Chapter 25

[Cordelia]

Jude pauses at the door, his face a bit uncertain as he touches his lips where I had just kissed him for the first time.

“I know this is sudden but I was wondering if maybe you’d be open to going out later today?” he asks with a small smile. “Maybe we could head to the beach, get a bit more sunshine, and you could come to my lab after,” his eyes are bright with hope, “ What do you think?”

I usually avoid the beach. I am terrified of the water. But he looks so earnest and hopeful that I agree.

“Great!” he claps his hands. “That’s settled. We’ll do a little swimming and then…”

“Swimming?” my nervous voice hitches, raising an octave.

The problem is, I never learned how to swim. I’ve always been a bit afraid of the water. Silly, I know, living near the coast. But I rarely made it out to the beach.

I tell Jude all of this and he laughs. “Oh don’t worry about that,” he brushes aside my fear. “I am an excellent swimmer. I used to spend my summers in the Catalina Islands.