Page 83 of Nights at Seaside
“I drove by looking for you.” Fresh tears slid down her cheeks. “Gosh, Sawyer, don’t you ever check your phone?”
Given how many of his calls to her had gone unanswered, he could have responded with,Don’t you?But what good would that do? “My phone is in my car over by the laundry building.”
She looked across the quad at the building.
“Sky, I have no right to ask anything of you, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from our relationship, it’s that following my heart has always been the right thing to do.” He stepped closer and handed her the notebook he’d brought with him. She stared down at it without accepting it.
“I don’t have much left. And no matter where we go from here, I want you to have this.” He set the notebook in her hands. “These are my songs. All of them, including yours. You believed in me, and in them, and I want you to have them.”
“Sawyer—”
“They’re yours. I have all I need right here.” He touched his chest over his heart. “I’m no longer the man who walked into your shop asking for a tattoo. I have no career, and my house is under contract, which means I’m homeless, at least at the moment. Where I’ll go from here is up in the air. I can train with Brock, write with my father, or move away and start over.”
Her lower lip trembled as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I don’t have much to offer you, but if you’ll give this broken-down ex-boxer another chance at doing things right, I promise I’ll never let you down.”
“You…” Her hands dropped limply to her sides. “You’re no longer a boxer? I don’t understand.”
“I quit. I’m not fighting anymore. I want to be in one piece for us, Sky. I want a future with you. A family. A life.”
“But your dad?” She reached for his hand, and he was so thankful for her touch that his eyes filled with tears again, too.
“The sale of the house will cover his medical expenses forever. Who knew that over the last few years bay-front property had doubled in value?”
“But it’s your family’s legacy.” Her voice was fraying as she stepped closer to him.
“Yes. That was their legacy. But it’s not mine. It won’t mean anything without you by my side. I can never look at that house again without seeing you standing in the skycap or lying with me on the pillows. Or laughing with me on the dunes. I know I have nothing to offer you, and you could find a guy who’s got a job, and a house, and so much more than what I have to offer.” The truth hurt like a bullet through his chest.
“But you’re wrong, Sawyer. I loved youdespiteyour job, not for it. You have the only thing I want—your heart.”
“Do you mean that? You’d take me back even though I’m homeless—”
“I have an apartment.” She stepped closer, bringing their thighs together.
“Jobless?”
“I have a job.” She wound her arms around his neck, and his heart skipped a beat.
“An idiot for taking two days to figure it out?”
He folded her into his arms, and she answered in a whisper against his lips, “You’re my idiot.”
“Sky,” was all he could manage as he was bowled over with emotions.
“Kiss me, Sawyer.”
She didn’t need to ask twice. Their tears mixed and mingled on their cheeks, and when she whispered, “Carry me inside. If I’m going to be your sugar mama, I plan on using my power for all sorts of sexual favors,” he was sure he’d found heaven.
Epilogue
Six weeks later…
SKY GLANCED UP from the tattoo she was creating on Cree’s shoulder at her brother Matt and her father as they looked over her artwork. She’d missed seeing them both and was glad they’d come for the grand opening. Matt picked up her poetry book and sat down to read it. It didn’t surprise her that he’d ignore the music and the people milling about and bury his nose in a book. Sky was about to call him over when Lizzie and a dark-haired girl came into the shop. Lizzie hugged Sky’s father, and the girl she was with struck up a conversation with Matt.
She looked back down at the tattoo she was doing and then took a second to glance up at Sawyer, who was sitting on the front stoop beside Marcus, Lizzie, Amy, and Tony, while he sang one of the songs he’d written since they’d moved in together in the apartment above the shop. What Sawyer hadn’t told Sky the night he’d come to see her after the hospital visit was that Tony and Amy had been the ones to put an offer down on his beach house. He’d come to Seaside looking for her that morning after meeting with the real estate agent, and the agent had called him later with the offer. Apparently he hadn’t wanted to mention it was Tony and Amy because he didn’t want her to feel pressured by the connection. Sky was happy for Tony and Amy, and she knew they’d start their own family traditions in the lovely home. Sawyer had made enough money from the sale to provide for his father’s future and also to buy a little cottage somewhere. But neither Sky nor Sawyer was in a hurry to move out of their cozy apartment. They’d toyed with buying Amy and Tony’s extra cottage, and they might one day do that, but for now they wanted to enjoy being settled in their own place for a while.
Sawyer was working as a trainer at the club with Brock, and he and his father had begun writing together. His father’s editor was so stoked about the collaboration that he’d already made them a six-figure offer. This was Sky’s third clue that the universe was stepping in this summer to help guide her and Sawyer. The first clue, of course, was that they’d met in the first place, and the second was that they’d found their way back to each other.
