Page 55 of Lost and Found

“I was the kid who would take the dare on a high school trip,” he said. “Trust me.”

“You? No way?”

“Why not? You can’t see me standing on a chair, yelling about food?”

“Not in a million years. You’re not a rule-breaker.”

“I’m not. Unless the rules need a little nudge to loosen up.”

Her brain instantaneously flashed to the moment she’d wanted him to kiss her, and he’d taken a gigantic step back. Not every rule needed loosening up. She took another bite of her fried fish sandwich. It really was delicious. Almost tasty enough to help her forget what she really wanted.

Their waitress returned. “Did you save room for dessert?”

Bailey lifted her eyes to Wes, surprised by how intensely he watched her. Almost as if he could read her thoughts and was also thinking about how she’d wanted him to kiss her. Her stomach tumbled. She needed fresh air. “No dessert for me. I’m stuffed.”

“Just the check, thanks,” he said.

The bill came back as quickly as everything else. Wes laid several bills on the table. “Ready to head out?”

His hand rested on her back, guiding her through the restaurant. The warmth of his palm kept her close. She stayed by his side until they stepped out into the orangey-purple evening. The warm salt air wrapped around them. His hand drifted away. Bailey wanted it back. His touch offered safety, security. It gave her a feeling she hadn’t experienced in years.

Maybe it was Wes, maybe it was the way the conversation delved into topics she’d never shared, but this dinner felt more like a date than anything she’d been on in years. Those dates had been awkward, and she’d always wanted the night to end. That wasn’t the case tonight.

But the night was over. They were colleagues again. No more intimate stories. No burdens shared. “Ready to head back to the hotel?”

“Or we could see what’s happening on the boardwalk?” He checked his watch. “Seven forty-five. Dangerously close to your nine p.m. bedtime.”

She playfully elbowed him. “I said it was late. Not that I was sleeping.” Ahead of them, the carnival of lights and sounds called from a pier jutting into the ocean. “I’m game if you are.”

Wes touched her shoulder, steering them deeper into the buzzing crowd. They headed toward the dancing lights against the late summer sky. The sound of people and crashing waves rolled around them. Her long skirt bunched and swayed against her legs. Their knuckles brushed as they walked.

She closed her eyes for a long second. She loved her life. Loved being a mom, but in this moment, she loved the freedom to do whatever she wanted. Walk to a restaurant. Head to the boardwalk. Nothing to worry about. Her son was in safe hands. Wes would make sure she was, too. She wasn’t pretending Wes had taken her out on a date, but she was imagining what that kind of life could feel like.

Bailey missed having a partner. She missed the intimacy of knowing someone understood her, that someone wanted to be near her. To touch her. To be with her. In her. God, it had been too long.

“Hey, pretty lady. Step right up,” crackled an amplified voice over a speaker.

Bailey jerked from her daydream and saw a man holding a set of tossing rings, beckoning her over.

“Three tries for three dollars. Land one on a bottle, you win,” he called.

“Those are scams,” Wes muttered.

“I heard that,” the man taunted. “What about you, pretty lady? Think you have what it takes?”

She turned quickly to Wes. He kept walking, his arms sliding around her waist.

“I want to give it a try,” she laughed.

He squeezed her side, still holding her close. “You’re serious?”

“Sure. We both know it’s a scam—”

“Not a scam,” the man boomed.

They laughed, and she shrugged. “So what? It’ll be fun.”

His fingers flexed into her, and she melted closer. Her breath fluttered in her chest, launching butterflies in her stomach.