“Yeah. I get that.”
“Do you want a big family? Since you come from one?” She looked at me as if daring me to answer. It didn’t bother me at all.
“Definitely. My brother and sister were both married with kids by my age, so I’m kind of the black sheep of the family.” What I didn’t tell her is that I was just as surprised as my family about how long it was taking me to settle down. I was beginning to think it just wasn’t in the cards.
“It’s not like you’re old. You’re a guy. You have so much time.”
“Yeah, I know, but tell my mom that if you meet her.”
She laughed. “All right. Will do.”
The sun had just about disappeared, and I noticed her glancing around apprehensively.
“You okay?”
“Yeah… but, would you mind…?” She stopped and looked down. “Never mind.”
“No, what is it?” I had to know. I needed her to ask me a favor—I had been such a jerk to this sweet and sensitive girl who obviously had been through a lot.
“Would you mind walking me back to my car? I know it’s safe here, but I’m used to the city and—”
“Absolutely,” I agreed immediately, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. We’d managed to have a conversation that didn’t involve arguing, and I enjoyed it more than I’d expected. “But would you maybe want to come over and hang out for a bit? I live right over there.” I pointed to my balcony.
“Well— ” I could tell she was searching for an excuse. I couldn’t let her find one.
“You did promise Max you’d continue petting him.”
She smiled. “All right, for a little while. But then you’ll walk me to my car afterward?”
She really was worried. “Of course.”
“Okay.”
“Great.” I tried to play it down.
We walked around and up the front steps of my condo. I unlocked the door and let her go in first. I held Max back.
“You live in a loft? That’s so cool. I didn’t think they had places like this here.”
“I take it you’re a fan of lofts?”
“Love them. I want one really badly. Maybe when I’m done with school and can afford one in a safe neighborhood.” She continued her perusal.
There she went again with safety—either she’d been through something traumatic, or she was paranoid. I sensed it was the former.
“May I look around?”
“Absolutely, make yourself at home.” I unleashed Max and walked into the kitchen.
Becca gazed out the floor to ceiling windows. “This view is insane. I could just stare out forever. It must be amazing during the day.”
“You think this is good. I have these windows in my room too.”
“You get to go to sleep and wake up to the ocean every day? I’m jealous.”
I laughed. “Glad to know you like it. From what I understand, people fought them putting these condos in. I just figured if I was living in a beach town, I was going to really do it.”
“Yeah, where did you say you were from?”
“What’s the problem, can’t place the accent?” I teased.
She turned away from the windows and glared at me. “I really upset you with that, huh?”
“Nah, I just wanted to give you a hard time.”
“Wonderful.”
Okay, I couldn’t let things go down that path again. “Would you like something to drink?” I was already pulling out some glasses and looking through my wine collection. She struck me as a girl who liked wine.
She hesitated, and I repeated “please stay” over and over in my head. I had an irrational need to spend time with her. I wasn’t ready to let her go yet.
She walked over to me and saw the wine. “Maybe one glass.”
“Cool.” I poured us each a glass and walked over to the couch.
She took her glass from me and sat down. “A drink with a view, nice.”
I sat down next to her but left plenty of space between us. “Shall we toast?”
“To what?”
“A fresh start.”
“You mean for us?”
“Yeah. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like to be friends.”
She smiled. “Friends. Yeah, I think I can handle that.”
“Okay good.” I lifted my glass. “To a fresh start and new friends.”
She took a small sip, and I liked the way she closed her eyes afterward, savoring it.
“Mmm, a pinot noir. Velvety.”
“You know wine.” I was right.
“Yeah, wine is one of the few luxuries I allow myself. You know, other than my state of the art car.” She swirled the wine around in her glass.
“That is a nice car.”
She leaned back against the couch. I liked that she was getting comfortable. I liked that she was comfortable at my place.
Chapter Eleven
Becca
How I allowed myself to end up drunk at Gavin’s that night, I’ll never know. When he asked me, I knew I should say no. I just didn’t want to go home to the empty pool house—or at least that’s what I told myself. In the one week I’d been in town, I’d already watched all of my movies. I was going to have to ask Jake if I could borrow some of his. When Gavin pointed out his condo, I had to see it. I was dying to know if there was anything even remotely modern in town.
The inside of his place was even cooler than I expected. I had to give him credit. He had good taste. I loved the concrete counter tops, the exposed brick and beams, and that view. It was breathtaking.
We settled into a comfortable conversation, and I let myself relax. He seemed different. Instead of arguing, he appeared legitimately interested in learning more about me, and I found I actually cared about his story as well.
“Tell me about your job,” I asked after Gavin popped open our second bottle of wine. I wasn’t sure where the first one went, but it was good, and I wasn’t complaining.
“My job?” He poured more into his empty glass.
“Yeah. Is being a cop like it is on TV?”
He laughed. “Not exactly. Well, unless you watch cop shows that involve ticketing farmers for tractor violations or making sure teens don’t get too crazy with their parties.”
“Come on, there has to be more.”
He took a long sip of wine. “No, really there isn’t. Crime isn’t much of a problem here.”