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He wanted the beach and the ocean to help ease them back to where they’d been before Tressa’s interruption the night before

He’d been back and forth on his chances They hadn’t looked that great in the ht By the ti with Levi’s goldfish, he’d been feeling a bit more optimistic

He took her hand as they set out froers intertwined with his It was a turn-on And an odd kind of reassurance, too

“So, let’s talk about what happened last night,” he said as they turned a corner and could see the beach a block ahead of them

“Okay”

He waited for her counselor stuff to co he hadn’t heard before—like each tiet help and then had been asked to join in for a session so the counselor could explain his wife to him

Again

Lacey wasn’t talking So he told her a little bit about Tressa’s upbringing About the abuse and the way she’d gotten herself out, paid her way through college and not looked back “She’s been to counseling,” he assured her He knew the ropes “She’s one of those who chose to rise above instead of fall in”

Those had been the words of one of Tressa’s counselors He’d never forgotten thee on them

“She just getsscaredso alone And she and her best friend had had a fight”

“Amelia?” Lacey asked And he reiven her credit for She’d investigated her, interviewed her, toured her home and

“Yeah, Amelia”

They were at the corner, waiting to cross the street to the beach There was no light, just a four-way stop on a tay street, and they had to wait for the traffic to clear

“Anyway, she apologized And she’s agreed not to come to my house”

“She’s not allowed at your house?”