Page 19 of Shining Pearls
Molly reluctantly pulled back. Pretending like she just noticed me, she said with much less enthusiasm, “Oh, hi, Josie.”
Although her words seemed friendly, the flat tone she used to utter them made them seem on the verge of hostile. Plastering on a smile, I infused my voice with extra enthusiasm and said, “Hi, Molly. Good to see you.”
“Mmm.” She nodded and returned the smile, even though it was obvious she would prefer to encounter a venomous rattlesnake on her path. Turning her full attention back to Dean, she said, “I didn’t know you were coming out here, or I would have kept you company.”
I didn’t appreciate the way she insinuated that I wasn’t acceptable company for him, but decided it wasn’t my place to insert myself into their conversation.
Dean eased a finger down the indentation between her brows before saying, “It was a spur of the moment thing, or I would have called you.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that she had come out here without calling him, but it really was none of my business.
Molly’s lower lip was still protruding out slightly into a pout, so Dean said, “How about if I give you a call later?”
Seeming somewhat desperate, Molly said, “I’d rather you came over. We can even do that special thing you like.”
I thought I might gag, and it wasn’t from morning sickness. I should have walked away to give them some privacy, but now I had managed to hear that, and I would never be able to un-hear it. At least she’d had the decency not to specify exactly what the ‘special thing’ was that he liked so much, but my imagination was running wild with all kinds of unsavory ideas.
Dean nodded his agreement to her plan, so she leaned up onto the balls of her feet to kiss him again. Beaming up at him after they finally pulled apart, she said, “See you in a bit.”
After turning to give Dean a finger-wave, Molly disappeared into the crowd. I wasn’t overly surprised that she ignored me, but I couldn’t stop myself from saying to her back, “Bye, Molly. Great to see you again.”
If she heard me, she ignored my snarky comments. Dean grinned down at me and teased, “Put your claws away, tiger.”
His slight reprimand made me realize how silly I was being. Returning his smile, I said, “You’re right. I just want you to be happy.”
“Hold on.” Dean dramatically placed a hand over his chest as if he was having severe heart palpitations. “Did you just say I was right??”
I chuckled at the silly man before slinging an arm around his shoulders and heading back towards shore. “Yep, I guess you’re right once every three years or so. That sounds accurate.”
Dean’s happy laughter over my ribbing carried out over the water. I leaned into him and thought about how lucky I was to have him as a friend. Hopefully, Molly Malone wouldn’t try to wedge her tiny body between us. I didn’t want to imagine life in Brunswick Bay Harbor without Dean by my side.
16
Claire
Alex walked up behind me as I looked into my magnifying mirror and used my ring finger to dab night cream around my tired-looking eyes. He moved my hair to the side and leaned down to press his lips against my neck. It was a move he had made a thousand times before, yet we had somehow lost our natural ease with each other. His kiss felt stilted and forced.
I gave his enlarged reflection a sad smile in the round mirror, refusing to acknowledge aloud the awkwardness that now pervaded our interactions with each other. My hope was that if we didn’t directly speak of it, that this nervous tension might ease up on its own. So far, this plan of inaction wasn’t working.
Alex turned me around to face him. Disappointment surged through me when I pressed into his front and found that he wasn’t hard––or even slightly firm––for me. There was once a time, not that long ago, when he was always turned on by me. Now, it seemed like we had to work to get him in the mood––despite our mutual agreement to try for a second child.
Tilting his head down, Alex pressed his forehead to mine. I was desperate to know what he was thinking, while at the same time, being terrified of his thoughts.Was Josie dominating his mind? Did he miss her? Did he wish she was here with him now?The chilling fear that the answer to any of these questions might be in the affirmative kept me from voicing them.
Proving that he was on a similar wavelength, Alex said, “I wish I could read your mind through osmosis.”
Finally, pulling his forehead away from mine, he wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted me to sit on the counter of my bathroom sink. He was giving me an expectant look, like he wanted an answer about what I’d been thinking about, so I uttered the first lie that popped into my head.
“Actually, I was thinking about what a silly word ‘kidnap’ is.”
“Oh?” Alex tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brow, obviously intrigued by where I was going with this.
I wondered myself where I was heading with this response, but I was in too deep to backtrack now. “Yeah, I mean I’m hardly a child.”
“True,” Alex nodded his agreement with that bit.
Deciding to dive in, I went on. “Plus, the word ‘nap’ sounds to me like a short sleep, not an abduction. Actually, doesn’t the word ‘nab’ work better? That refers to stealing, right?”
Alex was the linguist of the family, so I blinked up at him as he thought over my assertion. After a long moment, he nodded his head and said, “You know, I think you’re right… Person-nabbed would be a much more accurate representation of what happened to you than kidnapped is.”
