Chapter 38
Ike
After a day full of damage assessment and phone calls, I’ve driven across Cape Georgeana and back no less than thirty times.
We have work to do, and we need a plan. We’ll make one.
We have an emergency town board meeting bright and early tomorrow to handle that.
I still haven’t dared to venture out to the lighthouse, though.
The tide will be up soon, and I’m all out of boats.
I’m also tired. My all-nighter is catching up to me, and I don’t know where I’m going to sleep tonight.
And I miss Diana. She’s all I want after a day like today.
The sun is going down when I walk back to my truck to go find her.
The evening air is still and unseasonably warm, like it’s making up for what it did to us last night.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, grinning when I see the contact photo on the screen.
I love that picture of Diana spooning her laptop. What a weirdo.
“Hey, beautiful,” I answer, my voice dripping with affection. I should dial it back, but no. That’s not happening. “Where are you?”
"I’m in your house.” She’s a little too happy to tell me this.
“You’re in my house?” I forgot I even had a house.
“Yeah. Your mom gave me a key.” Her tone is impatient. “Come home.”
Come home. Those words in her sweet voice light a fire under my feet. “On my way.”
Less than ten minutes later, I’m pushing through my front door. As fun as it is living on a tidal island, I’ve missed my house with its brick walkway strewn with red maple leaves, king-sized bed, and total absence of lobsters.
Speaking of, we need to get back to the island to feed Tom Shelleck. Diana can’t know how much I dislike having a lobster stare at me while I eat my dinner, but I love her, and she loves Tom, so Tom stays—unless the storm freed him. I’m crossing my fingers for that.
“Di?” I call, hanging my keys on the hook by the door like I’ve done hundreds of times, except this time there's a gorgeous woman waiting for me.
“In here,” she answers from the direction of the dining room.
I like this life—working until I’m tired and coming home at the end of the day to Diana’s face. It’s simple, but perfect.
Then I see her, sitting at my table with a few boxes of Marlow’s take-out and a laptop. There’s soft music in the air that must be coming from her computer.
“Are you hungry? I got us some dinner. Marlow’s was swamped tonight, so it was whatever they had left, which turned out to be a couple of bowls of potato chowder and her special grilled cheese.
I hope that’s okay.” Diana chatters like this when she’s anxious.
She also rubs her hands on her legs, which she is doing now while my eyes roam over her.
She bites her lip. “Say something. You’re making me nervous. ”
“What are you working on?” I nod to her computer.
She pivots the screen. There’s a spreadsheet pulled up with a timeline, cost projections, and a bunch of stuff I won’t take the time to read. “It’s an updated plan for the lighthouse.”
“You work fast.” It isn’t a false compliment.
I don’t know how she did this in one day.
“Do you know what needs to be done? With the lighthouse, I mean.” The storm left such a mess on the island, I’ve avoided the thought of it all day.
It’s too much to process along with the damage to Cape Georgeana.
She nods, calm now that she’s in problem-solving mode.
This is where she shines. “I walked over there this afternoon while the tide was out. Grabbed my laptop and took some notes.” She shrugs.
“We’ll need to rip up the floors and redo the drywall.
Repaint.” She’s smiling like she’s looking forward to the work.
“It’s a lot, but I visited my grandparents today.
I told them that I’m staying in town and that you and I are—you know.
They were so happy, they won’t notice the fresh pile of invoices. ”
I laugh at that. I love the joy she radiates when she has the light of a spreadsheet in her eyes, and she's solving a problem. “I could use you on the town board,” I mention offhandedly, thinking about the mountain of work ahead of me.
“I have to agree,” she says with a half smile.
I take a seat beside her at the table. The weight on my shoulders is lighter when I’m with her. “I needed you today.”
“Yeah?”
I sigh. “There’s a lot to work through with the storm clean-up. We’ll get it done, it’s just—”
She moves my hand away from my shoulder, taking over where I didn’t realize I’d been kneading the aching knot. “Ike.”
I close my eyes, leaning into her touch. “Hmm?”
“I’m going to help you.”
“You have enough to do. I can—”
“Ike.” She means business now.
My eyes pop open.
She smiles, shaking her head like she doesn’t know what to do with me. “Let me help you carry your world, Atlas.” She drags her fingers across my shoulder. “You’ve carried it alone long enough.”
She knows exactly what to do with me. I exhale, taking her in. “I am so in love with you.”
“O-oh?”
I nod. “You’re a smart woman. When a man willingly cohabitates with a lobster and rows a boat through a nor’easter for a woman, he is long gone.”
She seems to be stunned silent. Her blue eyes are wide and bright.
I take her hand, pulling it to my mouth and kissing the back of it. “I’ve been gone for you for about…” I look at the ceiling, pretending to do the math. I know exactly how long I’ve been obsessed with her. “Sixteen years, plus a few months.”
The surprise on her face is priceless. “That’s awfully specific.”
“Because the moment that started it is tattooed on my brain.” I keep her hand, leaning back in my chair while I grin at the memory. “It was the day I saw you in your red bathing suit in Stevie’s backyard.”
“Yeah, okay. Quit smiling like that.” She tosses my hand away with a laugh. “We need to eat before the food gets weird.”
I chuckle and help her find dishes and silverware. A few minutes later, when we’re down to our last bites of grilled cheese, I feel Diana’s eyes on me.
“What?” I ask.
“We’re doing this?”
I look at my bowl of soup and the crumbs from my sandwich. “Having dinner?”
She groans. “Staying married. The long haul. Are we doing this?”
I shrug. “I thought we already talked about it.” At her look of consternation I drop my spoon.
“We did. Remember the night of our reception? I told you I want to make this real? And then today, when I was at Marlow’s and she got you on the phone?
And you said…” I hold my hands up, prompting her to fill in the blanks.
“I told you I want you to be my husband for a long time.” She blushes through the words.
“Yeah.” I push away from the table, pulling her to her feet. She looks up at me, and the tiny lift at the corners of her red lips gives me courage. “I married you. I did the fox trot with you in front of everyone we know. Good luck getting rid of me, Diana Wentworth.”
She arches an eyebrow at the name. “Hmm.”
That’s it. Diana needs to be kissed. Thoroughly. I take her soft face in my hands, shaking my head as I peer down at her. I can’t believe this incredible woman is mine. Her bright blue eyes sparkle up at me.
“I—” A knot in my throat stops me short. I love this woman—my wife—so much I can hardly get the words out. My vision blurs with unshed tears. I blink them away. “I love you, Diana.”
Her delicate smile brightens like a sunrise. “I love you, too,” she murmurs, then her eyes ask me what I’m waiting for.
I’m not waiting any more. I duck down, covering her soft mouth with mine and burying my fingers in her hair.
I trail kisses across her jaw and back to her mouth, taking my time.
We have time for everything: lingering kisses, Christmas morning, baseball games—all of the married people stuff. We have nothing but time.
Since we’re standing here and music is playing, I lift our hands to the side like Patty taught me and lead Diana in a slow fox trot. She melts into my lead, pressing against me with a sigh.
I close my eyes, soaking in the feeling of dancing with my wife in our kitchen. I hope this is the first of many quiet nights and after-dinner slow dances. “Isn’t this a little close for the fox trot?” I murmur close to her ear.
She shivers. “Not close enough.”