Ocean (Damage Control 5)

“I had this feeling,” I tell him truthfully. “That you needed my help.” I glance up and realize with a start how close together we’re standing. If I stood on tiptoes, I could kiss that soft-looking mouth, know if he tastes as spicy as he smells. “Do you?”

Something flashes over his features. Something dark and painful, vanishing in an instant.

“That depends.” His grin is back, brightening his clear eyes, lifting the corners of his beautiful mouth. He lifts the hand I’m holding to touch my face. “Can you cook soup?”

***

I have a date with Ocean Storm. Tonight.

To cook soup.

Okay, maybe it’s not a date. Doesn’t much sound like one, but a girl can dream, right? Or rather fantasize and delude herself.

It’s enough that he asked me for help. Let me look at his palm. Let me in. Even if just a little.

Yet the warm feeling in my chest won’t quit as Amber and I make our way to the coffee shop where we’re meeting with the girls. I park, climb out of the car and haul Amber inside. I want to see the girls and go home. There’s an itch under my skin to be left alone, think, prepare.

For what exactly? To cook soup? I sigh to myself as we enter the coffee shop and make a beeline for the table occupied by our friends.

Maybe to dress up? To fix my hair? To think about the deep lines in his palm?

What am I doing?

I’m in a bit of a trance as we sit down and Cassie goes to get our coffee for us. I smile absently at Ev and Manon. The Damage girls.

I’m just friends with Ocean. So why am I freaking out?

“So when are you and Jesse moving in together?” Ev wants to know, and Amber blushes. She does that a lot lately, more than usual. Interesting. “Any date set? Apartment found?”

“We looked at a tiny studio we like,” she says. “Could be the one.”

“As long as it fits a double bed…” Ev winks, then turns to me. “Hey, girl, did you read the cards for me?”

“No. I…” Was distracted. Trying to read my own fate. Spreading them again and again.

Obsessed, Amber said. Maybe I am. I kept seeing paths and the urge to act, to take a chance, a risk.

And ended up with the spread that spoke of someone’s need for my help. There was no indication it was Ocean. I just felt it in my gut.

“That’s okay,” Ev says as Cassie returns with our coffees and plonks herself in the seat next to her. “I decided I’d rather wait and be pleasantly surprised when Micah and I take the next step. I’d rather not think it was fated, you know? But that it’s something we’ve worked on together.”

She sounds so sure. So content and safe in her love for Micah. In his love for her. How is she doing that? How can she just wait and not want to sneak a peek into the future?

“So… studio? Double bed?” Cassie turns to Amber. “Moving in together, and…? When? What next?”

“I don’t know yet. Soonish, I guess. Jesse’s so excited about it.”

“Like you’re not.” Cassie winks. “I can’t imagine not living with Shane, and it’s only been a couple of months.”

“How is he doing?”

“Fine. Better. Sometimes he loses his footing a little. A trigger, a nightmare. But he recovers.”

“Because you’re there for him,” Amber says, her eyes shining.

It’s so weird, watching the two of them interact—Amber and Cassie. After the awful fight over Jesse Lee, it’s hard to believe they’re fast becoming friends, but there you go. After Cassie apologized and got together with Shane, everything seemed to smooth out.

“Jesse likes the studio,” Amber says, sipping at her Latte. “And he was glad to leave his apartment, even though he’s getting along much better with his roommates nowadays. But it’s chaos in there, and now with Travis’ friend crashing in their living room it’s impossible to have any quiet and privacy.”