Every Breaking Wave by Megan Nugen Isbell Page B

been wonderful and I hated myself for thinking he had anything but good intentions. I couldn’t help it though. I’d trusted before and because of that, I found it hard to trust again.
    “I was thinking, I mean, if it’s alright with you, I was thinking I might take Noah down to the boat so he can see it. He was asking about my job and I told him. He seemed pretty fascinated with it,” he said and when I remained quiet, he seemed uneasy and continued speaking. “It’d give you a chance to get some more rest.”
    “I don’t need any more rest, Jeremy,” I said, surprised at how curt my voice sounded.
    I don’t know why I was suddenly being snippy with him.  Perhaps it was my guard going up, warning me to back away. There was no way he was just a nice guy. There had to be something else, some motive as to why he was being so nice to Noah and me.
    I could tell my tone surprised him. He took a step back, one eyebrow cocked as he looked at me.
    “You okay?”
    “Yes,” I said quickly, shaking my head, telling me to get my shit together.
    For the first time in as long as I could remember, I didn’t feel as if a perpetual black cloud was lingering over me. I’d felt peace again and remembered the simple pleasures of laughing and having a good time and all of that was because of this man before me who I’d lucked out and moved in next door to.  And how did I repay him?  By being a snotty bitch.
    “I’m sorry. I’m still just tired.”
    He looked relieved and his eyebrow lowered, the easy grin spreading on his face again.
    “See? You need rest.”
    “But I told Noah we could go to the beach.”
    “Then I’ll take him when you’re done.  I need to shower and run some errands, so how about after his nap?”
    “You don’t have to do this, Jeremy.”
    “I know I don’t have to, but I want to.  I’ll even grab Sophie. Noah will like that. Aubrey called this morning to see how you were and she told me Sophie and Noah really hit it off.”
    “That was sweet of Aubrey to check on me.”
    “Like I told you yesterday, my sister’s okay.” Again, I knew he was being sarcastic. I could tell he adored his sister. “I’ll come get Noah around three. How’s that sound?”
    “Sounds like a plan,” I answered. He nodded and then began heading to his house. “Jeremy,” I called to him just as he was about to step onto his property. He stopped and looked at me. “Thank you again…for everything.”
    He nodded and smiled and I walked into my house before those dimples did me in.
     
    ~~~
     
    Noah wanted to skip the beach altogether when I told him Jeremy was taking him and Sophie to see a real lobster boat. I finally convinced him that Jeremy was too busy to go in the morning and that he’d have to take a really good nap so he’d have the energy to go. I loved that it actually worked on him and after spending an hour at the beach where I had a difficult time keeping my Incredible Hulk arm dry, we headed home for lunch. Noah ate up his cheese sandwich quickly, took a bath to wash the sand and smell of the beach away, and went down for his nap without issue.
    I spent the time trying to take my own shower and get myself ready, which was proving even more difficult than I thought it would be. Tying a plastic bag around my arm to prevent the water from getting in was nearly impossible and I thought a bath was my best option. Normally, a hot bath would sound relaxing, but in the small tub of the old beach house, it was nothing more than a necessity since I couldn’t even stretch my legs out all the way and I concluded only small children could actually rinse all the shampoo out of their hair under the cramped faucet. Somehow I managed though and stepped out of the tub, convinced there was still shampoo in my hair. I wasn’t going to worry about it though. I was clean and that was all that mattered.
    I slid on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and attempted for a nanosecond to do something with my hair. I soon