“Well, whose fault is that?”
“Mine, damn it, I get that,” Kyle shouted.
“Something you wanna share?”
Kyle turned and paced a little in the alleyway. He knew he could trust Dalton. He was his first mate and, really, his closest friend. He just wasn’t so sure about saying the words out loud. But he supposed he was going to have to at some point, and better to Dalton than to any of her uncles.
“I kissed Drea last night,” he answered, looking up to meet Dalton’s gaze.
“Fuck yeah, dude!” Dalton held out his fist. Kyle bumped it with his. “About fucking time!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Seriously? Kyle, we’ve been friends for three years. You think I don’t see the way you look at her. Like she walks on friggin’ water?”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. So, what’s this mean?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?”
“So, I take it you two didn’t talk in the middle of all this kissing?”
“No,” Kyle said, turning to pace again. “I, uh, kinda just up and left after I did it. I was on my way to find her to talk to her when I saw the two of you coming out of Leona’s office and…” he trailed off.
“And lost your shit?” Dalton finished. Kyle nodded. “Well, dude, only one thing left to do now.”
“Yeah?” Kyle asked. “What’s that?”
“Grovel.”
Chapter Twelve
After a run that did nothing to help clear her head, and a shower that only left her wishing that Kyle had been in there with her, Drea made her way to the docks. On any other day she would have been thrilled that this afternoon’s cruise was just an older couple who wanted to hang out on the water and relax. But knowing that she wouldn’t have the buffer of guests and unsure what kind of mood Kyle was in left her feeling uneasy.
She hadn’t seen either him or Dalton after they both took off. Not that she had looked very hard. Leona had pulled her back into her office to finish off their coffee, waiting to see if either one of the boys showed up. When neither of them did, they eventually made their way to the kitchen where they found Miller all by himself, other than the miscellaneous staff scurrying around him. She had to fight the urge to ask him if he’d seen the boys, and if Kyle had mentioned why he was so upset. But she knew better; just because Miller had been her go-to for many years when she needed a shoulder to cry on didn’t mean he would be where Kyle turned. In fact, she would probably put money on Miller and the rest of her uncles being part of why Kyle bolted last night.
Hopping up onto the Runnin’ Down a Dream, she pulled the little Bluetooth speaker from underneath the bar and connected her phone. While her uncles and the boys were pretty much strictly classic rock listeners, Drea’s taste ventured out a little more. Not that she didn’t love the epic rock ballads she’d grown up listening to, but when she was by herself her country music guilty pleasure took over. Turning to her “current favorites” playlist, she cranked the music and started on some of the cleaning they had skipped yesterday due to the family meeting. Three or four songs in she had finally found a rhythm and had started to dance around the boat as she wiped surfaces down.
As she moved, she thought about what Leona had said the other day, about her bringing up her “big idea” to her uncles. It wasn’t that she didn’t love working on the boats—she did. But sometimes she just wanted more. She wanted to be able to have a bigger stake in the family business and have something that was her own, like each one of her uncles did. However, she also knew, as showcased by Grayson’s comments later that evening, that she was still a kid to them. The idea that she take on more responsibility was probably not something that had ever even crossed their minds. But, just as she said to Leona, maybe someday.
“You know that’s not really all that long, right?” Kyle said, startling Drea out of her zone.
“What?” she asked, turning away from the bar to face him.
“Ten thousand hours—it’s like, just over four hundred days or something like that. So, it’s not really all that long that he’s promising her.”
“Well, I can’t speak for Dan and Shay, but I’m pretty sure that no one has really ever looked to the Biebs for his math skills. Kind of like how no one ever really called out those weird British guys for walking 500 miles.”
“They were Scottish. And they offered to walk 500 more.”
“Right, how could I forget.”
She looked away from him, out over the marina, afraid to make eye contact. It was killing her to feel so awkward standing there with him. She never felt awkward with Kyle—part of the beauty of their relationship was the comfort and ease that had always been so natural. But now, she didn’t know what to do. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him just as much as she wanted to smack him across the face and scream at him for being a jackass.
“I owe you about eighty-two different apologies right now,” he started. “And I’m not entirely sure that there is anything I can do or say to make up for the way I acted last night.”
“Kyle,” she exhaled.
“No, sweetness, please let me finish,” he said, putting his index finger up to her lips softly. “I know I acted like a dick. I know I probably made you feel so, so small and worthless and that wasn’t my intent at all. And I know this is probably the worst place ever to be doing this, other than maybe the family table, but I need you to know that I would never, ever do anything to hurt you.”
Drea just stood there, frozen in place. Her mind was running a million miles a minute trying to figure out exactly what he was saying. Which thing was he sorry for? Last night? This morning? Both? She opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t find words to express her wild emotions.
“I know we need to talk more, like an actual real conversation, and that we don’t have time for it here and now,” he added. “But before we do anything else, I need to know that you forgive me and are willing to hear me out about last night. And maybe pretend this morning didn’t happen.”
He cupped her face in his hands and looked directly into her eyes. She sighed, unsure if it was from relief or from just how good his hands felt on her skin. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head forward, and he did the same, until their foreheads met. They stood there like that for a long moment, just the two of them soaking in the other.
“Oops, looks like we’ve interrupted a moment!” they heard an older male voice say. Drea broke away from Kyle and looked over to the pier where they found Mr. and Mrs. Prage standing.
“No, no, Mr. Prage, you’re not interrupting anything,” she said, turning down her music, and she and Kyle headed over to help them onto the boat.
“Are you sure, dear?” Mrs. Prage asked.
“If you two need to finish making up, we can come back a little later,” Mr. Prage added.
“It’s not that,” Kyle said.
“Don’t bullshit me, boy, if you’ll pardon my language,” Mr. Prage said. “You don’t spend fifty-seven years with a person and not know a makeup scene when it happens.”