Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
My body slightly stiffens as we separate, but I don’t think dad notices.
Without discussing it, we walk down the beach, dad in the shallow water and me on the beach, the warm sand slipping between my toes.
“I’ll never stop loving your mother,” he says. “But I have to make a conscious decision now, Brooke, to let that love fade. It wouldn’t be fair to Sonya to ever mention this again.”
“Mention what?” I murmur.
He looks at me, eyes glistening as though he may cry.
It reminds me of how he often looked in the aftermath of mom’s death, as though a tiny nudge could cause him to crumple.
“How I felt when I first saw your mother. The instant feeling of belonging. The feeling that we had to be together,” he sighs. “It’s hard to explain. Maybe it’s what people mean when they say love at first sight. But it was more than that. It was like this….”
“Like you were magnets. Like you didn’t understand it, but you knew you had to be together. And you knew it would all work out, deep down, even if you doubted it sometimes.”
Dad pauses, tilting his head at me. “Yeah, Brooke. That’s it exactly.”
I think of Banner, of the cosmic unfairness that he’s dad’s best friend.
Maybe that’s a crazy way to put it. It’s nobody’s fault I’m in this position except mine…and Banner shares some of the blame too.
“But it was different with Sonya?” I ask, moving the conversation along.
Dad lets the moment pass, nodding as we continue walking.
“Sonya lost her husband. I lost my wife. Our love was different, yes, but no less special. We helped each other heal. We were honest with each other, real, and it’s working. It’s working well. I’m a lucky man.”
“I get it, Dad,” I say. “You never have to explain it to me. I saw how devastated you were by mom…I saw how much it hurt you. I’ll never judge you for finding happiness.”
He smiles softly. “Thank you, Brooke. You’ve got no idea how much that means to me.”
We keep walking, making a small circuit, turning back without discussing it.
Side by side, the sun shining across the ocean, a few people sunbathing or splashing in the water…it’s paradise as if anything can happen.
Even the impossible can happen in a place like this.
It’s like it was tailor made for happy endings.
But that’s the thing. The sun was shining when I found out mom was dead. The day was glorious. I was happy, listening to music and trying to sketch pictures of dogs from one of my books.
And it all came crashing down anyway.
“Have you decided what you’re doing tonight?” Dad asks.
“I might just grab a bite and get some rest,” I reply.
Dad nods, then pauses, smiling.
I follow his gaze and find Banner walking across the beach, his shoulders wide, moving like a man with a purpose. He’s clenching something in his hand.
His phone?
He doesn’t notice us, just walks toward the trees.
“He’s a good man,” Dad says quietly, then turns to me. “Don’t tell anybody, but this….” He waves a hand at the island in general. “It was his doing. A way to pay me back for supporting him as a kid, he says. As if I ever needed paying back.”
I blink, tears threatening to fill my eyes, my heart expanding with a warm glow.
“He is a good man,” I agree, wondering where he’s going.
CHAPTER 18
Banner
I wonder if it’s symbolic, me deciding to do it here.
I’m standing in the exact spot where Brooke and I first kissed, my phone balanced on a rock, another rock in my hand.
It’ll take one fluid, powerful movement to bring it down in a devastating arc, crushing the phone, obliterating my woman’s number.
I could delete it, but I’d just ask her for it again.
The only way to stop myself is to go without a phone for the rest of the weekend.
I grit my teeth, squeezing the rock tightly, feeling like I might crush it in my hand. Or my hand will break. There’s so much tension, but I can’t control it as I think about all the things I could’ve done better.
Waiting until after the wedding to act on these desires, or never acting on them at all.
That would’ve been the right thing.
Back in my room, I typed out several messages telling Brooke how much I want her, care for her, and need her. Telling her the truth, holding nothing back.
But then I deleted it all.
I tell myself to do it, a commanding voice in my head.
Do it, do it, do it.
The rock drops from my hand, landing on the ground.
I just….
I can’t.
Tucking the phone into my pocket, I turn and climb up the rocks, steadily breathing as I pull myself to the very top, giving me a view of the island.
It looks tiny from up here.