His chest moved up and down beneath me as he laughed. “Meghan, I think you’re the only woman I’ve ever met who thinks forearms are sexy.”
“You’re obviously not hanging around with the right women. You should make that part of your criteria for future girlfriends.”
He stilled, and I knew I’d come close to breaking our unspoken rule, the one that had hung over us with increasing heaviness the last few weeks. We didn’t talk about what would happen when I left or what the future might hold for each of us after our summer fling had ended.
“You leave next week.” Sam’s voice was neutral, carefully so. I felt the tension in his body.
“Yes.”
His chest rose and fell in even breaths. “I thought maybe before you go, we could go back to the river. Spend the night.”
To say good-bye. He didn’t speak the words, but we both felt them. I waited until I was certain I could speak without my voice breaking.
“That would be wonderful.”
“Okay.” He rubbed my shoulder. “Then we’ll do it. I think Ali and Bridget are planning a special dinner for you that night, so after we eat ...”
“I’ll meet you at the truck.”
“Yes.” He gathered me closer, the only obvious sign that he might be dreading me going. “When does Laura come back?”
The shift in topic made me frown. “Ah, not until the end of the month. When classes begin. She wants to spend every minute with Brian. I’m not going back to Savannah right away, either. I’m going home, to the Cove.”
“You are?” Surprise tinged his voice.
“Yeah, for a little while. It’ll make my mom and Logan happy, and I’d like to see my nephew. He’s growing up so fast. I don’t want to be an absentee auntie.”
“Are you looking forward to hanging out with your old friends from home?” Again, there was neither encouragement nor condemnation, as though he wanted my answer without any influence from his own feelings.
“No, most of them are gone. They left to go to college or get jobs, and I don’t think any of them are in the Cove now. I didn’t stay in touch with most of the people who graduated with me.”
“So you’ll just spend time with family?”
I nodded, my ear rubbing against his chest. “Yeah, family and friends. My parents’ friends, I mean. And the people who work at the Tide are like family, too. My mom’s so excited about me coming down that she’s throwing a big party at the restaurant after closing on Sunday.”
“That sounds wonderful. You’ll get to have a little vacation after all your hard work here.” His words would’ve been perfect, if he were in fact just the guy who had hosted me for the summer and not the guy who was lying naked in the forest with me.
I wanted to say, I don’t have to go. I wanted him to ask me not to leave, or at least to care that I was. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, but my summer fling had turned into something real, without doubt the most real relationship I’d ever had. And yet here we lay, talking about its ending in emotionless tones, as though we were discussing the ending of a movie or a book. Come to think of it, I was a lot more passionate about both of those.
But these were our terms. I’d both insisted on them and agreed to them, and there was no going back now. Sam had the farm, and I knew from our talks that this had been one of their most successful summers ever. He was pretty sure they could take back another parcel of leased land next spring, if he were careful and planned just right. And Ali had told me that she thought they’d be able to swing art lessons for Bridget, too, which I knew was gratifying to both Sam and her.
“It must be such a relief to you and Ali, to know you’re safeguarding your family’s legacy. That you both brought it back from the brink of losing it, and you’ll be able to pass it on to the next generation.”
Sam pushed up on his arms into a sitting position. “What brought that up?”
“I don’t know.” I lifted my shoulder. “I was just thinking ... I understand how much it means to you. I get it. After being here all summer, I can’t imagine how you could ever give it up. You should be proud of what you’ve done.”
He held my chin, staring into my eyes. I willed him to say something, anything, but he only kissed me, one quick light peck on my lips.
“We’d better get dressed. It’s almost supper time, and I don’t think I could come up with a good explanation if Bridge finds us out here naked.”
AS THE END OF my time in Burton came closer, a lump of dread took up residence in my stomach and grew every day. Ali didn’t help, as she took to pointing out what I’d be missing when I left.