Chapter 33
“So, spill.”
Becca’s expression was friendly but avid as she plopped herself down at Grace’s kitchen table several days later. “Who came on Ned’s ferry to see you? Because he left pretty darn quick after.”
“Did he?” Grace tried to sound unbothered, but this little bit of news made her heart leap.
She’d wondered if Brad might have gone to stay with Noah.
She’d hoped he wouldn’t have, that Noah wouldn’t have let him, but she realized she couldn’t be sure and realizing that had been as hard as accepting that Noah and Brad had been friends.
“He did,” Becca confirmed. “And you clearly don’t want to tell me who he is, so…” She waited expectantly for Grace to do just that.
“He’s my ex-husband,” she told Becca as she switched on the kettle.
“Or soon to be. He texted me this morning to let me know he’s signing the divorce papers.
” Which had been such a relief. Three days after Brad’s sudden arrival, Grace still couldn’t decide whether he’d been serious about getting back together.
Had he really missed her? She suspected he had, which made her feel strangely sad.
For better or worse, they’d been married for twelve years.
They’d said vows about better or worse. She hadn’t walked away from it lightly, and yet she had walked away.
She’d needed to, for both her own sake and that of her son.
In the three days since he’d first spoken, Jacob had said a few more words.
They came haltingly, shyly, but at least they came.
She’d asked him about Brad, but it was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it, and Grace didn’t need him to.
She understood that he’d taken Brad’s threat literally, and that he was scared of his own father.
What that meant for any relationship he had with him in future she didn’t know; it wasn’t a door she was willing to close permanently, even if it was closed for now.
As for Noah…
“Your ex-husband?” Becca’s green eyes rounded. “Why did he come all the way up here?”
“To see me.” Grace reached for tea bags. “He said he wanted to get back together, but I’m not convinced that he did. In any case, I didn’t, and he’s gone now.” She released her breath in a shuddery rush. “Which is a good thing.”
Becca eyed her speculatively. “And Noah?” she asked. “What’s going on there?”
Grace shook her head. She knew Becca and her mother had seen her and Noah, along with Jacob, going up and down between the lodge and Grayhaven, but they were both dying to know more.
But what more was there to tell them? Noah hadn’t come to see her or explain anything in three whole days.
Admittedly, she hadn’t gone to see him either and maybe she should have, but in truth she hadn’t known what she would have said.
Seeing him so pally with Brad had shaken her, even if it shouldn’t have.
Noah had told her himself that he hadn’t liked the person he’d been back in New York.
She really did believe he had changed… but had she?
Because the last thing Grace wanted to do was tie herself into knots to please a man the way she had with Brad, and all without realizing it.
So she’d decided not to go up to Grayhaven and trip over herself apologizing and explaining…
what? Wasn’t Noah the one with the explaining to do?
And so far he didn’t seem all that eager to explain.
“Nothing’s going on with Noah,” she told Becca, and her friend raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Oh, really?”
Grace shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going on, then,” she amended. “A few days ago, I might have answered differently. But my ex-husband coming back seems to have thrown a wrench in the works.”
Becca shook her head, looking confused. “Why, if he’s gone now?”
Grace stared at her for a long moment as the kettle began to whistle shrilly. “I don’t know,” she admitted slowly. “It just… has.”
Why hadn’t Noah come to see her? Or why hadn’t she gone to see him?
Suddenly it seemed silly, stupid even, that neither of them had made enough effort.
Were they going to torpedo their fledgling relationship, as well as all their barely-there plans for the island, simply because of the fear that the other person had changed their mind?
Weren’t they both better, stronger, than that?
At least they could be.
“I think it just brought up a lot of things for both of us,” she told Becca.
Her insecurities about losing herself to a relationship, to a man, and Noah’s, that he still was the kind of man he didn’t want to be.
Grace knew it with a certainty she felt right down to her bones.
He was afraid she thought he hadn’t changed, and maybe he was afraid that he thought he hadn’t changed.
Either way, she realized one of them had to make a move.
“Becca,” she said suddenly, “can you watch Jacob for me for a little bit?”
Becca grinned, understanding her perfectly. “Of course I can.”
Noah strode down the path from Grayhaven with determined, resolute steps.
He wasn’t sure whether he was facing his hoped-for future or the firing squad.
He should have come sooner, he thought, but then Grace should have come sooner, too.
Why had they both shied away from explanations?
Were they afraid that explanations wouldn’t be enough?
Maybe they wouldn’t. Understanding something wasn’t the same as accepting or forgiving it. Maybe Brad coming all the way to Lighthouse Cove Island had been an unfortunate wake-up call for both of them.
But then again, maybe it hadn’t. Maybe, at least, it didn’t have to be.
And so here he was, heading down the hill, hoping for a happy ending.
He was just passing Ned’s cottage when he saw Grace walking toward him, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze. From this distance, he couldn’t assess the expression on her face, but he took it as a hopeful sign that she’d been walking toward Grayhaven.
Unless she’d been coming to tell him she was leaving.
Suddenly that seemed all too possible.
“Hey.” Her voice was soft as she stopped a dozen feet in front of him. “I thought I’d see you before this. I guess it was both of our faults.”
Noah came to a stop, even though he wanted to run forward and sweep her into his arms. “My fault,” he said quickly. “I’m sorry. I should have come and explained about Brad.”
“I don’t think you need to explain,” Grace replied. “I kind of figured it out.”
“You… did?” Figured what out, exactly?
“I just mean that you gave me enough clues about your life in New York. I know you didn’t like the person you were back then, so it makes sense you might not now like the friends you had… like Brad.”
“We weren’t really friends,” Noah said quickly. “I mean yes, we hung out. I fully fess up to that. But I don’t think he’d call me his friend, and I wouldn’t call him mine. Even then, I mean, and definitely not now.” He was officially babbling.
“Noah, it’s okay.” She took a few steps toward him, smiling.
“I think we needed these few days apart to get things straight in our own minds. Because seeing Brad again… it made me realize I don’t want to lose myself over a guy ever again.
I was a shadow of myself for so long when I was with him, and I don’t want that to happen with you. ”
Noah blinked at her. This was an angle he hadn’t even considered, and it didn’t sound promising. “I don’t want that either, Grace, I promise.”
“I know you don’t. And you’re nothing like Brad. And I’m nothing like what I was when I was with him. So.” She let out a huff of breath, smiling. “I’ve decided that I have pretty much nothing to worry about there.”
Noah felt a grin tugging at his mouth. Was she saying what he thought—and hoped—she was? “Nothing at all?” he asked, daring to arch an eyebrow.
“Well, there’s always something to worry about,” Grace amended.
“And all sorts of challenges to face, especially if we go ahead with this project with the cottages… and I still want to do that.” A thrum of intensity entered her voice.
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days drawing up a proposal.
I think this could be really something special, Noah. Something important… for both of us.”
“I do, too.” In the midst of all the emotional stuff going on, he’d thought about the cottages, too.
He wanted to turn them into something useful and good, to redeem Grayhaven and the whole island along with himself, and he wanted to do it with Grace.
“I talked to my mother about it, and she thinks it’s a wonderful idea.
She said this place has been like a mausoleum long enough. ”
Grace goggled, her gray eyes widening. “Wait… your mom?”
Noah nodded, still smiling. “She came over on the boat with Brad, so it really was a day for unexpected reunions. But it’s been good… we’re talking, and she’s helped me to realize the past is a complicated place. And maybe it’s not as black and white as me blaming myself for everything.”
Grace’s expression softened, her mouth curving as she stepped closer so he could see the golden glints in her eyes. “Oh, Noah,” she said softly, “I’m so glad.”
“Me, too.”
“Jacob’s speaking again,” she told him. “Not a lot, but a little. There’s a lot to explain about that—about why he didn’t, but right now I’m just glad that he is.”
“Oh, Grace.” Noah was genuinely moved by the thought of Jacob finally having a voice. “That’s wonderful news.”
She nodded, brushing at her eyes. “It really is, isn’t it?”
They stared at each other, smiling rather foolishly, and Noah wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, but even now he felt a little hesitant. She’d talked about his mom, and Jacob, and the cottages, but they hadn’t really talked about them. As a concept. As a reality.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” The words exploded from the front porch of Jethro’s cottage. “I had to go all the way to Florida and back to realize what I had right here. Why can’t you two see what’s as plain as the noses on your faces?”
Noah glanced at the cantankerous old man—someone he’d barely exchanged a few words with—in surprise. “Pardon?” he asked politely.
Grace started laughing. “I think, Noah,” she told him gently, “he’s saying you should kiss me. Or maybe I’m saying that.”
Noah turned back to Grace. “You are?”
She shrugged, smiling.
“Kiss her already!” Bab shouted from her kitchen window. “Before my potatoes boil dry. I’ve been standing at this window waiting for at least ten minutes.”
“This is the most excitement anyone on this island has had in years,” Noah murmured, and stepped toward her. Grace tilted her head toward his.
“It’s the most excitement I’ve had,” she murmured back, her eyes dancing. “Jethro’s right, you know. I don’t have to go to Florida or anywhere else at all to realize what I have right here, with you.”
Her smile was so pure, her eyes so full of trust, that for a moment Noah felt overcome… but not too much that he couldn’t do what he’d been wanting to do all along and take her into his arms and kiss her thoroughly.
Grace arched into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, drawing him closer. Why, Noah wondered hazily, had he ever doubted? Grace was right. Everything he wanted was right here.
“Well, thank God for that,” Bab muttered, slamming her window shut.
Still kissing him, Grace started to laugh. Jethro stomped back into his house and Noah broke the kiss to put his arm around her shoulders.
“I can’t tell if they’re disappointed or relieved,” he told her. “But I know what I am.”
“It better be relieved,” Grace warned him with a smile.
“Happy,” he told her. “So very happy.”
And with his arm still around her shoulders, they headed back to the lodge, to Jacob, and to home.