Page 43 of Summer Escape
I had two options: I could enjoy this day and the people I was surrounded by, or I could worry about the what-ifs. After Flynn, I was weary of wondering what men were thinking or what they wanted. I wanted to live in the moment.
So I finished my pancakes, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went upstairs to find a suit, a coverup, and my beach bag. I filled it with sunscreen, bug spray, and a paperback.
Downstairs, Hayden sat on the edge of the pool, her feet dangling in the water. She looked up at me and smiled. "Dad's getting things from the storage shed. A few beach chairs and a football."
Her nose wrinkled, and I laughed. "You don't want to throw a ball on the beach."
"Not really."
Marshall emerged from the shed, his arms stacked with chairs and umbrellas. "You ready?"
He was excited to spend the morning with his daughter. This was what he wanted when he decided to spend the summer with her.
We each grabbed a chair and followed him to the beach.
He placed everything down on a flat expanse of sand between the line of trees and brush and the water. He set up the umbrella while I put out the blanket. Hayden set up the chairs. Then she grabbed a stick and drew in the sand.
Whatever she was drawing had a lot of lines. She hadn't drawn anything for me before. I'd only seen what she'd done in the graphic-design program. She had an eye for color and how things should look.
I left her to it and opened my book on a chair. A shadow dropped over me. I looked up to find Marshall. "You want to go for a walk?"
"Sure." I set my book in my bag and sprayed sunscreen on.
"We're going for a walk," Marshall said to Hayden, and she nodded.
"Yeah okay."
We took off to the right, walking slowly, stopping occasionally to check out the seashells. It was too late in the morning to find anything good. The treasure hunters got up early to grab the best items before the rest of us woke up. I hadn't been up early since the first week I spent here.
"You disappeared last night," Marshall finally said when we were sufficiently far away from Hayden.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hear that you regretted it or it never should have happened." I tensed, not wanting to hear what he had to say.
"I don't have any regrets."
"No?" I asked him, checking out his profile, which was relaxed.
"Do you?" He squinted at me.
"Not at all." I was worried about a lot of things, but I didn't feel regret.
"Did you want to talk about it?" he asked carefully.
"I don't know what it means. But I liked it." And I wanted it to continue.
His forehead creased. "Do you think we can keep doing whatever it is we're doing without any expectations or labels?"
I was leaving at the end of the summer. I shouldn't worry about the drop in my stomach at the news that he didn't want to label what we were.
"I have Hayden to consider. I can't be involved with someone when I only just reconnected with her. She's my priority," he said by way of explanation.
"Of course. As she should be." It gave me an out. I didn't have to put expectations on whatever this was. I could just enjoy it. "I don't want labels, but I also don't want to think about what you're doing when you're not with me."
Marshall's expression softened. "If I'm with someone, I'm exclusive. I'm not screwing around on you."
I grimaced. "I don't want to be like this, where I don't trust people. I wasn't a jealous person before."
"It's understandable that you have trust issues right now. It's a fresh wound," he said softly.
