Chapter 47
An interview with Paul and Hope…
I’ve always loved the Martinez family and the way Alex and Paul took such beautiful care of Marion for so long before Hope came to help. My heart broke writing the part of your story where Hope realizes she’s going to be out of a job when Marion moves to the mainland.
Hope: It took everything I had not to bawl my head off during the meeting with that doctor. Ethan and I loved Gansett Island from the first minute we landed here, and the thought of leaving the island—and Paul, Alex, Jenny and all our other friends—was devastating.
Paul: For me, too. I felt like I’d finally found my future only to have it almost yanked away.
Alex played a pivotal role in helping you understand that you had to go for it or risk losing Hope.
Paul: Yes, he did, and he never lets me forget that. Any time I hassle him about anything, which is often, he reminds me that he got me a wife and I need to shut my face.
Hope: They’re as ridiculous as ever.
Haha, I wouldn’t expect anything different from them. How are Ethan, Scarlett and Charlotte?
Hope: We just celebrated Ethan’s twenty-first birthday, if you can believe it.
Paul: With his first-ever beer—haha. As if.
Hope: That had better have been his first one.
Paul: I’m sure it was, honey.
Hope: Is he humoring me?
Um, I’d like to take the fifth on that. What’s Ethan up to these days?
Hope: He didn’t want to go to college, but we really wanted him to try it at least, even if it was brutal to move him off the island. The girls and I cried for days when he left!
Paul: I did, too, but in the truck.
Hope: I never knew that! Turns out he loves it. He’s at the University of Rhode Island and runs home the second the school year ends to work with Paul and Alex. He can’t wait to join the family business full-time.
Paul: And we can’t wait to have him. He’s double-majoring in business and landscape architecture, both of which will be amazing skills to have on our team.
Wow, that’s amazing. Good for him. How about your girls?
Hope: Scarlett is ten and loves her dance classes at Miss Tiffany’s studio, and she’s a voracious reader. We’re at the library every other day, or so it seems. Charlotte is seven and is into every sport there is. Paul had to take up running when she decided she wanted to try it.
Paul: It’s been good for my waistline but humbling that I can barely keep up with her.
Hope: She’s so good at everything she tries. We’re not sure where she gets that.
Paul: Alex would say she gets it from him. He says all the good stuff in all the kids comes from him.
He’s too funny!
Paul: (sarcastically) He’s absolutely hilarious.
Are you working at all, Hope?
Hope: Now that Charlotte is in school, I’m full-time at the senior care facility. I’m Mallory’s assistant director of nursing. I absolutely love it there. Second-best job I ever had.
Paul: I know what had better be first…
Hope: Haha, you know it.
We were so sad when Marion passed. I’m sure she and your dad are always with you as you run their business and live in the house they called home.
Paul: They are so much a part of our daily lives. Alex and I are always sharing memories of them. Hope and I talk about what they’d think of the changes we’ve made to the house. We hope they’re proud of us.
There’s no question that they are. No question at all.