“You deserve even more. The charm suits you. I like it on you,” he said waiting for me to take his hand. I played with the cool silver charm in my fingers for a moment before grinning at him.
“It does look good, doesn’t it?” I reached for his hand. A spark of energy flowed through his fingers into mine. It made my heart speed up and my stomach do happy flips. He smiled and squeezed my hand and we continued down the beach and away from the shops. I felt like a princess wearing something sparkly, hand in hand with her knight in shining armor. A girl could get used to extravagance.
Chapter 6
The afternoon sun shone down on the two of us and we walked alongside the waves and giggled at stupid jokes. I felt more comfortable with him than I had with anyone in my life. He seemed to relax the longer we walked. I wished I could have more days like this, but both our vacations were going to have to end soon. I pushed the thought as far from my mind as I could.
“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?” Jack asked as I bent down to pick up a seashell. I studied the shell for a moment before casting it out into the ocean.
“You are going to make fun of me,” I said, squinting out at the horizon before looking at him. He grinned mischievously.
“I’m going to make more fun of you if you don’t tell me,” he said, his eyes sparkling. I glared at him before answering.
“I went skinny dipping in Old Man Smith’s fishing pond. A bunch of us did it one night,” I said finally, a blush creeping into my cheeks.
“That doesn’t sound that crazy,” he scoffed gently.
“Well, it wasn’t... until he came out with a shotgun and threatened to shoot us all for scaring his fish,” I giggled. “I nearly ran the whole way home before I realized I was naked and had forgotten my clothes by the pond. To top it off, my parents had dinner guests that night. I had to sneak in, naked, past three different sets of dentists.”
“Did any of them see you?” he asked, his sides quivering as he tried not to laugh.
“I hid in the garage until I found a winter coat. One of the guests saw me and gave me this weird look as I dashed up the stairs with bare legs and a heavy overcoat, but I made it,” I said shaking my head and laughing at the memory. Jack let his laughter mix with mine as he teased me about forgetting my clothes as we walked hand in hand down the beach.
Up ahead, white gauze streamers caught my attention. Jack followed my gaze to the small arbor decorated with pretty white fabric and tropical flowers. A bored looking attendant in a white dress shirt and pants sat next to it playing on his phone.
“You ever think you’ll get married?” Jack asked nodding towards the awning.
“At the rate I’m going? No. You don’t even want to know the last time I went on a date. I want to, but, no one seems interested. I’ve kind of come to accept that I will be a crazy old cat lady someday.” The admission hurt, but it was freeing to say it out loud. Jack squeezed my hand. “What about you? You think you’ll ever marry?” I asked him as we approached the small wedding area. The attendant fanned himself with a brochure packet as he slid his phone into the pocket of his shirt and watched us disinterestedly.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I would love a family. I want a wife and kids with a dog in a white picket fenced yard, but I don’t think that will ever happen because of my work and the obligations that come with it. The fact that I have money complicates things. If I were to get married, it would have to be to someone who could see past my job and the income. Someone who wanted to be with me,” he said it like it didn’t bother him, but the edges of his voice held a deep pain. I wondered who had hurt him over money to make him so distrustful.
“I’d marry you. Even if you didn’t have any money,” I blurted out. He stopped and looked at me, his eyes dark. I bit my lip and looked up at him. “I mean, I don’t know how much money you have, but I know that I like being around you. I think I like you more than anyone I have ever met.”
Jack pulled me so I was facing him. I could feel the blush on my cheeks increasing as he searched my face.
“You’re serious,” he said slowly, a smile blossoming on his face. I nodded and blushed harder. “You want to get married?” he asked, tipping his head towards the white arbor.
“Sure, why not?” I answered with a smile. I wasn’t about to back out of this conversation now. I already said I would marry him and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to tease him later when he was the one who backed out.
“Let’s do it then,” he said with a wicked smile. I felt my mouth open and I couldn’t quite close it; he wasn’t supposed to take me seriously.
“Are you serious?”
“Sure, why not?” he mimicked me with a grin. He pulled me by the hand towards the awning like he was very serious.
“Wait a second,” I gasped.
“Oh, so you’re backing out?” Jack’s eyes twinkled with amusement.