone and who made her cry.
His anger at the pastor was a huge part of his frustration with heaven above. Jagger could admit he’d prayed on the Na Pali trail as he ran for Belinda. It was a miracle that Paul had dived at a man pointing a gun at him and not only succeeded in killing the guy, but nobody except the convicts even got hurt. He could see God’s hand in that, but he still had no desire to bridge the gap between himself and the heavens.
He understood why Belinda wanted to go home and talk things out with her parents. But wouldn’t they just keep on lying to her? Why would they admit to secrets they’d hidden for this long? Most likely, things would go back to how they were before this week, only with fresher pain and another long healing period.
Belinda and Paul got ready to take off. Jagger and Hays walked them to the garage.
“You can’t watch what direction we go,” Belinda said, all cute and sassy.
“We’ll try to help you out,” Jagger teased. “We won’t watch you leave at least.”
“Ah, so generous.” She winked at him. “I’m assuming that means you want honey instead of stings?”
“Always.” He couldn’t hide his grin or his longing for her.
She grinned back. If only everything else in the world would disappear and he could just hold her. They hadn’t even had a chance to talk about … anything, really. Every time they’d gotten close, she’d gotten ticked at him again. Ah, his Bee. She’d said he was the only one who ‘got her.’ Was she not able to be her unpredictable, fiery, irresistible, fun self even around her parents? That stung deep and gave him another reason to despise her dad.
“Let’s do this,” Paul said.
“Catch ya soon,” Hays countered.
“We’ll see.” Paul saluted them and held the door for Belinda.
Belinda gave him one more sweet smile before the door closed behind her.
Jagger felt like his heart and soul had just walked away. How was he truly going to let her go when this was all over? He realized that he hadn’t heard from Shawn and Mercedes all week and he’d been too invested in Belinda to think to call. Was no news good news or was Shawn in a deep funk and Jagger was selfishly being the worst friend ever so caught up in his own drama?
“You okay?” Hays asked.
“Not really. You?”
Hays smiled.
“Have you heard from Shawn and Mercedes?”
“I let them know everybody was safe yesterday morning.”
“Were they okay?”
“She sounded awful, but she’s still around.”
