She’d had her summer, she reminded herself. No one could ever take that away from her. She’d had the love of her life for a season. Not everyone could say the same.

She’d survive. And because, even if they couldn’t be lovers, they would always be family, she and Del would find a way to heal the rift.

She lay in the dark and ached. Ached and ached. And she tried to comfort herself that it would get better with time. Then she turned her face into the pillow and wept a little, because she didn’t believe it.

The sea breeze whispered over her cheek like a kiss. Sweet and soft. She sighed with it, wanting to cling to sleep, to cling to the numbness that came with it.

“You need to wake up.”

She opened her eyes and stared into Del’s. “What?”

“Wake up, get up. Come with me.”

“What?” She pushed at him, struggled to think. The light was the quiet dull silver of predawn. “What are you doing? Where did you go? What are you doing back?”

“Up.”

She tried to snag the sheet when he pulled it off, but missed. “You walked out on your friends.You left when—”

“Oh, just shut up. I listened to you, now you’ll listen to me. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Down to the beach to finish this.”

“I’m not going down to the beach with you.We had our scene, now it’s done.”

“You are a contrary woman, Laurel. You can walk or I can drag you, but we’re going to the damn beach. If you ask me why, I swear, the dragging begins.”

“I need to get dressed.”

He studied her tank and boxers. “You’re covered. Don’t test me, McBane. I haven’t had any sleep, and I’ve had a long drive. I’m not in the mood.”

“You’re not in the mood. Isn’t that something?” She swung her legs off the bed, planted her feet on the floor. “All right, we’ll do this at the beach since that’s so important to you.”

She slapped his hand away when he reached for hers. “I didn’t have the best night either, and I haven’t had coffee. Don’t you test me.”

She stalked out onto the deck, down the stairs.

“You might as well settle down,” he advised. “There’s no point being pissed.”

“I see points.”

“You usually do. Lucky, I’m more even-tempered.”

“My ass.Who threatened to drag who out of bed in the middle of the night?”

“Nearly sunrise. That’s pretty good timing, actually. I like it. New day dawning and all that.” He kicked off his shoes at the base of the beach steps. “We didn’t get much farther than this last night. Geographically. I think we can do better in other areas. Here’s a start.”