Page 68 of Blood Tide
I shrugged.“Maybe.”
He narrowed his eyes.“No, there’s no maybe about it.You didn’t do a damn thing wrong.Tess was nuts.She murdered Eddie and would have murdered you too because she was mentally unbalanced and only cared about herself.”
“But maybe if I hadn’t pushed to talk to Gil.”
He lifted his brows.“What?And let her get away with killing Eddie?How would that make anything better?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, staring at his bare chest.“I just keep thinking I made everything worse by pushing.Now Gil is in jail and he’s lost his livelihood.”
“Spencer, he chose to poach in protected waters, and he got caught.How in the heck is that your fault?”
“It’s not.I know that logically.”
He pulled me close, his arms tight.I pressed my face to his warm skin, inhaling his now familiar scent.He put his hand on the back of my neck.“Don’t give into that guilt.I want to go to the Rusty Anchor with you.You loved their fish and chips so much.It makes me sad that you don’t want to go there anymore.”
I pulled back in surprise.“It does?”
His smile was a little self-conscious.“That was the first place we really connected.The night I ran into you while I was on a date with June, I couldn’t stop thinking about you afterward.Then when we had dinner at the counter, that was when I started really liking you.The Rusty Anchor is special.I don’t want to give it up just because Tess worked there, lost her fucking mind, and went psycho on us all.”
“I guess I didn’t look at it like that,” I said.“I didn’t realize the Rusty Anchor meant anything to you.”
“It does.”He put a finger under my chin.“Please can we eat greasy fish and ice-cold beer at the Rusty Anchor today?I think it’ll be good for us to go back there.Don’t let Tess take anything away from us.”
“Okay.”He was right.I shouldn’t let Tess take anything from me.She’d already taken enough from other people in Coral Cove.Why would I let her ruin my memories of that place?
“Yeah?”He looked pleased.
“You’re right.The Rusty Anchor is ours.”
He kissed me softly.“That’s right.”
He showered while I sat on the porch with Scout and watched the fog burn off the harbor.The town was waking up.I could see the boats heading out, their running lights blinking.A woman jogged past the house with a golden retriever and waved.
Eventually, Declan came out in jeans and a flannel shirt, his hair still damp.He clipped Scout’s leash on.“Ready when you are.”
“I’m ready.”
We walked to the trailhead at the end of his street.The bluff trail wound along the clifftops north of town, through stands of spruce and salal, with the ocean spread out below in shades of gray and green.We walked in comfortable silence for a while.Scout ranged ahead, nose to the ground, tail going a mile-a-minute.
“I got a call from a reporter at the Oregonian yesterday,” I said.
Declan glanced at me.“About the case?”
“They want to do a feature.They asked if I’d contribute quotes since I was, and I quote, ‘integral to the investigation.’“
“Integral.”He smirked.“Is that what you were?”
“I’m just quoting her.”
“I remember you being more of a pain in my ass than anything else.”
I grinned.“Maybe I heard her wrong.Shall I include that in my quotes?Chief Hale says I’m a pain in his ass?”
“Probably not.”He sniggered.
We reached the lookout where the trail gave way to a wide clearing above the cliffs.We sat on the white bench provided.The ocean opened before us, a vast sweep of gray-blue water broken by slow, rolling swells.Below, white foam curled and shattered against the rocks.Farther out, the surface went glassy and still, the horizon dissolving into a thin haze where sea and sky found each other.
Declan let out a contented sigh, and he put his arm along the back of the bench.I leaned my head on his shoulder, watching a fishing boat in the distance.That boat made me think of Eddie.Wherever he was now, I hoped he was at peace.
Scout lifted his head and barked at a seagull, and Declan laughed.The sound of his husky laugh made my chest warm and tighten.I turned my head and found Declan watching me.I leaned in and kissed him, and he smiled against my mouth.When I pulled back, I could see the reflection of the ocean in his eyes.I could see more things too.Trust.Affection.Hope.
His hand slipped around mine, warm and comforting.We sat on the bench high above Coral Cove, neither of us in any hurry to be anywhere else.
