Chapter 30
Lucy
Earlier in the day she’d been excited to finally meet Gatsby’s Ghost. But now as she walked the few short blocks to the Waterway Café, she couldn’t stop thinking about Logan.
He’d pulled off a miracle by stopping the sale of the waterfront. Then he’d said he wanted to stay on Heron Isle. Did that have anything to do with her and the moment they’d shared before he left for Boston? And he was going to restore Hill House and open a library! It was better than any fairy tale she’d ever read, but she couldn’t help thinking that in a fairy tale she would have gotten the guy too.
Maybe she still could. When she watched Taylor get engaged to Jack on the beach Friday night, it made her believe that maybe someday she’d find a great love too. Then she’d gotten Gatsby’s Ghost’s letter the next day and thought maybe it would be now. Maybe their letters in the Little Free Library weren’t just a plot for her book that she’d fictionalized into a romcom. Maybe it would be a real story they’d tell their kids one day.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about Logan, about what he’d asked her after the meeting. Had he been asking her on a date? It was hard to tell with the question all wrapped up in the what-ifs. But he said he’d found everything he needed on Heron Isle. Did that include her?
She was too curious about Gatsby’s Ghost not to go to the café. Gatsby’s Ghost understood her on a level she couldn’t explain. He knew exactly what she needed to hear when she needed to hear it. She had to know who he was.
And yet, all she really wanted to do was run back and tell Logan yes. But there’d be tomorrow. She didn’t have to figure out everything tonight.
She arrived at the restaurant, and Mildred greeted her as if she had been expecting her.
“Right this way, my dear. He asked me to seat you on the back deck. I made sure you have plenty of privacy.” The older woman winked at her.
“Wait, you know who I’m meeting?” Lucy walked faster to catch up with Mildred. “Who is it? Do you know him? Do I know him?”
Mildred shook her head. “All I did was save the table.”
True to her word, no one else was seated on the deck. This time of year, it was too humid and buggy for people to want to eat outside, but now that it was later in the evening the breeze off the water had eliminated both.
Mildred pointed to a table with a bucket of champagne and two glasses so recently filled they were still frosty. She gave her a quick smile and went back inside before Lucy could ask more.
Lucy positioned herself at the table so she could see the door into the restaurant. She wanted to see who was coming so she could prepare herself. With the restaurant situated to her left, the deck was surrounded on its other three sides by the docks that stretched out over the waterfront. This late on a weeknight, the only sounds were the lapping of the water against the boat hulls and in the distance the faint sound of waves crashing on the nearby beach. It might have lulled her to sleep if she wasn’t so anxious.
After a minute of tucking and untucking her hair behind her ear, Lucy pulled out a compact from her purse and reapplied her lip gloss. She still had a few minutes before their meeting time. Surely, he was going to show up this time after he’d gone to all the trouble to set this up with Mildred.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when a familiar voice came from behind her.
“Is this seat taken?”
He stepped around her and into the glow of the light from inside the restaurant. Logan.
She looked around to see if anyone else was approaching from the other side of the deck, which was accessible from the docks.
“Did you follow me? My friend is supposed to be here any minute.”
“Lucy.” He paused and took in a deep breath, then he held out a hand. “I need to tell you something.”
Had he come to ask her not to meet Gatsby’s Ghost? To confess his feelings and explain what he was trying to tell her before on the steps? Looking around again and seeing no one else coming from the docks or from inside, she placed her hand in his and let him pull her up to stand in front of him.
An electric current shot up her arm and filled her entire body. When he didn’t let go, she didn’t either. Staring into his green eyes, she willed him to say the words, to say he had feelings for her.
Then she noticed his other hand behind his back. As he moved it, she realized he was holding something. He brought it into the light, and she saw it was the last book she’d left Gatsby’s Ghost, the one on the history of the area.
Why did he bring a book? And that particular book?
“I left that book?—”
He placed a finger gently over her lips. “In the Little Free Library for Gatsby’s Ghost. I know.”
She pulled her hand from his and took a step back.
“I don’t understand. Why do you have it?” She looked around again, but no one else was approaching. The restaurant was nearly empty now except for the lone bartender and one lady seated at the bar.
Logan opened the book and took out something. He dropped a pile of index cards and notebook paper on the table. As her eyes darted over it all, she recognized her handwriting. It was all the notes she’d left for Gatsby’s Ghost.
She whipped her head back toward him and searched his face.
He looked serious now, afraid.
Did this mean Logan was Gatsby’s Ghost? She replayed every book, every letter, the night on the bench when Gatsby’s Ghost stood her up and Logan appeared. Had it really been him all along?
She could barely get the words out. “Y-You’re Gatsby’s Ghost?”
He pressed his lips together, looking more unsure of himself than she’d ever seen him, and slowly nodded.
There were so many questions running through her head, she wasn’t sure which one to ask first.
“And you knew it was me? That I was Island Girl all along?” She remembered how he’d found her that day on the bench and immediately shifted from confusion to anger. “That day on the benches—you let me think I’d been stood up rather than tell me the truth?”
He reached out now, touching her arm gently.
“No. I swear to you I didn’t know then. I didn’t get your letter until later. Someone took it by mistake and returned it with an apology note. I swear I would never do that to you.”
She was calculating days in her head as she took a small step back.
“But that still means you’ve known for nearly two weeks.” Dinner with his sister flashed through Lucy’s mind. “And you let me tell you and your sister all about my book idea.” She rubbed at her temple, her mind racing to grasp the timeline. “I feel so foolish.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy. If I could go back, I would have told you as soon as I found the letter. But I thought I was leaving as soon as the job here was complete. After you told me about your fiancé, I didn’t want to be one more person who left you.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “But then I realized I couldn’t leave you.” His green eyes pleaded with her. “Lucy, I never want to leave you again. Or this place.” He gestured around, indicating the island.
She looked back down at the letters. She thought of all the advice he’d given her all summer long, both as Logan and as Gatsby’s Ghost. She thought about how much her life had changed in the course of a couple of months.
She’d gotten the call this morning that she had been preliminarily approved for the loan on the building. This week, Leona was auctioning off her book to the highest bidder. They’d won the battle for the waterfront, and even the library was coming back. And she wasn’t sure any of it would have happened without Logan—the real version of him, the pen-pal version, the guy who fought to preserve the middens and historic houses.
Everywhere she looked, she saw Logan.
He’d taken a step closer, and as the wind shifted, she caught a whiff of his familiar cologne. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until his hand cradled her head, his thumb sweeping across her cheekbone to wipe away a tear.
“Don’t cry, Island Girl. I never want to make you cry.”
A tiny voice in her head told her she should feel betrayed. That she should be angry. He’d known she was Island Girl for weeks and hadn’t said. But Annie had always told her that actions spoke louder than words.
Carter had said all sorts of wonderful words, but what had he done in the end? He’d chosen a job over her.
But Logan? He’d saved the waterfront, Hill House, and the library. All for her. And it had been him—as Gatsby’s Ghost—who taught her to believe in herself again and to take chances.
She let herself smile through her tears.
“They’re happy tears.” She nodded. “I’m so happy it’s you.”
Logan smiled before placing his other hand on the opposite side of her head and tilting her face up toward his. He leaned closer and gently kissed a tear falling down her cheek, his warm lips igniting something deep within her.
When his lips finally met hers, she could have sworn she heard fireworks over the water. His lips were soft at first, his hand stroking her hair, but then the kiss deepened, and he pulled her body firmly against his.
Like magnets locking together, she couldn’t imagine being able to pull away as she savored every second of his mouth on hers and the tender way he held her.
Later, as they held up their glasses to toast the waterfront, her book deal, the new library, and a brand-new beginning, Lucy realized she had everything she’d ever wanted and that for the first time in her life she wasn’t afraid of losing any of it.