He eased away from her at the same moment that she pulled back from him.
They stared at each other for a moment and then she curled her fingers into the front of his shirt and gave a crooked smile.
“You’re a very sexy man, Sean.”
“Glad I have something going for me given that my brain is so small and insignificant.”
The dimple appeared in the corner of her mouth. “I like your sense of humor. And I like your body. But we should not do this again.”
He thought about how complicated his life was. “You’re probably right.”
“But you must do one thing for me.” Her voice was husky, her hand still on his chest. “You must fix this thing with your grandfather. You have to talk to him.”
“You’re probably right about that, too.”
“Go to bed.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, her lips brushing gently over his jaw. “Good night, Sean.”
He opened his mouth to try and form a coherent sentence, but she’d slipped into the dark of the forest leaving him standing alone on the half-finished deck.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SO SEAN ISN’T leaving. Bad news for Tyler because he’ll lose his bet with Jackson.” Kayla ran with her phone in her hand, slowing occasionally as she checked her emails. “And bad news for Jackson, because Sean keeps borrowing his clothes.”
And bad news for me, Élise thought, because Sean would be right under my nose until the party.
Their encounter the night before had tested her willpower to its limits.
With him, it was almost impossible to keep her emotions under control. First, there had been the anger and frustration that he’d misunderstood Walter so badly, then real sympathy as he’d reluctantly confessed to the row.
He’d accused her of not understanding.
She understood everything.
More than he could possibly know.
She stopped running for a moment, emotion slamming into her and driving her breath from her body.
It had been years, but still the feelings would rush at her out of nowhere. Guilt and grief could still cut her off at the knees. It was because she’d never resolved it. Never been given the opportunity to resolve it.
And of course, it was her fault. All of it. Everything that had happened was because she’d made bad decisions.
Ahead of her, Kayla stopped and pulled her earbuds from her ears. “Are you all right? Did Walter upset you last night? He was in a feisty mood.”
“He didn’t upset me. I was relieved to see him home.”
“Sean got the brunt of it. As always.” Kayla put her earbuds back in and carried on running.
Élise followed, wondering about the argument between Sean and his grandfather. If it had been on the day of the funeral then presumably it was something to do with his father.
And it had obviously been significant.
Because of it, he hardly came home and because he hardly came home his grandfather grew more and more upse
t with him.
She understood all too well how that cycle could occur.
Sometimes it was easier to let an argument simmer than resolve it. Sometimes the emotions were so thick, you couldn’t cut through them. You told yourself you’d solve it later. That you’d wait for a better time. But sometimes, that time didn’t come.