Chapter 20
Jo untied her apron the moment the lunch rush cleared, hung it on the hook by her office, and took one last walk through the diner to make sure everything was where it needed to be for tomorrow.
The merchandise samples were lined up on the back counter. She had her new mugs and samples of tote bags, tumblers, spices, recipe cards, and gift boxes to continue promoting the preorders.
In the kitchen, Dulcie had several trays of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies cooling. The coffee itself sat in cases stacked against the wall. The Queen’s Blend, the Sumatran Empress, and Imperial Kona Reserve. Beside those were the first unlabeled bags of the Imperial Cloud Forest.
“Go home,” Candy said, catching her staring at the assortment. “Everything’s ready. You checked it twice already.”
“I know, but I keep thinking I might have forgotten something.”
Dulcie looked at her with great affection. “Go clear your head. You look like you’re about to fall over.”
Jo had been running on nervous excitement for a week, and tomorrow was the biggest day Cuppa Jo’s had ever had.
Local press had confirmed, and two food bloggers from San Diego were coming.
Junie had designed tasting cards for all four blends, printed on heavy cream stock with the new logo embossed in gold, and Maileah had lined up enough influencers that Jo had stopped trying to keep their names straight.
“I’m going to take a short walk on the beach,” Jo said. “I need to clear my head before I lose my mind entirely.”
“Don’t come back until you feel human.” Candy shooed her toward the door with a dish towel. “And turn off your phone. We’ve got this covered for you.”
“That’s a good idea. What could happen in half an hour?”
She left her bike at the diner and walked down to the beach, taking off her shoes at the top of the path. Now barefoot, she trudged through the soft dunes until she reached the flat part of the beach.
Most people had left the beach, except for a few who were out for late afternoon walks after work.
The tide was out, and the smooth, revealed sand had a glassy, reflective look in the sun. Gulls picked through the wet, exposed sand. As she walked, Jo dodged kelp washed ashore.
She continued past the lifeguard tower and the volleyball nets, letting the cool water caress her feet. A pelican glided low over the waves, so close to the water its wingtip nearly clipped a swell. She watched it until it banked away toward the rocks.
Jo slowed down to watch the ocean waves, filling her lungs with fresh sea air. She loved this time of day on the beach. The sun was warm on her back, and the ocean breeze buffeted her curls.
About fifteen minutes out, she stopped, turned, and headed back with the sun in her eyes.
In the distance, a man stood near the lifeguard tower, hands in his pockets, watching her walk toward him. For a moment, she thought her mind had conjured him, as it had at Maileah and Sailor’s party, scanning the crowd for a man who wasn’t there.
But this time was different. That man had the same build.
She slowed her pace. Was she that tired and sun-dazed that her mind was seeing what it wanted?
The man began walking toward her, and the closer he got, the more the shape of him awakened her heart.
Holding a hand to the sun, she made out his face now. Her chest ached and her knees were weak, surely from walking, so she waited while Blue closed the distance between them.
When he reached her, he took her hand, and before she could decide whether she should allow that, she stepped into his solid embrace, her cheek pressing against his.
It was so natural, she almost hated herself for giving in so easily. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“I took a red-eye flight from Chicago.” Blue pulled back enough to look deep into her eyes. “I turned down the job.”
She blinked up at him, not comprehending what that meant for her.
He brushed back her tousled curls. “I’m not taking Ty’s offer in Chicago. Crown Island is my home.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure of a lot more than that now.”
She waited. This time, it was his turn.
His arms still held her, and his eyes were clear and calm. “I’m choosing you, if you still want me and all my issues.”
Jo’s chest tightened. She’d waited so long to hear those words that her own eluded her.
“I have a lot to apologize for,” Blue said, his words tumbling out now. “I thought about what I wanted to say the entire flight home, so let me say it. I let my pride cost us something we can’t get back, and that’s on me, not you.”
“How do you figure that?” she asked, her curiosity and natural defenses rising. She still wasn’t sure she could trust what he had to say, but she needed to hear all he had to say first.
Blue folded her hand into his and kissed it. “I wanted the Yosemite trip to be everything for us. The view and a moment we would never forget. I wanted to be the one who did the asking, so I’d have a good story to tell our kids someday where I looked like the hero.”
Jo’s heart softened at his words. With a small nod, she urged him on.
He shook his head, as if the memory embarrassed him. “That’s a stupid reason to lose the one you love. When you came over for dinner, you asked me the hard question, and I froze because it wasn’t happening the way I’d pictured it in my head. My pride nearly cost us everything.”
She studied his face, looking for the old evasiveness, the twitch of the eye he used to get when a conversation veered too close to the truth. It wasn’t there.
“I need to know about the photo,” Jo said. “The one your sister posted of you and Athena.”
“Sadie staged that.” He didn’t flinch from it. “My sister choreographed that, asked me to put my arm around Athena and snapped pictures. I didn’t stop her fast enough, because everyone in that house wanted it to be true.”
“And is it? True?”
“No.” He said it firmly. “Athena is in love with someone else. A teacher named David, a widower with two little kids. She’s been terrified to tell my family for months because she thought it would feel like losing Charles all over again for them.
” His jaw tightened, then eased. “I told my family that Charles would’ve wanted her to be happy.
I won’t live in his shadow. I loved him, and I’ll always miss him. But his life isn’t mine to finish.”
“I’m sorry I let myself believe it,” she said. “Even for a night.”
Blue stroked her face as he spoke. “I’m not the man who left on that ferry. I know what I want, and I don’t want to waste any more time.”
“You sound very sure of yourself.”
“I am.” A small smile broke through, the first one she’d seen from him in a long time that didn’t look like an apology. “I don’t want to be engaged without a date. I want to set one soon.”
She opened her mouth, yet he kept going, like he’d rehearsed this part on the plane and didn’t want to lose his nerve.
“We could have a small ceremony like Maileah and Sailor. Here on the beach with a few people, if that’s what you want. Or a big wedding at church with everything you’ve dreamed of. I know it’s time for us to commit and live together, whether at my home or yours or another one we buy together.”
This was the Blue that Jo remembered, but now he had clarity that hadn’t been there before. She liked that.
“Ask me again,” she said with a small smile. “Properly this time.”
Understanding dawned on his face, and he did exactly what she wanted.
Blue sank down onto one knee on the wet sand, oblivious to anything and anyone around them.
“Josephine Dufour.” He took her hand in both of his. “I love you. I should have told you all this before, and I’m sorry it took me this long to get here. Will you marry me?”
She looked down at him and saw the outline of a ring box in his pocket. This time, he was serious.
Her heart was beating so hard she was sure he could hear it.
“I love you, too,” she said. “I never stopped, even though I wanted to.”
Blue’s face lit up, and he rose, but she put a hand on his shoulder to keep him down a second longer.
“You have a ring?”
“I do,” he replied, patting his pockets.
“Not yet,” she said, taking his hand. “I have to think about this and be sure this time.”
He didn’t argue, which surprised her more than the proposal had. He only nodded and got to his feet, brushing sand from his knee, watching her with an expression that held some disappointment, but most of all, hope.
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “I can wait.”
“I’m not saying no, Blue.”
“I’ll wait,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere this time. I’ll be right here, for as long as you need.”
They stood together at the edge of the water while the sun slid lower and the tide crept back in around their feet. A gull landed a few feet away, considered them both, and wandered off toward easier pickings.
This beach was the same as it always was, but now everything looked brighter to Jo.
Finally, she said, “I have the launch party at the diner tomorrow. This means a lot to me, Blue. I’ve hardly had time to think about anything else.”
“Your new line is amazing,” he said. “I followed your campaign every day.”
Jo wondered how his presence might affect her concentration during the debut event. His support of her work was important, as was her support for his work. He needed to see this new level she was stepping up to and understand what it meant to her.
“I want you there,” she said, lifting her chin. “Will you come?”
He chuckled and squeezed her hand. “Just try and keep me away.”