“What happened? Did you two have a fight?” he asks, looking at me over his shoulder.
“No, we didn’t fight. Nothing happened. I just thought—”
“Is it your ex?” he says, cutting me off, and I shake my head.
“No, it has nothing to do with my ex.” I rub my lips together, then admit, “I just realized that I don’t live here. I don’t even live close. This whole thing . . .”
“You realized that you could get hurt,” he fills in, and I nod, then realize he can’t see me.
“Yes,” I whisper, my stomach rolling at the reminder.
“When my ex and I met, she lived in Oklahoma, and I lived in Seattle. We spent our first year together in a long-distance relationship; then I proposed, and she moved in with me. If it’s meant to be, you can make it work.”
“I guess you’re right, but I’ve only known him a couple of days,” I say softly, not sure that he’s the best person to accept advice from. I’ve overheard Lauren talking, and from what I understand, Oliver and his ex are not even divorced, and yet he’s here with Lauren, trying to work on their relationship, which seems a little backward to me.
He turns to look at me over his shoulder once more, his gaze locking with mine. “I know I’m not the best person to give advice,” he says, obviously reading my mind. “But trust me: you should talk to Tanner about how you’re feeling. I think you might be surprised by what his response is, and you shouldn’t worry about how long you’ve known each other; there’s lots of time for that, and no one stays the same forever, so you’ll be learning new things about him all the time.”
Before I can reply, he twists back around, and I glance over at Tanner, finding him watching me. Like always when our eyes lock, my stomach flutters and my pulse races. Pulling my gaze off his, I look down at the water and chew the inside of my cheek. Maybe Oliver is right; maybe I should just be honest and tell him how I feel. Then again, I’m not sure I can trust how I feel; plus, he might think I’m a complete loon for bringing up what’s bothering me, when we’ve only just met.
As we slowly make our way across the lake, I go back and forth on what I should do, and I still have no idea as we paddle up to the small inlet where Maverick is waiting for us. Before I even have a chance to make it out of my kayak on my own, I find Tanner at my side, taking my paddle before helping me out. I start to thank him, but the look he sends me has me slamming my mouth closed.
“You good with these guys for a few minutes while Cybil and I talk?” Tanner asks Maverick while locking on to my wrist as I try to move away.
“Yep.” Maverick lifts his chin; then his eyes come to me, and he raises a brow. I shrug before Tanner starts to tug me toward the tree line beyond the bank.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, but he doesn’t even acknowledge my question. Instead, he leads me farther into the woods, so deep I can no longer hear the group talking. “Are you not going to answer me?” I question, starting to get nervous; then, the next thing I know, he’s directly in front of me, and he’s cupping my face gently between his large hands.
“I’m glad you want to talk, sunshine, because I really want to know what the fuck happened between the time I left you all sweet looking and smiling in your sleeping bag this morning, and when you came out of the tent looking like someone killed your puppy.” My heart stutters in my chest.
I thought I had done a good job hiding how I was feeling. Apparently, I didn’t, and he is obviously mad—really, really mad—judging by the way his jaw is clenching.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I swallow, and he lowers his head, bringing our faces so close together that his nose brushes against mine.
“Don’t start lying to me now, Cybil. Tell me what happened.”
“Okay.” I lift my hands between us and rest them against his chest, rubbing my lips together. “I realized I’m leaving in just a couple of days, and when I do, this, umm . . . this thing between us is going to be over. So I’m thinking it might be better to put some distance between us before someone gets hurt.” I feel nauseous and wonder if he knows the person who is going to end up hurt is going to be me.
“Is that what you want? You want this to be over when you leave and to just give up before we really have a chance to explore what this is?” he asks softly, and my chest starts to feel funny as my nose starts to sting. Gah, even just the idea of not seeing him after this makes me want to cry.