“It is,” I tell her, looking out over the water.
“It reminds me of…” She trails off, and I look over at her. Her face is red and I don’t think it’s a trick of the sun that’s starting to set over the water.
“Of the place in Georgia where you and I made love?”
She looks away from me, and I think I might have pushed too far.
“Yes,” she finally whispers, her chin resting on her knees as she gathers her legs up against her chest, watching the sunset.
“That’s the reason I started coming here,” I tell her, knowing what I’m giving away, but unable to stop myself. “When I missed you the most, I could come out here and try to calm my thoughts.”
I expected her to ask me more about that, but she doesn’t. I’m almost disappointed. Doesn’t she want to know more about how I’ve missed her?
“Did your mom actually ride on the back of your bike?” she asks instead, and I take a breath, remembering the first woman I loved; it only seems right that I give that title to Beth.
“Only once. She was sick. She wanted to feel free. She asked me to take her to the lake so she could breathe the air. She swore you could smell the fish in the water.”
Beth takes a deep breath with her eyes closed. I smile, knowing what she’s doing, but my eyes are glued to the way her sweater clings to her breasts and how they move with her breath.
“Why did you name Gabby after her?” I ask, wondering if she’ll tell me the real reason.
“Skull, our time together might have been short, but I knew how much you adored your mother, and she was a strong woman. I want Gabby to have that to lean on. I never did.”
“How did your mom get messed up with the Donahues?”
I watch her face, and something moves over it that I can’t read. Instinctively, I know that there’s yet another secret Beth is keeping.
“With my family, nothing is ever what it seems,” she says cryptically.
“No offense, but I believe I know that already, mi cielo.”
“My sky…”
“Beth…”
“I used to lie in bed at night and remember your voice whispering those words as you made love to me. I ached to hear them. Now that you’re saying it… I’m not sure I trust it.”
“I’m trying, Beth. That’s all I can do,” I tell her, aggravated that it might not be enough.
“There’s so much between us. Maybe there’s just too much water under the bridge,” she says, looking out over the water.
“I don’t believe that.”
“Are you really over all of the anger you have towards me? That day in the hotel, and then the plane ride home… No one talked to me. There was so much anger inside of you. You threatened to take my daughter from me. Am I just supposed to believe you’ve let all of that go, Skull? For no reason?”
“I believe we proved that there’s still something between us that day in the cabin,” I grumble, not wanting to be reminded of the pain between us.
“My sister once told me that sex is just sex, an elemental need that proves we’re alive.”
“Well, she’s right and she’s wrong,” I tell her, watching her closely. “Sex is natural, and when two people are attracted to each other, it’s good… or can be. But until you, Beth, it never involved more than my dick. When you have feelings for someone, it changes the ballgame, querida.”
“Maybe someday I’ll be able to tell the difference,” she says with a sad sigh, and I freeze. What the fuck? What does she think I’m doing here? Mierda! I know I’ve been going slow, but she has to know what I have on my mind here.
“That is not fucking happening,” I growl, and it’s a growl. Fuck, it’s a growl that might rival a bear. What the hell does she think we’re doing here?
She turns towards me. “Skull…”
“Do not ‘Skull’ me. Do not try feeding me some bullshit about how that day in the cabin was a mistake. Do not tell me how we need to be friends for Gabby’s sake. Jesucristo! What the hell do you think we’ve been doing for the last week, Beth?”
Her eyes go wide. Could she really be this clueless?
“Becoming friends?” she whispers.
Friends? Fuck me.
“I’ve got friends. I don’t see me taking Torch out every night, fixing him dinner, and trying to get him to talk to me,” I tell her, sounding like a pouting child because, hell, how can she not know what has been going on here?
“Well, if you spent that much time with Torch, you’d probably kill each other,” she says with a smile.