AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nope, got some typhoons that went up the coast to us, but that’s about as close as I got most of the time. My parents took me to California once when I was like seven or eight,” I explained, taking a sip of beer and laughing. “My mom thought I was so freaked out when I saw the ocean because it was so big. It was so windy that day the waves seemed ridiculously high. Next thing she knew, I was sprinting towards it because all I wanted to do was get tossed around in the waves.”
The memory warmed me as I began kicking my feet, staring out toward the bay. I was always grateful my memories of my parents were good ones. Once their memory had brought me nothing but pain and anger and a swift bitterness at what I had lost, but after so many years and a great deal of healing, I could look back and smile.
“So, I take it you’ve lived most of your life in Arizona then?” Shane asked, taking a drink of his beer, and I had to fight back a snort at his poor attempt to hide his reaction.
“Born and bred,” I announced.
“So what brought you up here where it’s usually cold and rainy instead of sunny and…well, roasts you alive,” Shane asked, eyeing his beer apprehensively.
“I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. “There was a job position up here, and I never really wanted to stay in Arizona. Sure, it was home and all I ever knew, but that seemed as good a reason as any to get out of there. So, I moved here after a few years, and it’s hard to picture living anywhere else now, but who knows, maybe that’ll change in the future too.”
“Imagine how much more boring my life would be now if you hadn’t made all those choices,” Shane said with a chuckle.
“Yes, deep down, I always knew there was some rich, pretty spoiled jackass waiting for me to show up and bring entertainment into his life,” I said with a chuckle. “Or perhaps fate decided it was supposed to happen this way, lest the great Shane Perkins find himself sinking into the ennui of boredom.”
Shane laughed and leaned closer, wrapping an arm around my waist and letting it sit there. “As if fate, if it exists at all, would bother to pay attention to anything like me. I’m sure it would have much better things to deal with, like the fate of nations or the world itself. Better to think of it as a happy set of coincidences all leading to this moment.”
“I guess there is a kind of beauty to that,” I said, allowing myself to lean against him. “No denying that.”
“Well, since we’re going with honesty and admitting things, your taste in beer is awful,” Shane groused.
I finally let out a laugh. “I did say you would see some of the thrills of the other side. That includes cheap beer. I was still trying to get on my feet when I lived around here, so buying beer was something I couldn’t always do, let alone good beer. Welcome to poor people’s beer.”
“It should be considered a crime against humanity,” he grumbled, peering down at the can. “How hasn’t anyone ever sued?”
“I’m sure the UN will eventually get around to the proposal that shitty beer is considered a violation of human rights,” I assured him, setting my can beside me. “For the moment, however, they’ve got a docket full of other things.”
“I’ll have to see if they might move it up a few positions,” he said, taking my cue and placing his can beside him.
“Oh, here we go,” I said as I watched a light arc up into the sky and burst with a flare of iridescent color. “The real reason I wanted to hurry to get over here.”
“That’s right,” Shane said softly. “They do the annual fireworks show at the bay, don’t they? I’d nearly forgotten about that.”
“It was one of the last things I did before moving out of the apartment near here,” I explained as more fireworks began to go off, echoing in our ears. “I grabbed a bottle of cheap liquor, sat down here, and watched the whole show. That was also the last time I ever smoked. Just a couple of cheap cigars for fun, and probably a technical break in my streak of being smoke-free, but…”
“A little indulgence never hurt,” he said, but his eyes were locked onto the water. The fireworks were getting more frequent and began to burst in shapes and patterns. I knew they routinely played music to go with the show, but we were too far away to hear anything playing on the docks.
Instead, the entire night sky was filled with a multitude of colors. Golden and purple stars flared to life, and I watched a crimson starburst suddenly shift to silver before the tail ends of the sprays burst again, this time with yellow. A smiley face made me laugh before it was replaced by several more streaming comets that streaked through the sky to explode into a mass of colors.
“I’ll admit,” Shane said softly as he gazed at the show, “this is actually better than anything I had planned for us…though I do wish you had let me purchase the alcohol.”
“Let it go,” I groaned, elbowing him, “and live in the moment. Drink your cheap beer and watch your cheap entertainment.”
“I would consider you to be my entertainment for the night, and I would hardly consider you to be cheap.”
“Oh, thanks, but I’ll remind you that you were the one that spent all that money on me and entirely of your own design.”
He turned to stare down at me, and I pulled my gaze away from the show, which was becoming more hectic and hurried, moving toward its finale. My breath caught when his eyes met mine, and I peered into the storm of emotions working through his gaze. There was the same flash of worry and concern I’d seen at dinner, but there was intensity and passion as well. Shane was staring at me with such earnestness that any smartass reply or witty remark was gone entirely from my mind, and I was left to all but gape at him.
“That isn’t what I meant,” he said softly before reaching out to draw me close and kiss me.
It was only then I had an inkling of what he meant as I leaned in closer, accepting the kiss fervently. In that gesture was the warmth and care I had seen flash in his eyes, as well as the heat and need I was well-accustomed to. The kiss was slightly hesitant, as though he might draw back at any moment, and I’d be left alone.
Though I couldn’t bring myself to say it, and perhaps he had his own words he was holding back as well, I thought for the first time that it might just be possible to fall in love with Shane Perkins.
And against all odds, the realization didn’t scare me.
CHAPTER TEN
