Chase tracks me down and now there arezombie freaking butterfliesswarming inside me.
“Yes you do.” He takes another step closer. “You just don’t know you do, yet.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I snap, but my anger sounds thin, even to my own ears. “Nor does the fact that you’rehere.”
His grin gets bigger.
“Gemma,” my mother scolds. “That’s not how I raised you to treat your guests.”
“I didn’t invite him. He’s notmyguest.”
She laughs and looks at Chase. “Don’t mind her. She hates surprises. You should’ve seen her at her tenth birthday party. I invited some of my friends from Ringling Brothers over — really nice people I met after one of their shows in Boston, though the acrobats were a bit snooty, if I’m being honest — and when Gemma walked in and saw the clowns, she just about wet her pan—”
“Mother!” I interject.
She continues, as though I haven’t spoken. “Let’s just say, my little Hurricane Gemma can cause quite the stir when she’s caught off guard. Another time, at her high school graduation, I showed up with a bullhorn and a big—”
“MOTHER!”
“Anyway, Gemma hates surprises.” Mom smiles placidly into her tea. “And clowns,” she adds with a wink in Chase’s direction.
He chuckles softly. “I’ll keep that under advisement.”
“Gemma, why don’t you take Chase for a walk around the colony? Show him the galleries, the harbor. The boats aren’t in the water, yet, but it’s still pretty, and the sun’s shining.”
“I…” The words dry on my tongue as I look from my mother to the man I’m 99% sure is stalking me, realizing I’ve been thoroughly outnumbered and outmaneuvered. A resigned sigh slips from my lips before I’ve even consciously accepted defeat.
Chase chuckles again, sensing victory.
“Oh, and put on something nice, Gem. You’re a mess.”
“Mother!”
“Gemma!” she echoes.
I glance down at myself, feeling my eyes widen as I take in the sight of paint-splattered jeans and a wrinkled tank top. A blush steals across my cheeks when I see I’m not even wearing a bra. There’s paint beneath my fingernails, turpentine on my hands. My hair is piled in a messy bun on top of my head, and I can’t remember whether I bothered to brush it this morning.
I sigh again, and turn for the door.
“I’ll go get changed.”
Chase’s laughter follows me into the next room.
***
On a cloudy, crisp spring evening, the rocky beach just steps from my house is unsurprisingly abandoned. We walk by the water’s edge, only the sounds of small waves crashing in rhythmic kisses against the shore and the occasional sea gull crying out overhead breaking the silence between us.
Smooth rocks in a million different shapes and sizes crack together beneath our feet as we walk along the empty stretch of shoreline, not touching or saying much of anything. As if a silent dare has been thrown down, and whoever shatters the wall of space between us loses.
Well, I’m not about to be the loser.
Nope. No way. Not happening.
Another few moments pass in silence, and I can’t take it anymore.
“You’re breaking all my rules, you know.”
The words fly from my mouth before I can stop them.