Chapter 16
Can I come up to Maine and see you? Zack had texted her when she got home from the barbeque.
And she spent two hours trying to figure out how to answer.
I miss you was his second text.
She couldn’t believe it. Zack missed her?
Did she write back that she missed him, too? She thought back through the past weeks. She had been devastated when she’d first arrived in Blueberry Bay, even physically broken, but like her broken arm, she hardly thought about Zack anymore.
Can I come up to Maine and see you?he texted again before she even replied.
She didn’t answer. Her first instinct was to call Oliver. Ask him what he thought. But she thought back to the end of the night, how he had hugged her a little longer than usual and given her a look that seemed like something a little more than the way you look at a friend.
Instead, she called Cora.
“What do I do?” she asked her sister.
“Do you miss him?” Cora asked.
“Yes, and no,” Muriel said. “But yes. I miss us.”
“But do you?” Cora asked. “I mean, you did break up with him, and now you’re calling me for advice.”
That seemed perfectly legitimate. “You’re my sister. I always ask for your advice.”
“Not when you were with him,” Cora said. “You had him take the lead on everything.”
Then the real confession came out. “I’ve been hanging out with Oliver.”
“Oh?” Cora said.
Muriel had never asked if things had gone further with Jules, and since Cora never brought him up again, she assumed things hadn’t gone anywhere.
“He’s very handsome, for sure,” Cora said.
“Did anything happen between you and the brother?” Muriel didn’t want step on her sister’s toes for any reason. “He’s very reminiscent of JFK.”
“If being a womanizer is being reminiscent,” Cora said sharply. “Ask the women of Boston about Jules.”
“Oh?” Muriel responded, hoping Cora would spill more tea, but she didn’t. “So, do you think I should text Zack back?”
Cora sighed into the phone. “Sounds like you have someone else on your mind.”
“Who? Oliver?” Muriel laughed. “Oliver just thinks of us as friends.” He would frequently remind her in conversation what a good “friend” she had become to him. “But that’s normal of me to question things, right?”
“Of course it is, but…” Cora hesitated. “Do you have feelings for Oliver?”
“No, I mean…no, not at all.” Muriel thought about the hug last night. He’d smelled so good, and she’d felt so good in his arms. “No, not at all.”
“Well, then I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hear what Zach has to say,” Cora said.
Muriel hesitated a bit, but finally agreed, “I guess not. Thanks, Cora. I’ll keep you posted.”
After she hung up with her sister, Muriel held the phone in her hand for a while before finally responding to Zach with…
Why do you want to come?
Dots flashed across the bottom of the screen. Then a long message popped up. She closed her phone at first. There was a part of her that still didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Then she opened it.
There’s too much to write in a text. I want to come see you. Talk to you face-to-face. I want to tell you how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I want you in my life forever.
This was what she had wished for. This is what she had wanted the five years she was with Zack. Now it was finally happening.
But it didn’t feel right having this conversation over text.
I’m here, in Blueberry Bay.
I’ll be there in the morning.
She didn’t really know what to think at that point. Was Zack really proposing? He said he wanted her in his life “forever,” but at this point, she wasn’t holding her breath until she heard the actual words.
And there was Oliver. She could call Oliver and tell him the truth. That she had felt something for him after that boat ride. That she looked forward to spending time with him and doing things with him. She wished she could spend every day exploring Blueberry Bay with him. And she worried she’d never really felt that way with Zack.
But did she want to chase after another man who didn’t know what they wanted? A man who already said he didn’t want to get married?
That night she tried to sleep, but she could only toss and turn. Most of the night, she spent looking out her window at the black sea, wondering what she should do. Did she do the safe thing and take Zack back? Or be vulnerable and tell Oliver her feelings?
She never ended up calling Oliver and the next morning, Zack arrived.
When she opened the door to see him, she noticed his bloodshot eyes and puffy lids. He looked like he had been crying.
“I miss you,” he said right away.
“You miss me?” she asked, holding her body against the door. “I saw you in all those pictures with all our friends and another woman.”
“What happened to your arm?” Zack pointed to her cast.
“I went surfing,” she said, she cradled her arm even though she hadn’t even felt pain for weeks.
“You went surfing?” This seemed to surprise Zack, but he shook his head and said, “I just wanted to get over you, but I can’t. I made a mistake. I should’ve asked you to marry me when I had the opportunity.”
“What?” Muriel wasn’t sure if this was really happening.
But there was Zack, getting down on one knee.
“Muriel Jacqueline Smith, will you marry me?” he asked.
She froze.
She looked down at Zack, hanging on his knee, waiting for her to respond.
This moment was her dream finally coming true! Her happily ever after!
“Yes,” she said, slowly, then she shook herself into reality. Zack wanted to marry her! “Yes! I say yes!”