Chapter 25
With a loud blast of its horn, the two-thirty ferry to Gansett Island pulled out of Point Judith.
Stephanie had expected it to be more crowded on the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend, but she was relieved not to have to share her picnic table with anyone who might wonder why her eyes were red and swollen.
She pressed a cold paper-towel compress to her eyes, needing to get herself together before she was forced to confront Grant’s family when she got back to the marina.
They were covering the docks in shifts, so it could be anyone from Mac to Evan to Big Mac waiting to greet her. Even Ned and Owen had taken turns so Grant could go with her to the mainland. They were good to each other that way, a family—and friends—anyone without such things would envy.
The thought of never seeing any of them again once she returned to Providence only drew more tears from eyes that should’ve been fresh out of them by now.
Determined to stop crying and get her head together, she withdrew her phone, earbuds and a notebook from her bag and began making a list of fourteen years of motions and copies of legal documents she needed to send to Dan Torrington as he prepared to file an emergency motion for a new trial.
“Is this seat taken?”
Absorbed in her music and her work, she shook her head. As a regular on the ferry, she was used to people invading her personal space even when it was obvious that she wasn’t interested in company.
“What’re you doing?”
Astounded by the rude question, she finally dragged her attention off the notebook and found Grant sitting across from her.
Stephanie’s mouth fell open as she tugged the buds from her ears. “What’re you doing here?”
“Funny thing happened when you dumped me at the curb and drove off leaving a cloud of dust behind you. And P.S., you drive like a maniac.”
Frowning at his description of their parting and her driving, she said, “What funny thing happened?”
He leaned into the table, took the pen from her hand and linked their fingers. “I discovered I don’t want to be without you. Not even for the three days I’d planned to be in LA.”
Stephanie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But . . . But what about the job? You need the job! You can’t just blow off the meeting.”
“Before I get into that, Uncle Frank called.”
A shaft of tension traveled through her. “And?”
“Judge Seymour will hear new evidence in Charlie’s case on October 31. He wants to hear your side of the story—the same story you told me and Uncle Frank.”
She was so shocked by news she’d waited half a lifetime to hear, she felt like she’d been electrocuted. “How did that happen?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Uncle Frank told Judge Seymour that he’d recently had the opportunity to speak with you and hear your story. Because he has a family connection to you, Uncle Frank can’t hear the case himself.”
“What ‘family’ connection does your uncle have to me?”
“We’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, he asked his colleague, Seymour, to look into it.
Apparently, there’ve been several of Dugan’s old cases that fall into the same questionable category as Charlie’s.
They’re anxious to right any of the old wrongs that might’ve occurred when Dugan’s illness was in the early stages. ”
Stephanie needed a minute to process it all. “I can’t . . . I mean . . .” She took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his gaze. “Thank you. I’ll never be able to properly thank you for this.”
“You don’t have to. All I did was make a couple of calls.”
“You did a lot more than that, and you know it. But you didn’t have to chase after me to tell me this. You could’ve called. You need to be at that meeting in LA! It’s such a great opportunity.”
“Yes, it is.” A smile stretched across his face.
“But here’s the thing—I don’t want to write that movie.
I want to write your movie, the story that gave me the first buzz I’ve had in years.
In the next few days, you’ll get a call from my agent with an offer for the rights to your story.
He’ll make the same offer to Charlie. It’ll be for a lot of money—the kind of money that’ll set you both up for life.
I’ve discovered I have a taste for producing my own stories rather than waiting for someone to take a chance on me.
I’m taking a chance on you and your story, and I’m feeling the buzz big-time, baby. ”
He looked so high on life that if she didn’t know him so well, she’d think he’d been smoking something illegal. And even though her heart beat a wild staccato, she eyed him warily. “And you have that kind of money?”
Raising an eyebrow into a positively rakish expression, he said, “Do you have any idea what houses in Malibu are going for these days?”
Stephanie shook her head. “I know what you’re doing.”
Amusement danced in his gorgeous eyes, which nearly caused her to lose her train of thought. “And what’s that?”
“You’re trying to make sure I’ll be okay without you.”
His smile faded. “Wow, I really buried the lead here, didn’t I?”
“What the heck does that mean?”
He reached for her other hand and held both of them tightly.
“I love you. I’m in love with you. I want to marry you and live with you and write our movie and maybe have a couple of kids together—with lots of drugs in a hospital.
I want everything with you, Stephanie.” He brought her hands to his lips.
“The only question, my love, is do you want everything with me?”
She stared at him for the longest time as his words worked their way through the fog in her brain to settle in her heart. “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” she said, flabbergasted by the turn of events.
His brows knitted with confusion. “What wasn’t supposed to happen?”
Damn if her eyes weren’t full of tears—again! “You, me, the happy ending. That only happens to other people. Not to me.”
Grant released her hands, got up and came around to her side of the table. When he had her arranged on his lap the way he wanted her, he kissed the tears off her face. “You know what the best part about being a writer is?”
She shook her head.
“You get to finesse the ending any way you want, and I say this story ends with a happily ever after. Are you with me on that?”
“Yes,” she said, hugging him fiercely. “Yes, I’m with you.”
“Good.” He held her just as tightly. “And was there something else you wanted to tell me?”
Smiling through her tears, she met his gaze. “I love you, too, and yes, of course I want everything with you. And then some.”
“I couldn’t have written it any better myself.”
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