Bayside Promises by Stacy Claflin

Author:Stacy Claflin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stacy Claflin
Published: 2017-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

“It was nothing.” Haley forced a smile and went back to her ensalada. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything to Sullivan about him being so popular in school. What if it made her sound like a groupie? Or if he realized what a geek she’d been? Even if he had thought she was pretty back then, it wasn’t because he’d have ever dated her.

Why had she said anything at all? Everything had been going so well, and then she had to go and say something stupid about how every girl drooled over him.

Stop.

These thoughts were from the old Haley. The one who believed the lies told to her by Dad and some of the other jerks she’d dated.

Sullivan wasn’t like that. He was kind and caring—all the sweet things he’d just said about her proved that much.

She went back to her food and thought about the nice things he’d just told her. Her cheeks warmed again. She glanced over at him. He was moving his food back and forth on his plate.

All she’d done was give him reason to have doubts. Clearly, he could do much better, and that was probably what was going on in his head.

Or maybe she was completely overreacting. It was a bad habit of hers that she’d had since childhood. Her counselor had helped her see that when she thought the worst about the situation, her instincts were actually reacting to the way her dad had always blown up over nothing. Haley was still learning what was normal and what wasn’t.

She took a deep breath and tried to look at Sullivan in a new light. He pushed the food around his plate, his brows furrowed and he stopped paying attention to her. He’d brought her flowers and gotten them this table with the gorgeous view. His entire face had lit up when he’d seen her. Even if she had said something stupid, he wasn’t going to blow up at her or run screaming—or anything else equally ridiculous.

“He’s not my dad,” she whispered, barely audible. Sometimes just saying it out loud helped her break free from the thoughts trapping her in the past.

Her hand shook as she reached across the table and placed it on his arm. “Are you okay?”

Sullivan glanced up at her. Surprise registered on his face. “I’m sorry. I got lost in my thoughts.”

Haley swallowed. “Did I do something wrong?”

His eyes widened. “What? No. Logan asked me to take care of something last minute right before I met you, and I started thinking about that.” He took her hand. “But I only want to think about the beauty in front of me.”

Relief washed through Haley. She’d been right—it’d had nothing to do with her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’d rather talk about you. Like how nice your eyes look in this light.”

The corners of her mouth curved up. “But if something’s bothering you, maybe I can help.”

“Okay, but remember you asked for it," he said with a smile. “Some of us are heading into the woods for a guys’ camping trip.

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