The Bachelor's Sweetheart (21 page)

“Of course.” Brice's voice broke through her thoughts. “What else is there to do when you're out on the lake?”

“Um, watch these amazing sunsets!” She slapped his arm but then left her hand there. “Brice, I was just hit with the most amazing idea. Care to hear me out?”

“Sure.” Another one-word answer.

“You don't speak a ton, do you?”

“That's what you wanted to talk about?”

“No, but I just thought that.”

“Do you say everything you think right when you think it?”

Kendall pursed her lips and rubbed her chin, pretending to think really hard for effect. It worked. Brice shook his head, a half grin on his face and his eyes twinkling with a shared joke.

“Okay.” Kendall rolled her eyes. “Most of the time I say exactly what I'm thinking. Right when I think it.”

“Well, I don't.”

“That's it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Even with his boots on, he moved his feet back and forth in the sand as if he was digging in his toes. “I believe in thinking about things and not always saying them out loud. Words don't always solve problems.”

“But sometimes they do.”

“Sometimes silence is better.”

“I feel sorry for your girlfriend.” Kendall slapped her hand over her mouth. “Wow. Sorry. That didn't come out like it sounded in my head.”

Brice raised his eyebrows, but the lift at the edge of his lips told her he wasn't mad.

Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose. “All right, you win. Sometimes silence is better, like it would have been four seconds ago. Let's silently sit here and watch the sunset. Then we can silently walk across the beach. Afterward, we can silently say goodbye to each other. Won't that be fun?”

“Why don't you tell me your idea first? The one you had before getting off track.”

“I will. But sorry about the girlfriend thing. I'm sure she's happy and—”

“I don't have one, so no worries. No wives in the attic either.”

“
Jane Eyre
reference. Nicely done.” She sent him a wink.

Brice inched toward her. “Your idea?”

Kendall scooted so she was facing him. “Sunset cruises.”

“Yes...we're doing one tomorrow.”

“Not just tomorrow. What if we had a planned sunset cruise every single week?”

His eyes grew wide. “You and me?”

“Well, yes, we'd both be there, but I'm talking about hosting it as a tourist activity. Every Friday night— Scratch that.” Kendall gathered up her hair and bunched it at the nape of her neck to keep the wind from whipping it around. “I'm sure there are better things you want to do on your Friday nights than spend them with me. Any night of the week would work really, as long as it was the same night each week so people could count on it. We'd charge a set fee and host a sunset cruise out onto the lake.”

Brice rocked a bit and leaned onto his elbows. He worked his jaw back and forth for a minute.

She'd gone too far, hadn't she? Presumed upon this poor man who was now trying to find the kindest words he could to let her down. She always did this, didn't she? Plowing ahead before thinking things through had only ever gotten her in trouble. And it made her a risk that most men didn't want to be around. Like dynamite. They never knew when the risk would be too great or her ideas lead to failures.

This trait was probably what had driven her father to walk out on her and her mother when she was only six. Too much energy. Too many ideas. Too many failures.

Brice still hadn't spoken up. She needed to take him out of his misery. “I shouldn't have spouted that out like that. You don't know me, and I know nothing of your boating company. And the cruises probably wouldn't work, so—”

He finally sat up. “I think they will.”

“You... Really?”

“There are some smaller, fancier boats in my fleet. I bought them on a whim at an auction without knowing what I'd do with them. They could work really well for something like this.”

“You don't think my idea is silly?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. It might be the answer to the prayer I hadn't prayed yet.”

“Is that even possible?”

Brice nodded solemnly. “God knows what we need.”

Kendall flattened her hands against the cooled sand. “When should we start?”

“Let's rein this in for a minute. How about we go on our cruise tomorrow and get a better idea of everything before making plans? Deal?” He rose to his feet, dusted off his pants and then held out a hand to her, helping her stand.

“Deal.”

They walked silently down the beach until they reached the edge, where they parted ways.

“I'll see you tomorrow.” He headed toward the shipping yard.

“Until then.” She waved over her shoulder and headed home for the evening with a lighter step. Perhaps Brice Daniels was right. Maybe God answered prayers people hadn't prayed yet.

Even hers.

Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Koschnitzky

ISBN-13: 9781488007415

The Bachelor's Sweetheart

Copyright © 2016 by Jean Chelikowsky Gordon

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