Free Song of the Surf (Pacific Shores Book 3) by Lynnette Bonner

ear.
    Another shudder coursed through her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart.”
    She said the words like she was pulling herself together, but she remained tucked in close to him, one hand fisted up near her mouth, her cast curled behind him.
    His Z3 still idled in the middle of the road. He glanced down the street behind them and he was glad they were in a quiet residential neighborhood. No traffic being delayed because of them, so far.
    “Your crying isn’t about this incident, is it?”
    It took a moment, but eventually she shook her head against his chest.
    “Want to tell me about it?”
    She sniffed. Remained quiet. And just when he was about to give up and suggest they get back in the car, she spoke. “I was in a wreck in high school. A friend died. It was my fault.”
    His eyes dropped closed and he held her a little tighter.
    “We were on a m-motorbike. He only had one helmet, but I’d talked him into one last ride before I was supposed to leave for Africa the next day.” The story tumbled from her, nightmarish detail after detail. Days in the hospital. How the man in the truck had walked away. How she’d learned about the death of her friend. Felt responsible.
    He scooped one hand back through silky blonde strands and cupped her head gently as he rested one cheek against her hair. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to absorb all the pain she was feeling and take it on himself. “I’m sorry you went through something like that, so young.”
    Other than loosing a feathery sigh, she made no reply.
    “The guy in the truck – was he drunk?”
    “Not legally.”
    “Did he get convicted?”
    She shook her head beneath his cheek. “His blood alcohol level was under legal. Jason was driving a few miles over the speed limit, and the guy in the truck was turning into the entrance to the park right as we came around the corner. They ruled it an accident.”
    “Who was the guy in the truck?”
    She shook her head again. “I don’t know. I was only awake for a short time at the scene before I fell unconscious and didn’t revive till I was in the hospital. And no one ever mentioned to me who he was. We left for Africa two weeks later, right after Jason’s funeral. I didn’t ask. I’ve come really close to looking it up a few times. Or asking Jason’s grandmother. But then I think… He must feel almost as terrible about the whole thing as I do, you know? Do I want to find out who he is? And then what? Would I go talk to him? Tell him I’m sorry that the accident was my fault? Or would I just not say anything to him but every time I saw him I’d remember… And what good would that do? I don’t know. I’ve just decided up till now that it’s better I don’t know who it was.”
    “Jason’s grandmother is in town?”
    She dipped her chin. “Mrs. Murton.”
    “The lady from the hospital?”
    “Yes. His parents moved away after… I’m not sure how long, but by the time I’d graduated and returned a year later, they had moved. But Mrs. Murton stayed. She’s Jason’s father’s mother.”
    “Have you ever talked to her?”
    Dakota shuddered. “Not about the accident. Someday I’ll have to tell her it was my fault. But…I haven’t gotten up the courage to do that yet.”
    Justus eased back from her and took her face in his hands. “Dakota, you were a kid. You made a mistake. But you can’t live the rest of your life blaming yourself for Jason’s death.”
    Big tears filled her eyes. “But it was my fault. He didn’t want to go. Said he only had one helmet. That his father would be really angry if he found out he or his passenger had ridden without one. Then he insisted that I wear the helmet. So it is my fault.”
    He shook his head, willing her to believe him. “Did you force him to drive over the speed limit?”
    She tucked one lip between her teeth. “No. But he was a daredevil. He always did that and I knew it.”
    The word “daredevil” hit him like a punch to the