Page 146 of At First Catch

“Just thinking.”

“That’s usually dangerous.”

“Probably.”

I glance toward her.

The wind catches strands of her hair and moves them across her face while she watches the marina with quiet contentment.

She’s beautiful. Always beautiful.

And suddenly fear returns with enough force to catch me off guard. Because the more permanent this becomes, the more terrified I am of losing it. Like the universe handed me something too good, and eventually, it will realize I was never meant to keep it.

Hadley notices the shift. Of course she does.

“You’re doing the thing again,” she says.

“What thing?”

“The disappearing into your head while standing right next to me thing.”

A laugh slips out. This woman sees everything.

I lean against the railing and stare across the water.

“I don’t know how to trust this.”

Silence settles between us.

I exhale.

“I keep waiting for something to go wrong.”

The confession leaves me exposed in ways I still haven’t adjusted to.

Loving someone means giving them access to every part of you that would normally remain locked away.

Hadley has become the only place where those parts feel safe enough to exist.

“You think loving me means you’ll lose me eventually,” she says.

It isn’t a question.

I look down at the beer bottle in my hand.

“Good things don’t usually stay.”

I let out a quiet breath.

“You know what’s frustrating?”

She waits.

“I’m usually the guy with a plan.”

My mouth lifts.

“Turns out loving you has completely ruined that.”