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Our eyes snagged when my chin tipped up.
I considered his intentions again, wondering what was going through his mind—after all, he was a much-older man. Was this about sex, or was he just being nice? Acts of kindness were a far-fetched concept to me, especially when it came to the opposite gender. It was hard to imagine this man offering me a ride home with no strings attached.
Then again…maybe I wanted strings.
Something to tether me. To anchor my floundering heart.
I envisioned this mysterious stranger taking me home in his car or truck, warm wind whipping through the open window, his scent mingling with the breeze. I wondered what he smelled like. Mint, pine-steeped mountaintops, cheap cologne. He was too far away for me to pinpoint the soap on his skin or the shampoo in his hair, and I found myself instinctually scooting forward in the water to get a whiff of the compelling unknown.
Temptation teased me. An escape.
But I shook my head at the offer.
If Father caught a strange man in our driveway, he’d come barreling out of the house with his shotgun and scare Reed away for good. He’d probably shoot him. “I can walk.”
He glanced back down at the sand. “Are you in college?”
I honed in on his strong jawline and the way his throat rolled when he swallowed. Then I stiffened as his words registered and peeled a water-soaked leaf off my ankle. “Not yet. I’m still figuring out what to do with my life.”
“I get that. Took me a while to figure it out, too.”
“What do you do?”
“I used to be a paramedic. But then I sort of switched gears and got into jiu-jitsu training and made a career out of it. I specialize in self-defense.”
My eyes popped.
That was…impressive.
I didn’t take Reed with his messy hair, casual clothes, and pretty, probably-green eyes to have such a respectable occupation in both the medical field and martial arts. “Do you teach locally?”
“I do now. I lived in Charleston for a while and opened up my own studio. Then my daughter and her mom moved back to Illinois. So, after another year passed, I handed the business reins over to one of my employees, then followed them here. I opened up a second studio nearby.” Reed pursed his lips, masking a sheepish smile. “Sorry. That was probably more than you wanted to know.”
I gawked at him, transfixed. “No, that’s amazing. I love the idea of helping people in that way.”
“Yeah, it’s my passion.”
“I bet your daughter is really proud.”
“Hard to say.” He drank in a long breath, scuffing the loose stones near his boot. “Somewhere between her scowling, pouting, and scathing sarcasm, I’m hopeful there’s some pride tucked away.” Chewing on his bottom lip, he glanced back up at me. “What about you? Any grand ambitions?”
Disappointment flattened my lips, then it traveled south, settling in my heart. “I wish I had a grand answer, but my ambitions are kind of scattered and hard to catch. I think the thing I love most doesn’t really have a title. Doesn’t fit into any sort of box, you know?”
He didn’t know, judging from his creased browline.
Or…maybe that was interest.
Reed leaned forward and skimmed his fingers across his lips, his attention fully fixed on me. He was waiting for more. There was a curious glimmer in his eyes that kept me talking.
“I enjoy capturing the intangible,” I explained. “Flashes, flickers, the in-betweens. I want to immortalize them forever. I write in my journal, draw, sometimes I paint. But I’m not very good at any of those things. Far from career-worthy.” An insecure laugh slipped out, and I flicked my foot out of the water, splashing us both.
A spray of droplets danced across our legs. Reed smiled.
Warmth infiltrated my chest, my cheeks, my lungs. “Sorry…that doesn’t make any sense.” Cringing, I wished I could erase my rambling. “I guess I just love moments.”
“Moments,” he echoed, nodding slowly. Processing. Allowing my words to sink in. “Blips.”
“Yes…exactly.” My response floated over to him like a whispery daydream as an organic smile crested on my mouth. He understood. No one else had ever understood, because nobody bothered to listen. “Life’s fleeting blips. The ones that seem insignificant at the time, but later on, they mean everything. You know, like when you’re watching a movie, and you pause it to grab a snack? You stop it at this random scene, and the frame freezes on someone making a weird face that makes you laugh, or an extra is caught smiling in the background, or a dog is running through the park trying to catch a butterfly with its tail in motion…”