Rogue Wave, Isabel Jolie [ink ebook reader .TXT] 📗

the wall of the shed, chugging a bottle of water. Gabe smiled in recognition. Tate remained crouched on the ground, testing the tire.

“I brought a few things for Jasmine, to welcome her.” I scooped them up and brought them over.

“She’s out walking on the beach,” Gabe offered, not moving from his spot. “How’ve you been doing, Luna?”

“Good. What about you?” I asked him while I locked eyes with Tate. Chills washed over me.

“No complaints. Have you heard from Poppy?”

“A few days ago. She’s enjoying Vegas.”

“Is she thinking about staying?”

“In Vegas? No, I don’t think so.”

Gabe muttered something and turned to head inside. Poppy claimed he had no interest in her, but that wasn’t what it seemed like to me. He paused at the door. “Good to see you, Luna.”

Alone, an awkwardness settled between Tate and me. His windblown hair fell around his face, and he pushed the unruly, curly strands behind his ear. My heart pounded with the force of crashing waves, but I contained the turmoil. I refused to present as anything other than calm, refused to be anything other than mature.

I held out the gifts for Jasmine. “You can give your daughter these. If she’d like to stop by the center, I can take her through some of our educational presentations. Even if she doesn’t understand the words, she’ll comprehend what I’m showing her.”

“Thanks.” He reached for the sweatshirt and covered the shells with his palm. “Luna…” His eyes pleaded with me. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay,” I interrupted, not wanting to hear what he didn’t mean.

“Is it?” He swiped the beads of sweat off his brow, his back to the distant afternoon sun.

“No.” My gaze locked on those aqua blue eyes, and my ribcage contracted. I forced myself to breathe. I forced a calm normal. “But it will be.”

I left Tate behind and continued on my way to meet the new scientist who joined the team. Whereas I had accepted a one-year term, William Walker had accepted a permanent position. I had considered applying for his position, but for me, this place served as a steppingstone.

When I entered our group room, William and another woman sat at a picnic table in the middle of the research lab, eating orange Italian ice.

“I see you’ve already found one of the best things the island has to offer.”

William smiled. “I’m gonna gain weight. This stuff is delish.”

“Pina colada is my favorite.”

The woman sitting at the table, a petite redhead with freckles all across her face, spoke up. “I’ll try that next time. This mango is a bit too sweet.”

“Hi. I’m Luna.” I extended my hand, curious who my fellow scientist had brought with him for our initial meeting.

“Oh, hi. I’m Tegan, William’s wife.” I glanced between the two of them. The dark-skinned William who I had thought from his resume wasn’t that much older than I was, and the young, almost albino looking girl, who I had to believe was younger. Tegan twirled her spoon in the cup, her gaze down at the floor.

“You both look so young.”

William flashed a wide set of sparkling white teeth. “We got married while Tegan was still in undergrad. We’re used to people being surprised, right?” he asked her, grinning. “It’s not like our life ended after marriage.”

A flush covered her pale skin, and she bowed her head.

Dr. Wilton entered the room and greeted me with a hug.

“Luna, welcome back.”

Tegan excused herself, and Dr. Wilton, William, and I discussed plans for spring. Our meeting ran long, as Dr. Wilton had a lengthy list of items for us to work on preparing for the upcoming board meeting. William glanced at his watch with increasing frequency the longer our boss talked.

“William, do you need to be somewhere?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m supposed to meet Tegan back at the ferry. I didn’t know our meeting would run this long. I promised Tegan we’d do some shopping for the new apartment.”

“William, always feel free to interrupt me. If you need to get out of here, go. We’re relaxed around here. Right, Luna?”

“You couldn’t ask for a better place to work. Or for a better boss.” A look of surprise flashed across Dr. Wilton’s face. “You know you’re great to work for, right?” I explained myself to William. “He gives you a substantial amount of independence but involves you in the research. You’ll learn a ton under him, and you’ll get to spearhead your own projects.”

Dr. Wilton said nothing, but his soft smile told me he appreciated my outspoken compliment.

“I’ll update you in the morning on anything you miss,” I told William as he gathered up his files and notebook.

When he departed, Dr. Wilton dove back into the presentation. From my perspective, anything to get my mind off Tate served as a welcome distraction, so I didn’t care how late we worked.

“Luna, I think we should include a couple of slides on the contacts you made in Florida.”

“Oh, I can do that. I can also include a summary of some similar research coming out of the University of Miami.”

He chewed on the end of his pen thoughtfully. “Would you be up for grabbing dinner and working through this? We can bring our laptops and finish this up. I’d like to get the first draft done tonight, so Barbara has a couple of days to review and make changes.”

“No problem at all.”

Chapter 27

Tate

The screen door slammed behind me, and I closed my eyes, attempting to unsee Luna driving away. I hurt her, and the fucked-up thing was I hurt, too. Our little carefree whatever-happens-will-happen relationship had morphed into more. In another country, I could package it up in a box and ignore it. Here, I couldn’t box anything up. She picked out the paint colors in my house. Every fixture, the vents, she even found the flooring I walked on. I couldn’t shut the door on her because memories lived and breathed on every surface.

If the adoption had come later…we’d probably be living together by now, in