Chapter 37
already been living together at Wyatt’s new apartment downtown.
“Should we take everything out of the boxes?” Bill asked, rounding the corner of the main bedroom. “Is that more or less helpful?”
From where he crouched near the window, installing new blinds, Wyatt chuckled. He stood, lifting the screwdriver in the air.
“I feel like Danika would rather come home to piles of boxes than piles of clutter. You know she’s going to find the perfect
place for everything.” He walked to Bill, gently grasping his elbow. “I know you want to help, but let’s remember, Danika
is the one with the eye.”
Bill acquiesced. He set the box down outside the closet.
In reconfiguring their lives, Bill and Wyatt had decided to buy Danika the model home. While the Crawleys would have to sell
their Aldon Lakes house and cabin, between that cash, the success of Briar Ridge, and the fact that Bill had moved in with
Wyatt, they could afford the model home. They were back on their feet.
As chaotic as the summer had been—that fated luau—Bill realized it was the crack in the dam of lies they’d needed.
Now, he and Wyatt could finally be together.
It had been so refreshing, and life changing, to discover Wyatt was hiding the same secret as he was.
That night after the bar crawl, he’d told Bill he was going to leave Robin and start living his truth.
Bill hadn’t been able to lie. Pointedly, he’d told Wyatt he saw himself in him.
The next day at Briar Ridge, they’d kissed.
Of everyone, Robin was having the hardest time. As Wyatt explained, she’d always valued appearances and keeping their family
together—two traits Bill understood—and the divorce was difficult for her. Wyatt assured Bill she would be okay, eventually.
Plus, her cousin Julia from New York was also leaving her husband. They were going to Thailand together come fall.
Most importantly, with all the new information surrounding Lyle’s death, the Greenes finally had closure. Even if Joshua Mike
could not be prosecuted (it was past the statute of limitations), they still felt vindicated to have answers. To know what
really happened. It all made more sense now, too, comparing Teuta’s testimony with the initial engineering report, which supported
the theory that someone else might have been driving the boat that night.
For now, Joshua Mike was gone; he’d left for one of his houses in Cabo. He had quit the Club and was selling The Manor and
the marina. Without a word, he’d sold Bill back his shares of Briar Ridge for pennies.
“I think there are only a few boxes left,” Bill said, entering the kitchen. He and Wyatt were moving Danika’s things over
slowly, staging the old house to be sold.
“We’re making good time.” Wyatt adjusted the orchid they had bought as a housewarming gift. Danika would move in the following
week—the end of the month.
After all, August had passed in a blur: Danika had spent weeks at the cabin with the boys, Bill had taken a solo trip to Hilton Head to come out to his family (which had gone just about as well as expected), they’d all seen Chat off to Europe, and then there they were, up to their eyes in preparations to buy and sell and shuffle homes.
Still, despite it all, Bill felt at peace. And as he leaned against the counter and looked up to the ceiling, the fan spinning
above, he also felt grateful. He’d never expected this summer and the affair to lead to such new lives, but here they were,
everyone on a new, better path.
“You want to grab those last boxes, then get out of here?” Wyatt asked.
Bill lowered his gaze from the fan to Wyatt. He nodded.
And for the first time, they walked out the front door hand in hand.