Ex on the Beach
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“Andie,” he called out. Maybe it was too late for them, but she did deserve an apology.
She didn’t turn, but she did stop walking. It was so dark now that she was merely one of the shadows, but he could see her well enough. She was soft and curvy, standing there with the loose skirt of her dress billowing around her knees and her bare feet digging in the sand. She had the ankle bracelet on, too. The one she’d always worn. Something about it had always added to the need he’d felt to protect her.
Even without another conversation, he already knew that she hadn’t changed that much. She was still sweet and gentle on the inside. It was the way she’d been made. But the woman could get riled. And he suspected she was very much that way at the moment.
Not only had he sought her out when she’d clearly been avoiding him, but her friends had also deserted her. Only, not before the short one had shot him the I’ll-kill-you-in-an-instant-if-you-hurt-her look. That had come from Roni. She’d been at Gin’s earlier. He’d finally recognized her from the rehearsal dinner from years ago. No wonder she’d gone cold on him at the bar.
He had a feeling that either she or Ginger—the other friend who’d been both on the sand with them and in Boston at the wedding—would gladly skin him alive if he hurt Andie again, but he couldn’t walk away just yet. He’d found himself physically unable to not seek her out.
He moved closer, unsure where to start. Before he had a chance to figure it out, the moon peeked out from behind a cloud, and Andie rotated in his direction. It was only a half moon, but enough to illuminate her features. Her face appeared as smooth as carved rock, and her long, reddish-brown hair blew out behind her, the loose curls catching in the breeze.
“You’re beautiful, Andie.”
A sardonic slash angled across her mouth. “Don’t try to sweet-talk me, Mark. I’m immune to you now.”
“I wasn’t,” he said. He wanted to reach out and touch her but valued his limb. “But it’s the truth. You were beautiful before, but here in the moonlight, on the beach, you’re stunning. You look like you belong.”
She nodded. “I do. I should thank you for that, I suppose.”
Though she didn’t look very thankful at the moment. When no other words came to him, he said the only thing running through his mind. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
The clouds shifted, obscuring the moonlight, so that he couldn’t see her eyes, but he got a good sense of her thoughts from the stiffness in her body. He swallowed against the lump in his throat.
“Is that it?” she asked. “All you wanted to say?’
“No.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Then say it and let’s call this done, shall we?”
Her attitude suddenly irritated the hell out of him. He wasn’t used to people not backing down. Stepping closer, he put his face down in front of hers. “Lose the attitude, Andie, we both made mistakes back then.”
“Yet only one of us was left at the altar.”
