Another wave was coming toward her. She closed her eyes and braced for it. Only it never hit. She screamed out as she found herself propelled into the air and carried away. She fell onto the warm sand with a thud, another body behind her. She scrambled to her knees and found Bowie doing the same.
“What are you doing?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Bowie said. He stood and helped her to feet.
“I was enjoying the waves.”
“It looked to me like you were trying to become one with the ocean.”
Brooklyn shivered and crossed her arms around her midsection. There was seaweed stuck to her leg, and her hair smelled like salt water. Normally, she loved the way the sea salt made her hair feel, but as she ran her hand over her hair, she hated it. She wanted to go stand under the hot water in her shower and wash everything away.
“I wasn’t . . . doing what you think I was.” Brooklyn sat down where she was and pulled her knees to her chest. Bowie took the spot next to her and mimicked her position.
“I don’t ever want to think about you hurting yourself, B. After Austin died, I wanted to spend every waking minute with you because I thought you would do something, and when you wouldn’t answer the door or return my calls, I begged Monroe to stay with you.”
“She told me.”
“Why did you leave after the funeral?”
She sighed. She’d been afraid this conversation was going to happen but had hoped she would be on her way out of town before it did. “I was scared. Scared of people finding out about us. Scared they’d blame us for Austin’s death. Much like I was blamed the other day.”
“Speaking of that. Graham knows about what happened between us. I told him right after. He swears he didn’t tell anyone, and I believe him. I don’t know how Grady knows or if he even does. He’s a drunk, B. He spends his days and nights blitzed out of his mind. I think he was lashing out at you because you left us all that day.”
Brooklyn laughed and shook her head. She knew more about the people here than he did, and he lived here. “Carly knows as well, so if Graham isn’t flapping his gums . . .”
Bowie sighed. “I’m sorry, Brooklyn. I never meant for any of this to come out. I would’ve sung it from the top of the mountain, though, had you stayed.”
“Do you want to know what I was doing down there?”
Bowie nodded.
“I was thinking about that night. The one that changed everything. For the first time in a long time, I was happy, and I was happy because of you. It took me years to realize what kind of relationship Austin and I were in, and once I did, there really wasn’t anything I could do about it because to everyone else he was perfect, and I would’ve been the bad guy. I remember every word he said to me that night, how he told me he didn’t love me anymore. Want to know what else I remember?”
“What’s that?” Bowie asked.
“That you did.”
TWENTY-NINE
Bowie let Brooklyn’s words sink in. Truthfully, he had been pining for her for a decade and a half. Over the years, his feelings for her had teetered on the line between love and hate—he was a mixed bag of emotions after she first left, and while his relationship with Rachel had helped him heal and move on with his life, he had never truly overcome the feelings he’d had for Brooklyn.
A smile played on his lips as he inspected the sand. She remembered. Their night together was marred by tragedy, and he never could have fully pursued her back then, but nothing was stopping him now. Except for Graham’s voice in the back of his head. As much as he didn’t want to think about Brystol being his daughter, now that he was sitting next to Brooklyn, the thought weighed on his mind. What if she was his? Did Brooklyn know? Had she kept him from his daughter? The rational part of him was screaming no, Brooklyn would never do that, but he couldn’t deter the nagging suspicion that as much as he didn’t want it to be, it was possible. If she was afraid of how their friends and the people around town would react to them hooking up, surely she’d be scared to tell everyone that he was the father of her baby. The safe bet was to say the child belonged to Austin. Doing this also secured some financial freedom, being the only heir to Carly Woods.
No, Bowie couldn’t think like that, not about Brooklyn. Besides, if there was a chance that Brystol was his daughter, wouldn’t Brooklyn do everything she could to keep her away from him? Brooklyn hadn’t. In fact, she encouraged them in a roundabout sort of way. She definitely hadn’t intervened when Bowie would speak to Brystol, and she was appreciative of Bowie bringing her daughter to the hospital. Graham was wrong. He had to be. Bowie and Brooklyn had only been together one time. One night of passion, interrupted by a phone call that changed everything.