I froze. Unable to do anything other than stare.
"Why did you buy this house?" she asked, taking a step closer when she realized I'd stopped moving.
I glanced over my shoulder, as if for some reason I needed to clarify which house she meant. "My realtor showed it to me and I liked it. So I bought it."
"But why this house?"
Still stunned at her presence, I could only open my mouth and answer her. "The dock. This right here. It reminded me of you. Of the pier. Of us. And I'd hoped that one day we'd be able to make this ours like we had the one at the beach."
"You didn't have any other reason to buy it?"
I waited until she stood only a foot away from me and then cocked my head to the side. "No. Why?"
"So you had no idea this was the house I wanted?"
I blinked at her a few times, my sight already adjusted to the darkness. As if seeing her here wasn't enough of a shock, I was completely stunned by hearing her say this was the house she'd told me she'd cry over if she couldn't get it. The one I'd bought with her in mind. The one I'd pictured raising a family in with her. "This house?"
"Yeah. I had no idea you'd even bought a house. I thought you were just getting new furniture for your condo. But when I went there to talk to you, I was told you'd moved. They wouldn't give me your new address so I had to call Janette to get it from her." She took my hand and linked her fingers with mine. "Imagine my surprise when I drove up and realized it was the same house I'd looked at and tried to buy."
I withdrew my hand from hers and moved to the railing along the side of the dock. I set the bottle of beer along the ledge and leaned forward. When she moved to stand next to me, I turned my head to face her and blurted out, "You resigned."
Her head dropped forward and she took a deep breath before locking her gaze on mine again. "You weren't supposed to know that until we talked. That's why I didn't give it to you."
"Then maybe you should've talked to me about it first. It would've been a bitter pill to swallow either way, but at least it would've gone down easier hearing it from you instead of receiving an email from HR." I stood up straight and squared my shoulders. "Effective immediately?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. It's why I came here. Did you not get my text?"
"What text? I've tried all night to reach you but your phone kept going to voicemail and my texts weren't being delivered. I haven't gotten anything from you."
"My phone was dead. I was out of the house and didn't have a charger with me. I got your messages, though. And then I sent you one. About half an hour ago. On my way here."
I shook my head, not believing my luck. "No. Someone knocked over my pitcher of beer and it spilled on my phone. It's not working. What did your message say?"
"Pitcher of beer? Where did you go?"
"I went to the bar. The one where we first met. I was upset and didn't want to come home, but it proved to be a waste of time. What did your text say?" I asked again, with a little more impatience this time.
She took my face in her hands and forced me to look into her eyes. That one act alone seemed to calm the storm raging inside me. My pulse began to slow and my breathing became easier, making it possible to catch the scent of gardenia. "Yes."
I was confused and waited for her to say more, but she never did. "Yes? Yes what?"
"Yes to all your questions."
Pulling away, I squinted at her. "What questions?"
"The ones you texted me with."
I shook my head, still confused. "I'm not following, Eden. The only things I remember asking you tonight is where you were and why you decided to quit. 'Yes' doesn't answer any of those."
"No, Dane." Her chest began to heave and I could tell she was getting nervous, unable to control her breathing. "Not your questions from tonight. The ones you've been bombarding me with over the last couple of weeks. The ones you asked me again last night."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Rather than give her a chance to correct me, tell me I was wrong and had misunderstood her, I grabbed her face and claimed her mouth with mine. She immediately held onto my sides and yanked my body closer. That one action alone was enough to give me solace that I hadn't been wrong. That I hadn't misunderstood the meaning of her answer.
Leaning back to catch her breath, she began to giggle and tucked her chin closer to her chest. "Are we crazy? This is insane, isn't it? I mean, we've technically only been together for one night. Are we nuts for doing this?"