Chapter 14
Muriel left the lighthouse on a new mission and with a new friend.
Her mission was to keep finding those moments. The moments when she felt at peace. The moments when she felt like the whole world was aligned with her. The moments when she felt part of God’s creation. She wasn’t the sun or the moon or the one rotating around a planet. She was just a part of the beauty around her.
And just like that, Oliver had become her newest and fastest friend.
After the hike, they hung out the rest of the day, talking, and ended up at the tavern for a bite to eat and some drinks.
He told her stories of coming to Blueberry Bay every summer as a kid. She told him about growing up in Andover and going to UNH. Past women he dated.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “I’ve always been able to maintain good friendships with my exes…until Natasha. She’s still pretty upset with me.”
Muriel wondered if she could have stayed friends with Zack. Probably not.
They shared their feelings about being a teacher and she was pleasantly surprised how much he enjoyed it.
“My dad hates that I teach,” he said. “He said he was never more disappointed in a son.”
Muriel set her hand gently on Oliver’s. “You have to do what’s best for you. Do what makes you happy. And if medicine doesn’t fuel your passion like teaching, then it’s not right for you.”
Oliver tilted his head to block the sun from his eyes. “How long do you plan on staying in Blueberry Bay?”
“I have to go back in a few weeks and I’m dreading it.” Muriel hoped she’d spend more time hiking around the island with the lighthouse.
“You should look for a job here,” he suggested. “I bet there will be openings.”
Muriel wasn’t sure what kind of jobs would be around this part of Maine, or the kind of salary they would offer. “I have a pretty good job in Concord.”
“Yeah, but why live there when you can teach here?” He gestured his hand at the water.
Muriel looked out at the ocean, then back at him. “Speaking of which…What were you doing in Concord that night we ran into each other?” His eyebrows burrowed and she shook out her hands. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s fine,” he said, leaning forward. “I was visiting my ex-wife.” He looked around the deck filled with locals. “She told me she’d gotten engaged.”
“Oh.” Muriel didn’t know what to say. “Was that upsetting?”
“It sort of threw me off,” he said, looking out at the water now. “Then Natasha started thinking we should get engaged, and well…I don’t want to get married again, so…”
Muriel’s wondered how much he knew about the night with Zack. Did he know she was one of those women waiting for an engagement?
“Ouch, that must’ve been awkward,” she said to him.
He shook his head. “No, just painful.”
“I wish I didn’t want to,” she said, thinking about her daydream wedding. “Get married, that is. Everything would be so much easier. I wouldn’t be so devastated that I wasted five years on a guy who couldn’t commit. But I want it all. Even the wedding.”
She had wanted a casual wedding, with everything rustic chic, French-style, and somewhat still formal. She’d have her mother and father walk her down the aisle, Cora would be her maid of honor, and their first dance would be to “At Last” by Etta James. She had been planning it since she was a little girl. “I’ve always dreamt of having my happily ever after.”
“Ugh,” Oliver said. “Don’t tell me you want to be swept up off your feet.”
“Of course I do! By a knight in shining armor,” she said, wishing it weren’t so.
“What does a knight in shining armor mean to you?” Oliver held up his hand at the waitress. “Two more, please!”
Muriel sipped the last of her beer, then looked back at the water. “Someone who anticipates exactly what I need before I even know it.”
“So you want to date a soothsayer,” Oliver said.
His quip made her laugh hard. She hadn’t laughed like that in a really long time.
“Tell me you want to roller-skate with me,” he said.
“How much of my list did you see?” she asked. She was sure roller-skating was at the bottom.
“I couldn’t help but notice the title, Bucket List, on top of the paper.” Oliver scrunched up his nose and it made her laugh again. “Believe it or not, I’m doing kind of the same thing.”
“You made a bucket list?” Muriel doubted him.
“Not exactly a bucket list, but a to-do list of sorts. Long-term goals and stuff.”
She didn’t know why it seemed so strange that a man would be in touch with his hopes and dreams, but Zack hadn’t done that sort of thing. In fact, Zack would have scoffed at the idea of a sort-of wishing list, because he thought wishes were silly.
“Since you seem to know all of my bucket list,”—Muriel crossed her leg, ready to hear a story—“what’s on yours?”
“Become a doctor,” he said.
She wrinkled her eyebrows, confused. “I thought you quit.”
He tapped his thumb against the table surface. “It’s complicated.”
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“Well…” He paused. “I lost someone, and I haven’t been able to get over it.”
“I am so sorry.” Muriel couldn’t imagine what that must have been like. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Why not? I led you there.” He sighed. “I took this year off to figure things out, but I’m still stuck in this endless cycle of want and doubt. I’m not sure if I really want to be a doctor, or whether that’s just what I’ve always told myself I should do?”
“I understand that,” she said as the waitress came up to their table.
“When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?” he asked.
“Always,” she said, thinking of the little classroom she set up in her basement with her stuffed animals. “You said you love it. Why not stay a teacher?”
He frowned. “Being a teacher isn’t exactly what Abbott males become.” He picked at the label of his empty beer. “We’re supposed to become CEOs and boss people around.”
She gave him a half-smile. “You’re half-way there. You get to boss middle schoolers around.”
He chuckled. “Well, somedays I can’t even get them to listen.”
“Here you two go,” the waitress said to them with a wink and Muriel immediately shifted away from Oliver. She didn’t want the town getting the wrong idea. “Enjoy.”
Oliver held up his glass. “To bucket lists.”
She lifted her glass to his. “To bucket lists.”
“I think people get too wrapped up in timelines and accomplishing checklists before doing anything,” she said.
Oliver took a drink and set his beer onto the table. “All I know is this year hasn’t gotten me any closer to knowing what I want to do with my life.”
Muriel thought about Gordon, her grandfather, who had been a doctor. “You should talk with my grandfather, who was a pediatrician. He loved it. He was even a doctor here in Blueberry Bay.”
Muriel nodded. “He made house calls. It’s how he met my grandmother, before they moved away.”
Oliver thought about it for a moment. “They still do house calls around here?”
“I don’t think he would’ve retired had it not been for my grandmother pushing him,” she said, thinking back to her grandfather’s retirement. Then she thought about her grandmother. She’d found out she had cancer after that. Everything had changed once her grandmother died. Her parents had gotten divorced. Her father had gotten a new family. Everyone had left Andover, even her mother and grandfather. “Besides, you were wonderful with me during my mini emergency. I can’t imagine you’d be bad at it.”
He looked at Muriel. “Are you always this positive?”
She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m not this way with myself. I’m more doom and gloom for myself.”
He laughed at that. “Yeah.”
“Maybe we should create new lists, realistic lists,” she said.
Oliver wrinkled his forehead. “You mean you don’t want to roller-skate anymore?”
“I definitely want to roller-skate.” Muriel laughed easily again, and at that moment, she realized for the second time that day she was enjoying herself. She felt in sync with everything around her, including Oliver. She lifted up her glass again. “To roller-skating.”
“To roller-skating,” he said, clinking his glass against hers.