by Olivia Miles
He nodded, his grin starting to quirk. “And here?” he asked.
“Here I at least have hope,” she said, stepping toward him. “And that’s a pretty good feeling. And…I have you.”
He smiled broadly, all the way up to his eyes. “You sure about this?”
Maybe she was foolish, or maybe, this time, she was right to listen to her heart, because it had never felt more full, or more sure, and if she couldn’t trust herself, how could she ever trust anyone else?
“So I was thinking that maybe we could strike an arrangement,” she said, struggling to hide her grin.
“Are you speaking to my professional side or my personal side?” His eyes twinkled with amusement.
“I was thinking that maybe you could help fix up the house, and in exchange, I could help you get your stable up and running.”
He looked at her in disbelief, and then burst out laughing. “You? I saw you on that horse, if you’ve forgotten.”
“I’m not saying I’d be a riding instructor.” She pursed her lips. “But I used to work in advertising. I know how to market a place like this. I know how to get the word out, and I definitely know the people of this island, because I’m one of them.”
His eyes were steady, as unwavering as his words.
“Why are you doing all this for me?”
She shrugged. “Because we’re friends, and that’s what friends do.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said, taking her hand and stepping toward her. “We’re not friends, Gemma.”
He was close, so close now that she could see the freckles on his nose and cheeks from too many days in the sun. See the golden highlights that streaked his brown hair. The little scar under his right eye that told a story that she didn’t yet know, but wanted to. Badly.
“We’re not?” she whispered, swallowing hard.
He shook his head and reached up to push a loose strand of hair from her cheek. “We’re a hell of a lot more than friends.”
She grinned as he wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her close and kissed her in a way that she had never been kissed and had been waiting to be kissed…even if she hadn’t known it until now.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hope
Hope stood at the gate of the Lakeside Inn, knowing the chances were high that John was inside at this very moment, if not in his room, then maybe in the lobby, or in the dining room enjoying breakfast—it was early. This conversation couldn’t wait any longer. She’d waited a week to tell him what she’d known in her heart she would tell him all along.
She let out a shaky breath, asked herself for the hundredth time if she was really going to do this, and then, mostly because a few of the guests had started to stare at her as they waited for her to move to the side so they could pass through the gate, she began to walk toward the inn.
The cobblestone path to the front porch was flanked with flower beds, and near the door was a bike stand, full of mint and teal and hot pink cruisers. She’d recommend keeping all of that. She’d recommend keeping a lot of things the same, actually. That was what made people come back to this hotel year after year. It wasn’t the fresh décor they sought, or modern amenities, it was the nostalgia. The reassurance that came with knowing that while everything else in life moved quickly and moved forward, that some things would remain the same, and that there was one place they could always come back to and know that it was just as they remembered it would be.
Inside the lobby, people were already filling the couches and the chairs, and there was a lively buzz to the room. It smelled of coffee and the warm cinnamon rolls that the inn was famous for, not just on the island but all over the Midwest—people brought boxes home and froze them. She knew, because her mother did this every year. And Hope would probably have done the same, if things hadn’t gone the way they had these past few weeks.
Her heart was heavy as she walked through the lobby and into the dining room, but there was no sign of John. No warm smile and sincere eyes. She decided to have one last sweep of the back porch before she pulled his card from her pocket and tried his phone. But then she saw him, on one of the deck chairs looking out over the grounds. His laptop was open on a table in front of him, but when she called out his name, he closed it.
He grinned, and just like that, every part of her turned from heaviness to joy. But it was fleeting, so fleeting, and she hoped, that like this hotel, it was something that she could hold onto, in her heart. Because the rest of him, she had to let go.
She blew out a breath and walked toward him. She closed her eyes when he stood to greet her with a peck on the cheek, and then she took the chair beside him when he motioned for her to sit down.
“Coffee?” he asked, motioning to his own cup.
She shook her head. She needed to get her words out. She needed to say it, because it had to be said, even if it hurt, and even if, one day, she knew, she might look back and wonder if she’d made the right decision.
“I can’t stay long,” she said.
His expression changed from one of expectation to one of resigned acceptance. “I see.”
“I’m going back to Chicago, John,” she said. And even though she knew he was from Chicago, too, she knew that she had been direct. She was going back to her life. To her husband. To her family. She’d already told Sheila, who took the news in stride. She’d speak to Darcy personally before she left, with some tips, of course, and an invitation to visit her when Darcy was in town near her daughter.
But this was the hard part.
He nodded. “Is it okay to say that I’m disappointed?”
“I didn’t want to lead you on—”
He held up a hand. “You didn’t.”
She hadn’t. She knew that. But she also knew that the bond they’d formed had happened all on its own. They were two people that clicked. Maybe it was the circumstances. Or maybe in another lifetime things might have been different.
“Evan came to the island the day that I was here. That’s why I haven’t given you an answer yet about the project.” She looked around, the vast white porch, to the lush green grass and the flowering trees, to the lake, vast and blue and calm. “You offered me a whole new life. A life that I really thought I wanted.” And maybe, in her heart, still did. But her choice was made. It had been made a long time ago.
“I love my family,” she said. “It’s not always easy, and it’s not always perfect, but I’m not willing to let it all go.”
“Some things are worth holding on,” John said, nodding slowly.
“Maybe I’ll…” She trailed off. What was she saying? Maybe she’d see him in Chicago? That one day she’d be walking down the street and their eyes would meet and…no.
He seemed to know what she was about to say because he said, “Actually, I’m staying on the island. This inn isn’t just something I’m investing for my company. This is a personal investment. I’m going to take over the inn and stay here.”
She blinked and took a step back, looking around her in wonder. “I hadn’t realized that.”
He gave a little laugh. “I hadn’t either. But I’m happy here. And I think this is where I belong.”
She bit her lip, holding back tears. “I was happy here too.”
“You’re an amazing woman, Hope,” John said, and the kindness in his eyes had returned with the sincerity in his smile.
“Thank you,” she said, but not for the compliment. For all of it. For lifting her spirits when she needed it the most. For being a source of support when she felt so alone in this world. And for making her believe that her marriage could work, if she really wanted it to.
And she did.
“I hope you find everything that you’re looking for, John,” she said, swallowing back the lump in her throat. “Because you deserve it.”
He nodded. “You too, Hope. But I think you’re going to be okay. You’ve got a lot of good things going on in your life.”
She gave a sad smile, thinking
of Rose and Victoria, and Evan, who was back at the cottage right now. Waiting for her. And her sisters, who hadn’t all been together on this island in over twelve years, but who now had promised to meet back at Sunset Cottage every summer.
“I do,” she said. She pulled in a breath as he reached out and patted her hand and she looked down at her fingers, at the diamond ring sparkling in the morning sunlight, and she knew that she had said all there was to say, and that their time together had come to an end.
“Life has a weird way of bringing people into our lives when we need them the most,” she said, pushing back her chair.
He rose to stand beside her. His gaze was intense, but for the first time since she’d met him, it hurt to look into his eyes, to see the warmth there, the comfort.
“Some people are meant to be together for a lifetime. Some people are only together for a short time, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be forgotten.” He grinned. “I’ll miss you, Hope.”
“And I’ll miss you,” she whispered.
She turned, before the tears could fall, but they were hot and thick, filling her eyes as she walked down the stairs to the lawn because she couldn’t bear to go back into the lobby around all those people. They slipped down her face, one after the other, and she didn’t brush them away, because she couldn’t.
She cried for the man who had first approached her on the boat, when she was so flustered and scared and confused. And she cried for the man who was gentle and kind and had listened to her talk through her problems. And she cried for the man who had offered her the world and asked for nothing in return.
Maybe because he knew, in his heart of hearts, that there was nothing she could offer him.
***
The house was quiet when she stepped inside and she called out the names of the children, Evan, her sisters, but no one was there. Had they gone for a walk?
She went back out to the porch and looked across the road at the beachfront, but it was empty, aside from the seagulls creeping near the water’s edge.
She walked back into the house, and that was when she saw them, gathered on the hammock in the yard. Her sisters, laughing and smiling, as if they hadn’t spent a fair bit of time arguing these past weeks, or even this past year.
And her husband, tending to Gran’s vegetable garden with Leo at his side.
And her children, making mud pies.
And all she could do was smile.
Epilogue
Hope
The line for the ferry was short. Almost too short. And as Hope watched the boat dock and the tourists and summer people here for a new season depart, she felt a sharp sting in her chest.
“Is it terrible to say that I’m a little envious of all these people just arriving?” she asked Ellie, but it was Evan who replied.
“Why don’t we come back? In August? When the weather is warmer?”
She blinked up at him. She hadn’t been expecting that. Not when he’d just come, given up his time from work, when a seven-hour drive home was still ahead of them. She’d assumed at best that she’d come alone next summer, for a week with the girls, or that they would talk about returning and get too sidetracked with all the things that filled that calendar on her pantry door.
She thought about that for a moment. She was just as guilty of being too busy as she accused Evan of being half the time.
“You really mean it?” she asked, smiling up at him.
“I meant everything I said, Hope,” he said, leaning in to kiss her.
Ellie rolled her eyes and said, “Please! Do I really need to be subjected to your eternal bliss? It’s bad enough that the four of you look like you’re ready for a catalogue shoot, but do you have to remind me that I am the only one here with no prospect of romance in my future?”
“Says the girl who is leaving for Europe on Sunday,” Gemma pointed out as she maneuvered her luggage farther down the pier.
Ellie gave a small smile. “True. And there are men in Europe.”
“Hot ones,” Gemma said.
“Thanks again for giving up your ticket to me, Gemma,” Ellie said, setting a hand on her sister’s arm.
“You’ll put it to far better use than I would have. Taking a honeymoon alone is hardly every little girl’s dream,” Gemma replied with a snort. But she was smiling, just as she’d been smiling a little more every day since she’d arrived on the island.
“How long do you think it will take you to pack up the apartment?” Hope asked her. She grabbed two handles of the suitcases while Evan pushed the double stroller.
Gemma shrugged. “Not long. I’ll try to get a subletter through the end of my lease. It’s such a beautiful view and location that I shouldn’t have a problem.”
She looked so wistful that for a moment, Hope wondered if she was going to change her mind, but then Gemma hoisted her bags onto the luggage cart and said, “That apartment has nothing but bad memories. But this place, the island, it’s full of happy ones. And that makes all the difference, doesn’t it?”
Hope felt a pull in her chest as she stepped onto the ferry, feeling the unsteady floor beneath her, knowing that she was taking the last official step away from everything that had happened here this past month, but not completely.
This place was full of happy memories; Gemma was right about that. And she knew that she was making the choice she could live with, not the one she would come to question or regret.
This time around, she was following her heart. Not doing what she should, but what she really, truly wanted to do. She took a seat next to Evan and the girls. Where she was meant to be.
The boat hitched and ever so slowly pulled away from the dock. The island grew distant, and smaller, until they could see the entire mass of it, sitting long and proud in the water, and everything on that island, everything that had happened, and everyone who was still there, left behind, felt like a strange sort of memory that grew smaller and smaller, until she couldn’t see the rooflines of the houses anymore, or even the outline of the Lakeside Inn.
“I know I couldn’t wait to leave,” Ellie suddenly said, “but now I can’t wait to come back.”
“You can come back whenever you want,” Gemma said. “After all, I may be the one living there, but the house belongs to all of us. It’s our home.”
Hope slipped her hand into Evan’s and their eyes met, full of new understanding, and new appreciation.
Her home was on Willow Lane, with Evan and the girls. But a part of her heart would always be at Sunset Cottage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olivia Miles is a USA Today bestselling author of feel-good women’s fiction with a romantic twist. She has frequently been ranked as an Amazon Top 100 author, and her books have appeared on several bestseller lists, including Amazon charts, BookScan, and USA Today. Treasured by readers across the globe, Olivia’s heartwarming stories have been translated into German, French, and Hungarian, with editions in Australia in the United Kingdom.
Olivia lives just outside Chicago with her husband, daughter, and two ridiculously pampered pups.
Visit www.OliviaMilesBooks.com for more.