Page 26 of Waves
Instead, Thom’s number jumped out at me, and I got so startled I almost dropped my phone on my face. I quickly swiped right and deleted his message, but his text had been short enough for me to see the entire contents in the preview:
Who the fuck is he?
The first thing I noticed when I awoke was a pair of arms clinging to me. Ezra cuddled with his arms securely wrapped around me like an octopus was enough to make me smile. I never particularly minded how he kept to himself, but I did quite enjoy being squeezed like this by him. Once I stretched my limbs as best as I could in his grip, he shifted against me.
“Did I wake you?” I asked.
“No,” Ezra mumbled.
I angled my face down when he squeezed me tighter. Something troubled him. “Are you okay?”
Ezra kept silent for a few seconds while his fingers curled into my hair. “I don’t want to think about you leaving again.”
“I don’t want to think about it either, but I’ve never stayed past two days.”
Ezra continued idly playing with my hair. “What happens if you don’t go back?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something horrid. Maybe nothing at all.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Ezra sounded positively sullen.
“I know.” Leaning my head forward, I sighed into his skin and kissed his neck. “But maybe nothing will happen if I stay three days instead.”
“No,” Ezra gently protested.
“I’m sure I will be fine.”
“No.”
His stubbornness got me to smile. “I’m not trying to appease you. I don’t want to leave you, either.”
Ezra deeply exhaled once again. “Then what took you so long?”
I twisted my head to look him in the eye. “I don’t understand.”
“If you didn’t want to leave, why not come back sooner?”
While I understood the phrasing, the answer to his question remained outside my grasp. Surely, a few days had passed since the last time I came here, but I hadn’t been away for too long. Had I?
“How long has it been?”
Ezra flicked his eyes down. “Three weeks.”
I groaned at his answer. This was precisely what I feared and why I hesitated getting closer. I never wanted Ezra wasting all his time waiting for me to come back whenever I went away. And I didn’t want to return one day only to discover I arrived a day too late. Sure, we appeared close in age right now, but how long would that last? I couldn’t even say for sure how long I’d been around, only that I exceeded the lifespan of a seal. More than likely, I outlived the average man also and didn’t have a single wrinkle to show for it. What if I continued to live for centuries? And how would I handle going back to being alone again? So much had slipped my grasp over the years, and maybe, one day I’d even forget how to come ashore and living any way other than as a seal would be a ridiculous notion.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m really sorry about that, Ezra.”
Ezra’s frown didn’t seem unforgiving, but his voice became accusatory. “How could you not know?”
“My priorities as a seal are filling my belly and finding the perfect spot to nap. Time passes differently and my mind focuses elsewhere.” And if, as I suspected, I already spent close to a century alone, suspending the illusion that was time had been more a blessing than a curse.
“Then why did you come back at all?”
“Because you found me. And when I saw you, I wanted something else.”
Ezra leaned closer and rested his head against mine. A smile slowly blossomed across his face, and I knew what he wished to tell me. He felt the same way I do.
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