10. Nolan
Chapter Ten
NOLAN
The marina settles into a rhythm over the next few weeks.
Contractors replace dock boards section by section.
Tourists stop asking if Sweetspire will ever reopen and start asking when.
Somewhere between permit meetings, hardware deliveries, and Sunday breakfasts with the Wrights, kissing Hadley stops feeling inevitable and starts feeling impossible to avoid.
I should not still be able to taste her. I miss the turn into the marina and don’t realize it until a truck behind me taps the horn.
“Get it together,” I mutter, taking the next side street.
It doesn’t help. Every time my mind goes quiet, it finds Hadley again.
Apparently, kissing the woman you’re falling for is terrible for concentration.
Who knew.
My phone buzzes before I reach the marina.
Bailey
You know I could see you, right?
I laugh out loud in the middle of the sidewalk.
Me
I assumed that was why you kept pretending to reorganize the same display.
Bailey
I was protecting inventory.
Me
Sure.
Her response comes almost instantly.
Bailey
She likes you.
My steps slow.
Me
I know.
Bailey
No. She LIKES you. There’s a difference.
I stare at the screen.
Me
I know that too.
Three dots appear.
Disappear.
Reappear.
Bailey
Okay. Then don’t make me regret liking you.
Something in my chest tightens.
Me
Not planning on it.
Bailey
Good answer.
I lock the phone and continue toward the marina.
The marina hums steadily beneath the warm afternoon sun when I arrive back from the bookstore.
Boats drift across Back Bay while workers move between slips carrying lumber and electrical supplies.
The old restaurant building already has half its windows replaced, sunlight reflecting brightly off the fresh glass.
I catch myself wondering where she’d put the summer concert stage. Whether she’d insist on flower boxes outside the restaurant. If she’d keep leaving sticky notes in the office after construction ended.
Earlier today she’d stopped outside the old restaurant without saying anything for a long moment.
“What?” I’d finally asked.
She smiled toward the empty deck.
“When I was eight, Bailey convinced all of us we should perform Treasure Island out here.”
I looked at the weathered boards.
“Seriously?”
“Crew refused to die when the pirates got him.”
A laugh slipped out of her.
“Rowan kept trying to direct everyone.”
“Lila gave up halfway through and started reading her book instead.”
“And Holt stole the plastic sword before the second act.”
I smiled.
“Sounds about right.”
Her eyes stayed on the empty deck.
“Mom laughed so hard she cried.”
The smile on her face softened into something quieter.
“It’s strange.”
“What is?”
“I still look at this place and hear people.”
I’d looked around then.
At peeling paint.
Empty tables.
Weathered railings.
She’d looked at the exact same marina and seen a lifetime of summers.
I keep walking.
It takes another few steps before I realize what I’ve been doing.
Planning for her to still be here.
“You look terrifyingly happy.”
I glance up.
Miguel stands near the western slips holding a power drill and entirely too much amusement.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure.”
Miguel studies me for another second before grinning. “So the bookstore trip went well?”
Every muscle in my body stills.
“How do you know I went to the bookstore?”
“Because Mrs. Henderson saw you driving back.”
Miguel’s shoulders shake with silent mirth, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he watches me. “Relax. Nobody knows details.”
That does not relax me. At all.
I expect embarrassment. Instead, I smile as Miguel’s grin widens. “Don’t.”
“Didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“Absolutely.”
I leave him laughing and head toward the restaurant building.
By five o’clock, I’ve rewritten the same contractor email four separate times because my brain refuses to stop replaying the sound Hadley made against my mouth.
Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
My phone buzzes on the desk.
Hadley
Are you alive or did paperwork finally kill you?
My entire chest warms.
Me
Barely survived.
Three dots appear.
Hadley
Tragic.
Me
You seem unmoved by my suffering.
Hadley
I’m trying to stay humble after emotionally devastating you in the bookstore.
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it.
Christ.
She’s impossible.
Me
That kiss ruined my productivity.
My stomach flutters as I wait for those three little dots to pop up on the screen.
Hadley
Mine too.
I stare at those three words longer than I should. Eventually the phone locks itself.
I unlock it again and lean back in the office chair, staring out toward the marina as the evening light begins turning the water gold.
Then my phone buzzes again.
Hadley
Also, Bailey keeps making kissing noises every time she walks past me.
I grin helplessly.
Me
She threatened to drown me earlier.
Hadley
Honestly fair.
Me
You’re taking her side?
Hadley
Depends. Are you planning on breaking my heart?
The world stops. The marina noise fades somewhere far away while those words settle into me like something physical.
Fear.
Quiet enough most people would miss it.
I don’t.
My thumb suspends over the keyboard. Three different replies.
Delete.
Delete.
Delete.
Finally...I type the shortest one.
Me
No.
The response comes slower this time.
Hadley
That sounded dangerously sincere.
Me
It was.
Silence stretches afterward long enough that I wonder if I’ve said too much.
Hadley
Nolan.
I stare at her name for a long moment. My thumb looms over the screen. One more message. One I probably shouldn’t send.
Me
I don’t really know how to do this.
The dots appear almost.
Hadley
Do what?
I let out a slow breath.
Me
I don’t usually let people get this close.
This time, the silence lasts longer. Long enough that I wonder if I’ve finally said too much.
Hadley
Good.
My eyes crinkle at the corners, and a joyous laugh bubbled up from my throat, escaping before I could contain it.
Hadley
Because I’m getting pretty tired of pretending I want you to keep your distance, too.
I close my eyes briefly. I’m already in deeper than I meant to be, and judging by the way my chest physically aches whenever she sounds uncertain? I’m pretty sure there’s no climbing back out now.
By seven thirty that night, I’ve officially reached the point where kissing Hadley Wright has rendered me completely useless as a functioning adult.
I tried working. Genuinely. I sat in the marina office for almost an hour after our texts ended, attempting to review invoices while evening settled across Back Bay.
Nothing productive happened.
Every line item blurred together because my brain kept replaying the exact moment Hadley whispered, “I’m tired of almost.”
Christ.
I scrub one hand down my face and stare out the office windows toward the docks glowing beneath the sunset’s light.
The marina looks beautiful at night now.
Still rough around the edges. Still unfinished.
But alive.
String lights now stretch across sections of the western dock while fresh paint brightens railings that looked hopeless two weeks ago.
Music drifts faintly from one of the charter boats farther out on the slips while the warm wind moves steadily across the water, carrying salt and summer and possibility.
For the first time since buying this place, it doesn’t just feel like a project. My jacket is still hanging on the back of the office chair. Yesterday I would’ve taken it home. Today...apparently, I expect to be back in the morning.
My phone buzzes against the desk, and I snatch it like the new addict I am.
Hadley
You still working?
The warmth that spreads through my chest at seeing her name now feels so immediate it’s almost alarming.
Me
Pretending to.
Three dots appear.
Hadley
Productive pretending?
I glance down at the contractor spreadsheet currently untouched on my desk.
Me
Not remotely.
I huff a quiet chuckle.
Because the truth is, I haven’t been able to think straight since the bookstore.
Not after finally kissing her. Not after feeling her melt against me like she’d wanted it just as badly.
And definitely not after realizing how naturally she fits beside me.
The way Hadley slides into my life like she’s been there longer than a week of marina coffees and late-night texts should allow.
My phone buzzes again.
Hadley
So the marina survives another day despite your emotional compromise?
I lean back in the office chair, smiling helplessly toward the ceiling.
Me
Barely.
I suck in a deep, lungful of air.
Hadley
I keep replaying the bookstore.
The breath leaves in a whoosh.
Me
Favorite part?
I expect teasing.
Maybe deflection.
Hadley
The way you looked at me before.
Something in my chest physically tightens.
Because I know exactly what she means.
That moment right before I kissed her, when every ounce of restraint I had left was hanging by a thread.
The terrifying thing? I’d still been trying to hold back. Even then.
Me
Hadley.
Three dots appear. Disappear.
Hadley
Don’t make me say embarrassing things tonight.
I chew over her message from earlier again: I think I’m more scared of how much I already trust you.
The words hit differently now, sitting alone in the marina office while dusk settles across the docks.
Trust.
The thing I’ve spent most of my life struggling to believe in from anyone. And Hadley gave it to me anyway.
I close my eyes briefly. Somewhere along the way this stopped being casual. Stopped being just attraction.
I picture her laughing barefoot at Otter Creek Farms. Walking the docks beside me. Arguing over paint colors. Stealing fries. Leaving sticky notes. In every version of tomorrow, she’s already in it.
I sit very still because I don’t think that’s normal anymore.
Yet I picture Hadley laughing in Bailey’s bookstore. Standing barefoot at the farm with wind in her hair. Walking the marina docks beside me like she already belongs there.
My chest aches. I’m already in trouble.
By the time twilight begins settling over the marina, I’ve spent most of the afternoon pretending to work.