Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

Isaiah glanced over at Gwen, feeling his heart thump with excitement. They were walking along the dock together toward his rented jet boat, and he couldn’t believe she was really there with him and that they were about to go on an official date. He felt as though he should pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

They’d spent a fun, rewarding day painting the school together. He’d been impressed by her work ethic and efficiency—her can-do attitude hadn’t wavered once during the day even though they’d worked for a long time. They’d accomplished a great deal, and he guessed she felt just as proud of their work as he did.

“Are you excited?” He grinned at her as they reached the boat.

She nodded, looked flushed and a little nervous. “I am,” she said, although she was looking at the boat as if it was a giant dog that she liked but thought might bite her.

He clambered on board first and then helped her onto the boat. She took her seat next to his pilot’s chair, and as he started the engine of the boat, he glanced over at her. He saw her take a deep breath, looking out across the ocean with shining eyes. All of a sudden, he felt like he’d been hit in the stomach, she looked so beautiful.

“Are you ready?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation, although she gripped the handholds she’d used the last time.

He steered the boat away from the dock and then accelerated the engine. The boat zipped across the water, and he let out a whoop, thrilled by the speed. Wind whipped their hair back and a mist of salty water brushed their cheeks. He looked over at Gwen and saw that she seemed to feel more confident than she had the first time on the boat—she was leaning forward a little and smiling with her eyes wide open. He grinned, pleased that she seemed to be having a good time.

After enjoying the speed of the boat for a while, he slowed it down in a place where they had a breathtaking view of the ocean on one side and the coast of Blueberry Bay on the other. The sun was setting, and the sky glowed with pastel colors—pink and yellow and orange. A light breeze, scented with the salty smell of the ocean, kissed their faces.

“This is nice,” she said, smiling and gazing out across the water at the incredible view. She turned to him, and her eyes had a glow to them. “I’m glad you invited me out here.”

“I’m glad you came with me.” He smiled back at her, feeling his heart dance with a rhythm similar to that of the waves rocking the boat underneath them. “I know you just got out of a relationship, so I appreciate you being willing to take a chance on me like this.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes down shyly for a moment. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a first date. But I—well, I wanted to be here.” She looked up and smiled at him.

He grinned, feeling thrilled by her words. “It’s been a long time since I went on a first date too,” he said. “I kind of gave up on dating for a while there.”

“How come?” She placed her hands in her pockets and leaned back in her chair as if she was settling in for story time. The gesture made him chuckle.

“Oh, well, I just never seemed to find anyone that I felt I wanted to make the effort for. I think my easygoing, casual nature kept me from getting serious about anyone. Pursuing a serious relationship always seemed like so much work and pressure, and I never felt the need to get into all that.”

“Huh,” she said, and for a moment he wondered what she thought of him.

“It’s not that I don’t want a serious relationship,” he added hurriedly, “or at least—I always knew I wanted one eventually. But I’d wanted to keep things simple, not realizing that there’s a lot of good things that are more complicated. Like relationships.”

She nodded, looking out across the water but smiling a little at his words. “A lot of good things are very complicated,” she said softly.

“What about you?” he prompted when she turned back to face him. “What’s your story?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She let out a long sigh and sat quietly for a moment, thinking. “I think I took my ex’s words too much to heart. He told me that the way I was so inflexible made me impossible to deal with, and it was all too much, etcetera, etcetera. But I think I became that way in our relationship because he was so irresponsible. I overcompensated. He made me feel stressed out by how he lived and how little he cared about details, and it made me try that much harder to keep things in line in order to feel like everything was going all right. And who knows—maybe I could see that the relationship just wasn’t working, and unconsciously I thought that fixing all the little details would fix the relationship itself.”

He watched her, feeling his heart stir with compassion for her.

“I’m sorry you went through that,” he told her.

She smiled at him. “It’s all right. I’m learning better now. I’m feeling like I don’t have to be responsible and rigid all the time, and that’s been nice. The truth is that there’s room in me to have fun and still take things seriously.”

He nodded, feeling that her words applied to him as well. “Absolutely. Just like there’s room for me to take things seriously and still have fun.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her, then pretended to fall off the pilot’s chair.

“See?” he said, lying on the bottom of the boat and grinning up at her. “I never would have done that if the boat was moving. I take safety seriously, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to be silly.”

She chuckled, reaching down to help him back up.

“You are a very silly man,” she told him, pretending to scold.

“You’re welcome,” he said cheerfully, taking his seat again. “I made you laugh, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you certainly did. You make me laugh a lot. I like it.”

He felt his stomach warm with happiness. “I didn’t see this coming, but I like it. I mean us. You make me want to make you laugh.”

“I feel the same way. I didn’t see this coming, but I’m glad it’s happening.”

For a moment, they smiled at each other. The wind rocked the boat gently back and forth and it bobbed up and down on the waves. The sunset shifted in its magnificent colors, allowing more deep blue to spread across the eastern edge of the sky.

His mind traced over the events of the past few weeks, wondering how he’d ended up sitting there across from her on a date. He started to laugh, thinking about the conversation that he’d had with Olivia.

“What?” she prompted curiously, her mouth curving up into a smile.

He shook his head. “Olivia. She predicted all this. She was right about you and me becoming interested in each other—and I’d told her she was wrong and that I wasn’t looking for a relationship and that was that, and now—well, now she’ll never let me live it down.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she teased. “That sounds rough.”

He laughed, enjoying her teasing. “It’s totally worth it, though. I’m so glad I met you.”

Her eyes seemed to glow a little more. “I’m so glad I met you,” she said softly. Her shoulders were turned toward him, and her hands were clasped in her lap.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, his heart hammering in his chest all of a sudden.

She nodded, looking a little wide-eyed. “Yes, I would like that very much.”

He leaned in toward her, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear. The whole world seemed to stop for a moment as he placed his lips gently on hers.

She gazed up at him as they pulled away from the kiss, her eyes shining.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, grinning at her.

“I’m thinking that was an amazing kiss,” she said, blushing a little, “and that I definitely have something to tell Heidi tomorrow.”

He laughed, brushing his fingertips over her cheek again. His heart felt light and his stomach was fluttering with happiness. It had been an amazing kiss, and he felt excited about continuing to talk with her for the rest of their time out on the boat.

“Heidi’s also matchmaking us, huh?” he asked, lifting a brow.

“I think so.” She laughed too. “I think she got suspicious when I kept talking about our first boat ride almost nonstop.”

“You did?” His lips curved up on one side. “That’s awesome. You really liked it that much?”

“I really did.” She glanced around at the water surrounding them. “And I like it even better today.”

“Well, in that case—you want to go fast again?”

“Yes, please!”

He grinned at her and accelerated the engine, steering the boat out across the sunset-painted waves.