The end of her time with Luke was something Kendle had found herself thinking about more and more. It wasn't right for her to stay with him. It didn't look good to the townspeople, but the thought of not being close to him made her heart hurt. Soon, she would have no choice, unless she flaunted convention and did what she wanted.

Her health had dramatically improved, red skin finally starting to brown, and she was better emotionally too, unless a smell or sound hit her the wrong way, flashed her back to the ocean and its relentless grip. When that happened, it was Luke's comfort she sought, instinctively knowing he understood what she was going through. Some nights she still crawled into his bed and huddled against his warm back, shivering, sweating. He never mentioned it in the morning, just gently moved her off his big chest so he could get up. He was easy going, didn't expect much, and the only time she'd even seen him even close to upset was today. With Ethan Kraft.

"You don't really like the people here much, do you?"

Luke dropped the small grouper into their catch holder. "No. We don't care about the same things."

Kendle understood. The people here were rich, ostracized from civilization for one reason or another, while Luke was...what? A hermit? Definitely. A criminal? Maybe. Either way, he'd been nothing but great to her and she would respect his privacy and not ask what his crime had been. It would eventually come out and she would face it head on, but for now, he was a comfort that she wasn't ready to give up. She knew there were choices coming, hard ones that would take strength she wasn't sure she had, but for now, it was just the two of them in paradise.

Luke's thoughts were again in line with hers, eager to put it off, but he was dreading her finding out the truth. It was a sin he could never atone for.

Cawwww!

They both looked up to see a scattered flock of dingy cranes heading for open ocean and doubted the birds would see land again, their movements implying sickness. Neither of them mentioned it. It wasn't an uncommon sight anymore and only served to remind them both of the homeland they'd left behind.

"How did he know who I was?"

"Same way I did, I guess - T.V. reception out here was good for a while. Easy for him this time."

His tone implied the playboy hadn't had such an easy time finding out who he was and Kendle smiled, thinking his light cologne was so much better then Ethan's heavy Polo. "Took him a while to find out who you were, huh?"




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