Don't Promise (Don't 3)

“You know I’m going back to Florida.”

“I know.” I had to keep the quiver out of my voice.

“Camp starts soon. I have meetings. Press. I won’t be back here for a long time. Once the season starts I’m committed. And I hope it’s a long season. I want to make the playoffs this year.”

I nodded. “I know that. I wasn’t trying to make this more than what it is.”

But was I? What was it? It felt like the other half of my heart. It felt like every time I looked into his eyes I was breathing full breaths. That my soul was with this man. And how could it not be? He was my first. My first love. We had made a baby together once upon a time. He was all I had. And we were here together. Again.

“Darlin’, I’m not saying anything one way or the other.” He closed his eyes. “Fuck. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to. Let’s just enjoy the two days. I get it. You have your AFA life. I’ve never been a part of that.”

He sat forward. His eyes brimming with fire. “Yeah, well I didn’t have all the facts did I?”

I lowered my head. “I can never say I’m sorry enough.”

He tilted my chin up. “I’m not angry at you anymore, baby. It sucks. It’s fucked up. But I can’t talk to my dad about it. I can’t talk to the eighteen-year-old you about it. Right?”

I nodded. “Then what? We have this and then go back to our lives? Run into each other on the island next summer? We aren’t teenagers.”

“Wait. Does that mean you’re coming back next summer?”

I shrugged. “I live in Dallas. This isn’t exactly close. I can’t even sell Aunt Lindy’s china. I’m not having much luck with the estate. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I haven’t decided.”

“I know what we need.”

“What’s that?”

“Food.”

I winced. “I have lots of coffee and wine.”

“Then I’ll run to the grill.” He hopped out of bed. “Ham biscuits sound good?”

I nodded. “I’m starving.”

“Thought so.” He found his shorts on the floor and tugged on a T-shirt. “Don’t move. Stay right there. Naked.” He winked, leaning down to kiss me. “I’ll be back with breakfast and then we’ll decide.”

“Decide?” I looked at him quizzically.

“Yeah. Decide if two days is enough.”

He walked out of the room and my jaw dropped.

22

Blake

What the fuck was I thinking? This girl had me on some damn high I couldn’t come down from. She was the one who broke me. The one who made me the man I was now.

And I was going to go for more?

I pulled into the grill. There was a line of cars. The same fishermen had been coming here for forty years. My dad used to be one of them. I felt my forehead furrow.

He was the one I was angry with. The man who had threatened the girl I loved. The man who had sent my child away from me. The man I had worshipped my entire life. The one I couldn’t s

top grieving for in silence.