“I don’t want to put you in that position,” she started, but he waved her off.

“It’s not as if there’s a whole pack of paparazzi trying to bust down the gate. I can handle one guy.”

Thirteen

Because they couldn’t go running—not with Ray Kouretas in town—Seth suggested they go swimming.

“I’m not a good swimmer,” Tia said.

“You don’t have to be good,” he responded. “It’s just for exercise. Plus, we have a heated pool. Might as well make use of it.”

He thought she was about to refuse, so he pushed a little harder. “You have to fight,” he said softly. “What you’re going through won’t go away, and it won’t fix itself, but you can fight through it. Actually, you have no other choice. You either beat it, or it will beat you.”

She stared down at her feet for several seconds before lifting her head. “You mean I have to adjust to my new reality.”

He felt terrible for her. But the more he was around her, the less the scars from the accident bothered him—and they hadn’t bothered him much to begin with. Although he could see why they’d be a big deal to her, surely they didn’t have to ruin the rest of her life. “The future doesn’t have to be as bad as you think, even if it doesn’t include acting.”

“You have no idea how hard it is to even hear that,” she said.

“I do,” he assured her. “But you’re healthy and strong and smart and talented...” He could’ve added that she was beautiful, too. He’d said it before. But now it felt different. Something had shifted at the breakfast table when she’d taken his hand, and he couldn’t figure out how to make it go back.

“Thanks for the encouragement,” she said. “But I’m worried about Ray Kouretas, and I just...don’t have the energy to work out today.”

“Don’t let Kouretas bother you. Come swim with me.” He bent his head to peer into her face. “What else do you have to do?”

Making an expression that conceded the point, she said, “Okay.”

Once again, she could’ve mentioned that he wasn’t very good at following his own advice. The past three years, he’d focused far too much on what he’d lost, even though, unlike her, he still had his job and was able to support himself doing what he loved.