River of Love(36)

“Lira said you found a therapist for her to speak with, too,” Faith said.

“Actually, Tempe found her. She found a few therapists who are willing to talk about helping your members. I’m not sure if they’ll offer free sessions or discounts, but I’ve got their information in the truck.”

“You talked to Tempe about my site?”

“The morning after the car wash I had breakfast with my family. Tempe is a music therapist, and she knows so many people. I asked if she knew of anyone. No big deal.”

“Sam, that’s a huge deal. Thank you.” She hugged him. “You’ve done so much, between helping Lira, the donation, connecting me with Brent, and now this. Thank you.”

“I told you at the car wash that I wanted to help.”

She nibbled on her lip. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

“It’s okay. I might not have believed me either.” That earned him a genuine smile that warmed him to his core. He set their dishes aside and took her hand as he rose to his feet. “Walk with me?”

“I love that you like taking walks.”

“I like them more when you’re with me.” He grabbed her sweatshirt and helped her put it on. “It’ll get chilly since your bathing suit is wet.”

They walked along the shore, listening to the water lap gently against the rocks.

“How did you end up in Peaceful Harbor working for Cole? Did you always want to work in the medical field?”

She nodded. “I love helping people, and I love medicine.”

“But why Peaceful Harbor? It’s not exactly a booming metropolis.”

“I went to college near home, and I always thought I’d graduate, work in my hometown, get married…” She gazed out over the water with a pensive look on her face. “Things changed, and it was too hard to stay in Oak Falls, so I started looking for a job online and saw Cole’s ad. It’s close enough to drive home whenever I want, and Cole and Jon are so nice.”

“So, a few interviews with them and you were sold?”

“Pretty much.”

Sam could see there was more to this story, and he wished she trusted him enough to share it with him. But he wouldn’t push the subject. She was here, and that was enough for him until she was ready to talk about it.

They walked to the other side of the cove, where they climbed to the top of a big boulder and sat with their feet hanging over the edge, looking out at the moon’s reflection dancing off the inky water. When Faith leaned her head against his shoulder, he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. The affection he felt for her grew insurmountably every time they were together. His father’s words sailed through his mind: Your first real taste of adult love. The type of love that consumes your every thought. Once you get a taste of that, you’ll do anything and everything for more. You’ll want to drown in it.

“I left Oak Falls because my boyfriend cheated on me.”

Faith’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and the high that he was riding deflated with her confession. He bit back the immediate reaction of wanting to slaughter the guy who hurt her, and focused on the trust she was placing in him. He wrapped her in his arms.

“I’m sorry. That must have been very painful.”

“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. He said I didn’t give him enough attention, that I didn’t really want him, or have room in my life to make him happy. It was unexpected, to say the least, but staying in my hometown wasn’t an option. We’d dated for so long. I thought I’d graduate and marry JJ.” She shrugged, but the hurt in her eyes, in her voice, was thick as tar.

“It was humiliating, and it hurt for a long time. It was like we were on this path, and then we weren’t. Or he wasn’t. Same thing.” She paused and drew in a deep breath. “It took me months to shake off the idea that he’d cheated because I’d somehow done something wrong, or hadn’t been enough for him. Now I know he did me a favor, but then? I guess I was so busy with school and work that I never gave it much thought. Or maybe I never gave him much thought, which is worse, actually.”

“Baby, cheating is never the answer.” It took effort to soften the anger he felt toward this JJ asshole. “Even if you two were having trouble, that’s not the way to handle it. The guy didn’t deserve you.”

She gazed up at him. “It’s so weird that you, of all people, would get that. You said you’d never had a girlfriend.”

“I said I hadn’t had a girlfriend since high school. Since I was sixteen, to be exact.”

“First love?” she asked with a curious smile.

“I don’t know. First everything, I guess,” he admitted. “But I was a kid. I didn’t even know what love was. First infatuation is probably more accurate.”

“First heartbreak?”

“First and last.” He gazed into her eyes, wanting to share what he’d never shared with anyone before. “We only went out for two months, but at sixteen our hormones were on fire, so every minute felt like a lifetime. Her name was Keira Jacobson, and she lived twenty minutes outside of town. Man, I haven’t thought about her for so many years, it seems like a lifetime ago. But she was all I thought about back then. I met her at a football game and saw her a few times each week after that. And one day I showed up early. I can’t remember why. Maybe I cut my last class or something. I went to her school and saw her kissing some other guy.” He shrugged.

“So you broke up?”

He shook his head. “Not right away. Not until later that night, after she told me he meant nothing to her, he was just a friend, and they got carried away—a few times.”

“Oh, Sam.” She climbed onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I hate that you know what that feels like.”

The empathy in her eyes was real, and it touched him deeply, especially since she knew he’d never committed to anyone since then. “I was a kid. I blocked her out of my mind and carried on.”

“And decided nothing lasts forever,” she said, clearly remembering what he’d said about wabi-sabi. “And that’s when you began your no-commitment lifestyle.”

“You remembered.”

“I remember everything you ever say. It’s bordering on obsession.” She grabbed his cheeks and kissed him. “Don’t judge me.”

The teasing glint in her eyes made him want to tell her he loved that she remembered his words. That he wanted to be her obsession. It sure as hell wouldn’t be teasing if he did.

“My only judgment is to say you’re incredibly brave. You moved away from your family, friends, the future you had planned, and you started over in an unfamiliar place.”

“Look who’s talking. You go on all sorts of adventures that I’ve never even thought about trying. Skydiving?” She rolled her eyes. “So scary.”

“You’ll try them with me.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “We’ll try everything together. But there’s a world of difference between bravery with physical things and the courage to leave everything you know. I still live in my hometown, surrounded by the people who love me unconditionally, and I’ll probably never move away from them.”

She searched his eyes with a serious gaze. “That’s different. I never would have left my family and friends if I’d thought I could deal with seeing my ex all the time, but I couldn’t. But you? After you got hurt, you were brave enough to stick around and lock away that huge heart of yours that I lo—like so much.”

Sam couldn’t stop the greedy grin from spreading across his face. “You love my huge heart.”

“I like your huge heart.” She pressed her forehead to his chest. “Like, like, like.”

He didn’t need to hear her say it. He’d seen her emotions in her eyes, and that would hold him over until they were both ready to admit that what was happening between them was above and beyond anything they’d ever felt before. But he couldn’t resist teasing her. “What other huge things of mine do you love?”

“Sam!” Her cheeks flamed red.

He pulled her into a chaste kiss. “I love your huge boobs—I mean heart.”

She smacked his chest and they both laughed.

“Stop thinking about my boobs. Tell me what happened with Keira.”

“She didn’t have huge boobs.”

She smacked him again. “You’re such a guy! I meant have you stalked her on social media or anything like that?”

“You know me better than that. I don’t stalk, although I’d stalk you.” He leaned in for another kiss. He loved that Faith wasn’t jealous of what he’d felt for Keira as much as he loved that she didn’t judge him for the way he’d lived his life.

“I heard her father took a new job and they moved away a few weeks later. What about you? Did you love that guy’s huge heart, too?”

“I thought I loved him, but…”

She bit her lip, and he brushed his thumb over it.

“I like when you touch me like that,” she admitted quietly.

“And I like hearing what you like.”

“Sam, this is going to sound like a line, but it’s not. I promise. In those two years, I never felt for him what I feel for you, and we’ve only been together for a few days.”