Authors: Michelle D. Argyle
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Travel, #Europe, #Italy, #General
Pieces (31 page)
“I love it here,” she said, unsure if Finn could hear her over the wind.
“I like it too,” he answered. “I have some cousins north of here, on my mom’s side.”
“Oh, yeah, you mentioned that before.”
“I won’t be at Harvard forever.”
“True.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him turn to look at her. It was a good feeling to know she didn’t have to rely on him for her own emotional stability—a new feeling that made her feel free for the first time. She would be fine without him, but she also knew how much better her life could be with him.
“I want to be with you, Finn,” she said as he watched her. “I can’t decide right now if I’ll go or stay, but I want to be with you, whatever I choose.”
“Maybe you could get a job at Java,” he suggested with a teasing look in his eye.
“Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I could open my own café,” she laughed. “Except I’d have to figure out how to get Eric’s scrambled eggs just right.”
Finn tapped his fingers on the door. “Sharp cheddar,” he said, looking out at the ocean. “Have you tried that?”
“Cheese?” Her breath stopped in her throat for a moment. “You mean in the eggs?”
“Yeah, shredded. You dump it into the eggs when you scramble them up. Gives them a tangy flavor.”
That was what she had been missing. “How do you know that?”
“Experimenting. I’ve been cooking a lot since you were gone. I got tired of ramen noodles and you weren’t around to feed me anymore.”
She made an exaggerated eye-roll. “Always goes back to food, huh?”
“Well, shouldn’t it?”
“It’s definitely at the top of my love list.” She rounded a bend in the road. There was a pull-off coming up, and when she spotted it, she eased the car off the road and parked. Switching off the engine, she stared out the windshield at the ocean, the sound of the waves a whooshing heartbeat in the otherwise quiet night.
“What’s this about?” Finn asked, turning in his seat to face her.
She undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. “There’s a trail down to the beach,” she said, breathing in the cool, salty air. She remembered all those walks on the beach with Brad, those stupid bonfire parties where everyone would sit around and get drunk. She remembered Jesse reading to her from
The Great Gatsby,
the way her last goodbye to him was nothing more than a glance as she climbed into the cab. She remembered the train tracks and how it would always be difficult to decide which direction to go when there were so many ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ hanging in the air. But she had the freedom to choose. She knew now that her past had to become a part of her.
When Finn came around to her side of the car, she was already taking off her shoes. “I thought we were going back to your house,” he said, a smile playing on his lips.
She moved closer to him, her bare feet crunching over asphalt and sand. She took his hand into hers and squeezed. “I changed my mind.”
His playful smile widened. “Then the beach sounds great.”
They started down the trails. Once on the beach, they approached wet sand and Finn bent down to pull off his tennis shoes. Tipping one upside down, he laughed as a waterfall of sand fell out. He pulled off his other shoe, rolled his jeans up around his ankles, and left both shoes in the sand as he straightened to face Naomi. “You’re pretty in the moonlight.”
She blushed, but knew he wouldn’t be able to see it. “Thanks.”
“Do you want to keep walking?”
“Yeah.”
He took her hand and they continued up the beach, inching their way closer to the waves.
“When I was a kid,” Naomi said as sand squished between her toes, “I used to jump up and down on the wet sand. It always felt like the top layer was floating over something solid underneath. You know how it sometimes jiggles when you walk on it? Then, if I stood still long enough, I’d start to sink until I couldn’t see my feet anymore. I always thought if I stood still long enough, Id sink to China.”
Laughing, Finn squeezed her hand and pulled her to a stop. “Let’s see if we can sink to China, then.” He faced her so their toes were touching, and then stood motionless, staring down. Naomi did the same, giggling as her toes started to disappear. Cool seawater rushed across their feet, washing away sand, but making it even softer so their feet sank deeper.
Smirking, Finn wrapped his arms around her to hold her close.
“Think you’ve caught me?” she teased.
Laughing, he leaned down to kiss her on the mouth. He still smelled like the Java Lounge. Cinnamon rolls. Whipped cream. It made her want to melt into him.
“Thanks, Finn,” she said, looking up as the kiss ended. His hair hung around his face.
“For kissing you?”
“For being patient with me, for loving who I am and not wanting me to change. I think anyone else would push me to go to USC or something.”
He knotted his brow. “Why would they do that?”
“Because art is what I’ve always loved and wanted. It’s my
thing,
you know? So, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
He lifted his hand and cupped her face. “Nope, you’re supposed to do what feels right for
you,
even if that’s working in a café washing dishes.”
She smiled. “Even if it meant running off to Italy when everyone else knew it was wrong?”
He nodded. “Everyone else doesn’t know what’s right for you, including me. When I didn’t want you to leave, it was because I was being selfish. I wanted you for myself, but I knew you had to figure things out on your own, even if that meant I never saw you again. So I was a jerk and started dating Carly to get over you. I think the only reason I liked her was because she was an artist, like you. It wasn’t fair to her at all. I used her.”
“But you broke it off and now you’re here.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t drag it out anymore. She wasn’t too upset, but I still feel bad.”
Naomi looked down at her feet, now buried. She could feel Finn’s toes wiggling against hers. “Probably as bad as I feel about Jesse,” she said.
Finn was quiet for a minute as he pulled his feet free of the sand. There was a soft sucking sound, and then a big hole where he had stood. “Want to keep walking?” he asked, nodding to her feet as he held out his hand.
“With you, yes.”
Taking his hand to stabilize herself, she yanked one foot out, and then the other. As Finn led her up the beach, she glanced behind her shoulder. There were two sets of footprints being washed away by the ceaseless waves, the moonlight sparkling as it slid across the smooth surface of the sand.
M
ICHELLE LIVES
and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She loves the seasons, but late summer and early fall are her favorites. She adores chocolate, sushi, and lots of ethnic food, and loves to read and write books in whatever time she can grab between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life.
Find Michelle Davidson Argyle on her author site
www.michelledavidsonargyle.com
and her blog
theinnocentflower.blogspot.com
.
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