Free as that whale on your back :) , she answered a minute later. I am so happy for you.
All thanks to you, babe. Don’t think I’ll forget it.
You can thank me tomorrow. I’m going to bed. Goodnight, lucky man.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I HAVE SOME FREE TIME BEFORE MY WORK SHIFT, SKYE’S TEXT SAID THE NEXT MORNING. SAY AROUND 11. CAN YOU meet up?
It was a little after ten. Grady was already at the auto shop with Kit and Justin, doing a brisk trade in scheduling repairs for people who had dented their cars on the icy roads over the last couple of days. He texted back, Yeah sure, that’d be good. Where?, without checking with Kit first.
Kit wouldn’t be mad. He seemed incapable of being mad today. He’d been joking with everyone and bopping around the garage like he hadn’t been chained up and thrown out of a tree the other night.
Dock behind Green Fox, Skye answered. See you there.
Cool, I’ll be there. Grady bolted out of the office and buttonholed Kit on his way past. “I need to take off at eleven for a little while. I have to… talk to her,” he admitted.
Kit beamed, and thumped him on the arm. “’Course you do. Go for it.” He looked past Grady, and strolled onward. “Edna, hey! Good to see you in town, m’lady.”
At 10:55, Grady rushed down Shore Avenue on foot, and turned between the kayak rental shop and Green Fox Espresso, following the gravel driveway that led to a small dock.
The snow had melted overnight under a steady rain. Today the sun shone, drawing vapors of mist up from the wet dock boards and the surface of the Sound. The air was calm, and for early February it felt almost warm.
One side of the dock was open to the water, to allow for kayak launching. A wooden railing bordered the other side. Skye leaned her elbows on it, looking out at the water. She wore skinny jeans, a slouchy maroon knit hat, rain boots, and her thigh-length dark wool coat, buttoned tight around her middle. Grady approached, his legs weakening. The lining of that coat was silver-colored and smooth; she’d worn it into the woods with him lots of times, and he knew exactly how it felt on the backs of his hands when he reached under her clothes.
His insides felt like they were shredding themselves apart.
She noticed him. Her face was solemn and apprehensive, the way she had looked that day he’d walked into her kitchen the first time. So many firsts, so many memories, all in a single month.
“Hey,” she said.
He walked onto the dock and settled his elbows beside hers on the railing, not quite touching her. “Hey.”
“How are you and Kit doing?”
“Pretty good. Kit especially. He’s basically thrilled.” He smiled for a second.
He caught a smile in response, though only briefly. “I bet.” She rolled her lips together and looked out across the shining water again. “So. Seriously, listen, I am really, really sorry. I almost destroyed your life. I was shameless about it. I mean, I regretted it, even at the time, but I couldn’t stop, and—I’m just so sorry. I can’t say that enough.”
Grady breathed in and out. The air smelled of cold saltwater, fresh but somehow lonely. “No, look, I’m the one who’s sorry. I completely took advantage of you when you were…not yourself. I can’t stand it. I can’t believe I did that.”
“You wouldn’t have done it, though, not normally. You were under a spell. And I’m the one who dragged you into it.”
“You were under a spell too. It wasn’t your choice.” He exchanged a cautious glance with her. She didn’t look offended, only worried. “So,” he added, “we’re both sorry. I forgive you, though I really don’t think you did anything wrong.”
“I forgive you too,” she said. “Though, likewise.”
That encouraged him a little. “Then we can stop talking about being sorry and how we should hate each other?”
She nodded, turning her face outward again. “Definitely. No hate. So now what? Back to normal?”
He let his gaze float down the shore to the white masts at the marina. “Finding jobs. Guess we have to do that.”
“You were going to move to Seattle maybe.”
“Yeah. Don’t know yet. You had graphic-design leads?”
“A few. I’ll look around. I don’t know where I’ll live yet, either. Maybe here, maybe somewhere else.” She lifted her chin and set her shoulders back. “Which is all really stressful. But hey, not as stressful as being under a curse.”
“Right. Well.” Unhappiness dragged at him like an anchor. He surrendered and let himself slip under. He cradled his forehead in his hands, staring unfocused at the water. “I’m still scared, though. I don’t think the spell is totally gone. I’m thinking about you all the time. I still…love you. So doesn’t that mean I’m still enchanted?”
He couldn’t look at her, and it took her a few seconds to answer. When she did, he heard kindness in her voice. “I don’t think so. I think maybe that’s the natural thing to feel after you go through a major experience with someone.”
He sent her a sideways glance. Though he was afraid to ask, he pushed the words out. “Is that how you feel?”
“Yeah. It is.”
This time he held her gaze, letting his hands lower again, settling them along the railing. The prettiest pink color had bloomed in her cheeks, and she wore a tender smile. “I don’t feel enchanted,” she added. “But I do love you.”
A grin broke across his face, unstoppable as sunrise. “It’s so good to see you smile. You have no idea.”
Skye closed the space between them, fitting herself into his arms, against his body, in the way that had become habit for them. “You too, stranger.”
He shut his eyes and held her, breathing in the smell of her shampoo, feeling he might break into pieces from the sheer force of being in love. She lifted her face and kissed him, and he sank into that happy occupation for several long breaths.
When they pulled back an inch, she looked at him, her gaze sharpening with amazement. “Was it just me, or was the sex incredible? Even though it seems like it should be all wrong to think that.”
“Oh my God, it was fantastic,” he said with fervent sincerity.
She laughed—and hearing her laugh was ten times better than seeing her smile, and he had to kiss her again for another minute or two solid.
Then he relaxed his hold on her, and looked toward the marina with a hopeless head-shake. “So I mean, do I stay in Bellwater just to be near you? Work at the auto shop? I guess I’d find my own place to live so I wouldn’t drive Kit crazy, but…”
“No.” She poked her finger into the middle of his chest. “No auto shop for you, Awesome Chef. Don’t you dare. Go find somewhere that appreciates your skills.”