When You Least Expect It

Part 3

Jensen was fucking cold.

He didn't start feeling the chill set into his bones until they made their way back up the beach towards where he left his car. They chatted casually on the walk back, mostly about the festival, and Austin itself, but when they reached her front door he found it hard to say goodbye. Unless he was mistaken, he got the vibe that maybe she didn't want too, either.

They stood outside her door for another three or four minutes and she finally noticed his body trembling.

"Hey, why don't you come inside? After all, it is my fault that you're shivering. I think I have some clothes here that may fit you alright since you're completely soaked through."

"It's fine. I'll make it back to the hotel alright," he said through chattering teeth.

"Nonsense, come on. Besides, we're going to be spending a lot of time together over the next year. Might as well start getting used to you being around all the time." She winked and unlocked the front door.

Stepping into her bungalow, he felt instantly comfortable in her space. The furniture was older, but it was still in decent shape and very cozy. The couch was draped in oversized fleece blankets with a few plush throw pillows. There were nautical decorations, pictures of fishing boats all over the walls, and even the curtains covering the small kitchen window bore anchors and sailboats. A small hallway divided the room, separating the living room from the eat-in kitchen that led to the bedrooms and single bathroom.

"Cute place," he said after looking around. "Not exactly what I would have imagined your taste to be."

She laughed. "Not my taste, at all. This was my dad's house, long before it was mine. I just never wanted to change it after he passed."

"Oh," Jensen replied, "I'm sorry."

"Thanks. It was a long time ago, but, thanks..." she trailed off for a moment but came back around. "Let me get you those clothes so do you don't develop pneumonia on my watch."

Y/N disappeared down the hallway, and Jensen took the time to really look at the pictures that lined the walls. He saw a small girl, and boy slightly older standing with a man in his forties on the dock. Beside them was a fifty-plus foot fishing boat.

"That's him," she said upon her return and pointed to the man in the photo. "That's my dad, Monty, and that was his boat, Song of the Sea."

"Cool name. That's you, then?" he asked, pointing to the girl beside Monty.

"Yep, that's me, and that's my brother Dave."

"Is he a fisherman, too?"

"Nope. He's a dickhead. I don't know what he does for a living now. We haven't talked in years."

"Oh..."

"Clothes," she said and handed them out to him. "If you're hungry I have some leftover pizza in the fridge I can warm up. It's from Saw Mill."

"I am down for some pizza," he smiled, feeling quite content with the direction the evening took, despite his dip in the ocean. "Is there a place I could change?"

"Yeah, down the hall, last door on the left."

Jensen found the bathroom and stripped out of his clothes. The room was blessedly warm, allowing his skin to unfreeze the moment the wet clothes had been removed. He borrowed one of the towels that had been hanging on the back of the door and used it to dry his hair. Once he had on the fresh set of clothes, he paused and looked at his reflection in the mirror. It was the first chance he had to be alone with his own thoughts since arriving at the Bamboo, and as his own green eyes stared back he didn't know where to begin processing it all.