Page 76 of Tourist Trap

“What?” she asks, an eyebrow raised at me.

“My mom was the first one to call me out for not telling her you were living with me. That day with the cereal boxes?” She nods. “I went to the coffee shop, and she gave me a talking to. She’s the one who helped me see what an ass I was being.”

Claire gives me that bright smile I love so much. “Youwerebeing an ass.”

“Yeah, I was being stubborn,” I whisper, pushing back her blonde locks that are being blown around by the breeze. “But I finally came around to common sense.” She smiles wider then and nods.

“Thank God for that. Took you long enough.”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Thank God.” I turn for a second, scanning the ocean, almost forgetting why we’re here, and that’s when I see it. I turn her in the direction I’m looking.

“Right there,” I say, pointing out into the distance. The sun is starting to lighten now, reflecting off the ocean.

“Right where?” she asks, the forms dipping back beneath the ocean.

“Just wait. You’ll see it.” She looks at me skeptically before I turn her face back toward the ocean. For a moment, I think we may have missed the chance, but then?—

“Oh my god,” she whispers, eyes wide. Fins break the water, four or five of them, and even though they’re pretty far out, it’s clear enough to see what it is: dolphins.

I always wanted to see dolphins, she told me the second day she was in my house. I remember that morning thinking that in July, when the water is warm, I should take her to the jetty and show her, but also thinking it would be too intimate.

All I want with Claire is intimacy now.

“This time of year, I almost always see them if I come out this early. Don’t know what it is about this time, but they come over and say hi.”

“Oh my god,” she whispers again as the dolphins go under again before reappearing a bit closer. “Look at them!” She claps quietly, excited, and I smile in return.

“I think there’s a baby,” I say.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, her voice strained, and when I look at her, I see my soft girl's eyes watering.

“Are you going to cry?”

“No,” she bites out.

“You’re a liar.”

“Shut up and let me watch the dolphins,” she says.

I brush my thumb along her cheek where a single tear falls, then let her watch the dolphins.

I don’t watch the dolphins.

I watch her. I watch every possible emotion under the sun cross her face: excitement, joy, and awe. I take it in, a wash of warm, calm falling over me.

It’s then that I realize I’m falling for Claire Donovan, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her at my side.

When the dolphins disappear, I grab her hand, and we make our way down the shoreline, her eyes on the sand looking for shells. It’s something we’ve done a million times before, usually with June chatting away or as I throw a ball with Grant, but this time, we’re walking down the shore hand in hand, and a sense of peace comes over me.

She feels it too, I know, because she says, “I always loved it here, Seaside Point.”

“Mmm,” I say, squeezing her hand but letting her guide the conversation.

“Sometimes I look back, wondering why I put up with Paul for so long.” I force myself not to tense up, knowing that he is a part of her history neither of us can erase, and I have to be okay with that. “It's because I love this place.”

Another beat passes as she watches the sand, but I know she’s not shell hunting. She’s lost in her memories.

“When I look back on it, the only moments in our relationship when I wasreallyhappy were spent down here, and sometimes, I wonder if maybe I just loved being here more, you know? Like, I loved Seaside Point so much, and being with him meant having another excuse to spend time here.” She shakes her head and lets out a small, self-deprecating laugh. “That makes me sound like a bad person, I know, only wanting to be with someone because of where they live.”

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