“I like getting you worked up, and you don’t have to take me out to a fancy dinner to romance me. I think it’s romantic when we sit on my back porch and play our guitars, or have coffee together in the morning. You came to see my puppet show. That’s romantic, and bringing me flowers?” She wound her arms around his neck. “You’re the king of romance right now, Mr. Riggs, and I’m totally and unabashedly into you.”

“I’m crazy about you, too, Blue Eyes.” He pressed his lips to hers. “But I’m not done romancing you. What do you think about a walk by the ocean?”

“If you include an ice cream cone, I’d be into that.”

They stopped at Emack and Bolio’s on their way to the beach, left their footwear in the Jeep, and walked along the shore. A cool breeze swept off the water, and Tobias reached for her hand. His was so big, it swallowed hers, his rings pressing against the sides of her fingers. It was a good feeling. Comforting and oddly familiar even though this was the first time they’d held hands. “I haven’t held hands with anyone since Spain.”

“Does it bring up bad memories?”

“No. Holding hands with Alejandro was nothing like this. When I look past the heartbreak, I see the cracks in our relationship. It was very one-sided. I was blindly infatuated with him. I felt high but not grounded, if that makes sense.”

“It does. Do you think you’re blindly infatuated with me?”

“That would be impossible,” she said. “I mean, maybe at first, when I saw you across the bar and felt that inescapable thrum of electricity. But I’ve thought about everything. The red flags, ignoring them, the way my heart went crazy every time I saw you, and still does. I thought about how broody you were and what it might mean. I definitely went into this with my eyes open, and then we were dropped into a pool of reality wearing concrete boots. There’s no blind anything on my side. What about you?”

“I coasted through my relationship with Michelle, letting it happen around me. I haven’t done that with you. I made sure of it. I’ve forced myself to make every decision. Even the bad ones were made consciously.”

“I guess that’s good.” They walked in comfortable silence as they finished their ice creams, listening to the waves kissing the shore. “Can I ask you something about prison?”

He nodded, and she felt his walls going up, but she was curious about a few things.

“Was it as bad as it is in movies?”

“I guess that depends on the movie. It sucked. It was scary, demeaning, boring, and lonely as hell.”

“Did people try to…?” She didn’t know how to ask the question.