LATER THAT NIGHT—and completely stuffed from dinner—I lounged on Lucas’s patio swing, pushing it back and forth with my foot, as he put away the dishes inside. I could hear him clattering about as my eyes adjusted to the falling darkness. It was a fair trade—I’d caught the flounder and seatrout we dined on, and he cleaned up after.

As I brought the last of the white wine we’d polished off to my lips, I imagined what it would be like if this was my normal. It was so peaceful here, with only the sounds of nature filling the air. Crickets, frogs, and something else I couldn’t put my finger on. What would it be like to have days spent on the water, evenings watching the sky light up with fireflies, and nights next to the man I found myself falling for further with every passing minute?

Down here, life seemed so simple and easy. Here, the only people that mattered or existed were Lucas and me, and it had me wondering what if… What if it could always be this way?

“Mmm. Please feel free to fish for me anytime,” Lucas said, as he came back outside with an uncorked bottle of white wine.

I lifted my glass, and he poured a refill. “Now that’s a change in tune. Not sulking anymore?”

“Hell no. This has turned out to be an even better deal. You can do it all—catch, clean, and cook.”

“And what will you do?”

“Sit here and look pretty?”

I smiled as he sat beside me on the padded swing, and he laid his arm across the back without even thinking. It was a move anyone else would think he’d done hundreds of times, but he’d never done it before, even though we’d sat on this same swing years ago under his gram’s watchful eyes. I pushed the swing back and forth as we sipped our wine and enjoyed the quiet of the moment. He was so close that I could feel the heat radiating off his skin, but we didn’t touch. It was enough just to be.

“The fireflies came out to play,” I said. “I forgot how much I loved those.”

“You mean lightning bugs.” He smiled. “I take it you don’t have those in Connecticut?”

“If we do, I’ve never seen them.”

“You’re missing out, Yank,” Lucas said, leaning forward and cupping his hands around one of the fireflies. Then he brought it toward me and let go. It hovered in the air, its abdomen lighting up like it was putting on a show before flying away.

“Seems I miss out on a lot being away from here.”

Lucas looked over at me and didn’t say anything, but I could feel his fingers lightly running over the neck of my t-shirt. And then I had an irrational thought: I wish he’d ask me to stay. Jesus, that would be asking a lot. I’d been in town a week and already I expected him to turn his life upside down to accommodate me? Being here with Lucas felt more like my home than my actual home did, but how to say that without him thinking I was crazy? Shit, maybe I am crazy.

“You okay?” Lucas asked, and by the stillness of the swing, I realized I’d stopped pushing.

“Yeah, was thinking.” Don’t say it, don’t say it. My gaze drifted away from him and over to the row of flower boxes that hung off the porch. They still housed bright, happy blooms, and that had been around since his gram had been alive. Clearly, Lucas had gotten his green thumb from her. “Can I ask…how did she die?”

Lucas knew exactly whom I was referring to and didn’t skip a beat. “Complications from a stroke. Three years ago this week.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged as if to say it hurt like hell, but what could he do? “I’m glad I got a few good years with her.”

“She was an amazing lady. I’m glad I got to know her.”

“She was the best,” he agreed. “And she really liked you.”

I felt a stab of pain that I’d never gotten to say goodbye, and lifted the wine to my lips again. I wondered if she’d still liked me after I left her grandson without so much as a warning. She would’ve also known about his trip up north and the disaster that’d happened there, and it made me cringe that she might’ve thought the worst of me before she died.

Lucas pointed with his glass over to a magnolia tree far down the property. “She’s over there if you want to say hi later.”

“I’ll have to do that.” And apologize. Then something he’d said earlier niggled at my brain. “Did you say three years ago this week?”

“Mhmm.”

Wait a second. It’d been eight years to the week since I’d left, and his Gram had also passed the same week five years later? No wonder he’d boarded himself up good and tight. And now, here we were, getting ready to do it all again when my time in South Haven was up.

“Funny you should choose this week to come back, wouldn’t you say?” Lucas said, reading my mind. He gave me a humorless smile that did nothing to hide the pain behind his eyes. “God or the fates surely have a fucked-up sense of humor.”

I didn’t even know what to say to that. It didn’t seem fair that this man had gone through so much in his twenty-six years.

“I know I was an asshole when I saw you again, but do you know what it’s like to lose everyone you care about?” Lucas held up his fingers to tick off a list. “I lost my parents. I lost you. Then Gram passed. Putting up walls is the only way I know how to cope at this point.”

“I hate it. I hate that you’ve had to go through all that. I hate that I’ve contributed.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, it wasn’t. But I never want to be someone who’s hurt you. And Lucas…” Say it. Now, just fucking say it before you back out. I held his gaze as I said, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You may not have a choice,” he said, smiling sadly.

I didn’t think that was true. Not anymore. I wasn’t eighteen without a penny of my own to my name. Actually, I had quite a few pennies put away now, enough that I’d never have to work again if I didn’t want to.

But there was something else, something I needed to tell him while we were on the subject of all things unpleasant. “There’s something you should know.”