Page 40 of An Irish Summer

And why was she touching Collin like he was more than just her tour guide?

And why the hell did I feel like this about it?

She sauntered out of the water with her long hair clinging to her back, then took a bow when she got to the sand.

“Who is that?” I whispered to Flo.

“Rhiannon something, I think,” she said. “Checked in a few days ago.”

“Do they know each other?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, but I couldn’t resist.

“Who, Rhiannon and Collin? Not until she got here, I don’t think. But she’s been hanging around the bar a bit. Or that’s what Lars said, anyway.”

Why hadn’t I noticed her before? And what was she doing hanging around the bar when she came all the way here for vacation?

“She’s a little over the top, no?” I asked, once again unable to keep my mouth shut.

“If jealousy is your way of convincing me nothing is going on with Collin, you’re doing a hell of a job,” she said.

“I’m not jealous,” I said, perhaps a bit too quickly. “I’m just not sure we needed a whole performance just now.”

“I guess you’ll just have to give a better one,” Flo said, shrugging in a way that suggested I had no other choice.

And she was right.

With my eyes locked on Collin and my teeth clenched, I reached for the hem of my shirt. I hadn’t lifted it more than an inch when my friends and the guests erupted in a chorus of cheers, which admittedly forced me to unclench my jaw to laugh a little. It was too late to change my mind, so it was time to fully commit.

I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped my shorts to the ground, too focused on the stress of the jump to care I was in my underwear in public. Most of the crowd on the platform seemed to be wearing the same, so that was at least one thing I could have checked off the panic list.

“So she decides to be brave after all,” Collin called from the platform, clapping slowly as I climbed the stairs. “What changed your mind?”

“Couldn’t let everyone else have all the fun,” I said, hoping I sounded more casual than I felt.

“You’re the jealous type, then?” He crossed his arms, sizing me up. “There’s enough fun to go around, you know.”

I ignored his comment, fearful that if I said anything at all I would have to address that we might not have been talking about the jump, and that was the last thing I needed on my mind. The cheers might have gotten louder as I approached the edge, but the increasing volume of my heartbeat in my ears made it impossible to tell for sure. It may have only been thirty feet, but it felt like thirty thousand.

“I’ll go first,” Collin said softly enough that I might have been the only one who heard him.

“Why, so you can show off and make me look like an idiot?” I tried to laugh, but it got caught behind the lump in my throat.

“No,” he said, more of a whisper now. “So I can be there in the water when you land.”

“Like I’m a little kid,” I said. I was fighting embarrassment with everything I had. I wasn’t sure if he was helping or making it worse.

“It’s a high jump, Chels. Sometimes it feels better with someone waiting for you down below, that’s all.”

I risked a glance at his eyes, the same blue green as the sea, though arguably more dangerous. There was a kindness in them that wasn’t there before, and if my legs weren’t wobbly enough from the height of the platform, they were jelly after a few seconds of eye contact.

“Yeah, but you don’t—”

“I’ve got you,” he said, flashing a crooked smile in the split second before he leapt from the platform and splashed into the sea. I watched as his head bobbed above the water and he ruffled a hand through his hair, pushing it from his eyes and gazing up at me.

“It’s now or never,” he yelled up at me. “You’ve got this. And I’ve got you.”

Hearing those words again, at that volume, gave me the last bit of courage I needed. He wasn’t lying. He had me, and I had to trust him.

I took a deep breath and jumped, and for a second, I realized why everyone did this. For a second, I was flying.

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