Chapter 85

• Annoyance flickers over his face, his shoulders tense. “If it’s what you want, I’ll walk right out that door, hit the road, and you won’t ever have to see me again, but I need to take a talk a walk on the beach before I can do that.” He walks past me and stalks to the door to the deck. “Are you coming? Because I’m trying to make a gesture here.”
• I purse my lips as I think of the other gesture he made. A gesture I’m still not sure what to do with, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. “Okay. I’ll take a walk, but I should warn you, some of my neighbors are home now, they’re getting ready for summer.”
• Derek shrugs and slides open the door so the cool sea air rushes inside. I fall into step beside him, strands of hair blow around my face, loose from where I pulled it back. He starts walking towards the rocks where I stumbled across him eight weeks ago.