Forever and For Always

by Sophie Love

  Emily rubbed her forehead, trying to push away the frown line that seemed permanently etched there. “What are you doing here, Ben?” she said in a great exhalation. “It’s late and I have an early start tomorrow.”

  “I wanted to talk to you,” Ben said. “That’s all I’ve wanted to do. I understand why you left, but to never answer my calls? To never give me a chance to talk it through with you?”

  Emily felt suddenly guilty. Walking out on Ben like that was inexcusable behavior. It was the sort of thing the old Emily did, but not something the new Emily would ever, ever do. She had changed so much since she’d left New York. Hurting someone in that way was no longer in her nature.

  She moved back from the doorway. “You’re right. You’d better come in.”

  Ben smiled and stepped into the corridor. Right away he whistled. “Wow. You did all this? It’s incredible.”

  Right now, Emily needed the compliment. “Thanks. So do you want a drink or anything? Wine? Beer?”

  Ben shook his head. “No, I’m driving. Unless you want to let me book one of your rooms?” He smiled sheepishly as if to show that he was just joking.

  “I’ll get you a juice instead,” Emily said. “It’s organic. And freshly squeezed.”

  Ben looked impressed as he followed Emily down the corridor toward the kitchen. She noticed as they went that he kept glancing around him in awe, almost as if he couldn’t believe that she’d created something so beautiful. It made that familiar bubble of anger rise inside of her; Ben had never seen her potential, never nurtured her talent. No wonder he was so surprised now by what she’d achieved all on her own.

  They went into the kitchen and Ben whistled his approval. Needing something to calm her nerves a little, Emily poured herself a wine. Then she got some juice from the fridge for Ben and they sat at the kitchen table together. Emily couldn’t help thinking of Daniel, of the way they sat here together drinking coffee in the mornings. It felt like Ben had muscled in on Daniel’s territory, as though he were occupying Daniel’s vacant space. Emily became even more aware of how much she missed Daniel, how lonely she had become without him over the last few weeks.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot,” Ben said. “About our relationship and how it went wrong.”

  Emily raised an eyebrow. “You have?” She herself had done all of her thinking during the relationship. As soon as it was done, she’d wiped her hands clean of it all and thrown herself into the B&B with Daniel. “Not like you to spend much time thinking,” she added wryly.

  Ben rubbed his neck, suddenly awkward. “I know. But you were important to me, Emily, and… well, I took you for granted, didn’t I? I let you become an afterthought. I never listened to what you wanted. The house was decorated in my style. We went to my favorite restaurants. We hung out with my friends and family. It was all about me.”

  “Oh,” Emily said, a little surprised. She hadn’t expected Ben to be so insightful. “Is there an apology coming next?”

  Ben nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry. Truly. I was a jerk. And I didn’t realize what I had until it was gone.”

  Emily sipped her wine. “It happens to the best of us. That’s why there’s a whole bunch of proverbs about it.” She looked up and smiled. “But thanks. I appreciate hearing that. And I’m sorry too for the way I left. It was harsh. And rude. And totally unnecessary.”

  Ben nodded in acknowledgment of her apology. “I can’t believe what you’ve achieved here,” he said. “I’m amazed.”

  “Thanks,” Emily said. “I can’t take all the credit. I’ve had a lot of help.”

  Ben seemed to become more quiet. “You mean Daniel?”

  “I really am going to kill Jayne,” Emily muttered under her breath. Then to Ben she replied, “Amongst other people. I’ve made a lot of friends here.”

  “But Daniel was special, right?” Ben asked, a mournful expression on his face. “He was more than a friend. Jayne said you loved him.”

  Emily took a deep breath. “I did. Do. It’s complicated.”

  “Doesn’t seem too complicated if you ask me,” Ben said. “He’s not here. He should be. If he loved you he would be.”

  Emily’s gaze dropped to the tabletop. Maybe Ben was right. If Daniel loved her he wouldn’t have put her through all this pain and anguish. At the very least he would have called. But then again, she had been the one to end it, hadn’t she? It had been her words about him no longer being a man she respected that had sealed the fate on their relationship.

  “Like I am,” Ben said, his words jerking her from her thoughts.

  Her eyes snapped up. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I’m here because I love you, Emily,” Ben said.

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t.”

  “I do,” he insisted. “I always have. That’s why I’ve been calling. I should never have let you walk out of that restaurant. I should have realized what you meant to me. It was only after you were gone that I realized how much I love you.”

  “I’m a different person now,” Emily said, still shaking her head, feeling her heart beat wildly in her chest. “It’s been months. I’ve changed. How can you know?”

  But Ben didn’t respond. Because suddenly he was kneeling.

  “What are you doing?” Emily stammered, her heart leaping into her throat.

  Ben produced a small black box from his pocket and snapped open the lid. Sitting inside was a silver ring with a large, beautiful diamond. Thanks to all of Emily’s diamond research she could tell right away that it was a very, very expensive one. She gasped.

  “I should have done this years ago,” Ben said. “Emily Mitchell, will you marry me?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  As Emily stared at the glittering ring, Ben’s words repeated in her mind. He loved her? He wanted to marry her? Once she would have given anything in the world to hear him say those words.

  “This isn’t happening,” she gasped.

  Ben smiled, his eyes wide, his expression dewy. “It is, Emily. Please forgive me. I’ll be a better man for you. I’ll be the husband I should always have been.”

  Emily could hardly breathe. Ben was offering her the stability and commitment she’d always craved. It felt like fate had struck again, that Ben had been sent to her now when she was feeling her most vulnerable and doubtful about Daniel and the future, when she was just starting to feel like packing everything in and leaving this place. Here was the man she’d spent seven years building a life with telling her that he would make all her dreams come true.

  There was just one catch. He wasn’t Daniel.

  Finally, Emily shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ben. I can’t marry you.”

  Ben looked up at her, stunned. “But I thought this was what you wanted.”

  “It was. Once. But not anymore. I’m sorry.”

  Ben snapped the lid of the box shut. He looked utterly crushed. Emily had never seen him so dejected.

  “Is this because of Daniel?” he asked. “Because you love him more than you love me?”

  Emily looked down into her lap, a whole host of emotions assaulting her. Part of her felt like she was making a terrible mistake for not taking Ben up on his offer, but another, stronger, part of her knew that she would be settling for second best if she did. Ben might have wealth and stability, but Daniel gave her companionship. The short few months she’d known Daniel had changed her life more than the seven years she’d been with Ben.

  “I’m a different person now,” Emily explained.

  Ben’s eyes glittered with tears. “No, you’re not, Emily. You’re the same person I fell in love with. I saw it in your eyes the second you saw me standing on your porch.”

  Emily tried to speak but Ben wasn’t finished. He grabbed her hand and the words tumbled out of him passionately.

  “We don’t have to get married,” he said quickly. “If that’s moving too quickly for you we can take a step back, just go back to New York and spend some time together, the two of u
s. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you see that I want this, that I love you. I’ll move as slowly or as quickly as you want.”

  Emily took a deep breath. Seeing Ben like this was shaking her to the core. She’d never expected to see such an outpouring of emotion, such honesty and vulnerability from him. His passion for her seemed to suddenly eclipse what she’d felt from Daniel. She could never imagine him proposing to her like this; he was too measured and practical.

  But still it was Daniel her mind kept returning to.

  Suddenly Ben was standing. “I’m going to go and let you think about things, okay? If you want to marry me, just say the word. And if you ever want to come back to New York then my door is always open for you. I’ll wait. For however long it takes.”

  Emily had completely lost her voice. She couldn’t even manage to say no, to tell him waiting for her was pointless because her heart now belonged to another. All she could do was stand there dumbly as Ben pulled her into him for a farewell embrace, breathing in the familiar smell of his cologne.

  “Think about it,” he said finally.

  Then he swirled out of the kitchen and was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  The next morning, Emily woke early, her head a little muggy from the mojitos, and dressed. The town meeting had been scheduled for 9 a.m. Emily couldn’t help but wonder whether it was a cruel trick of Marcella’s to place it so early in the day, or whether there was some silly scheduling rule she was following.

  She dressed smartly in one of her B&B hostess outfits, then went to the vanity mirror to put in her earrings. From here, she had a clear view out the window of the whole front grounds of the B&B, including Daniel’s carriage house, which was tucked neatly behind some trees. There was no sign of Daniel’s truck in the driveway.

  Yet, she thought.

  Once dressed, Emily went downstairs and brewed a pot of coffee, making enough for Amy and Jayne to have some once they awoke. She was still mad at Jayne for blabbing about everything to Ben, and her mind was still reeling from the whole encounter. Seeing Ben down on one knee was an image that would forever be burned into her mind. She’d dreamed of that image so many times, but the reality of it had been nothing like she expected. And nothing like what she wanted. It amazed her how much her priorities and needs had changed since coming to Sunset Harbor.

  Emily finished her coffee, then quickly scribbled a note for her friends saying they could help themselves to anything from the fridge as long as it wasn’t on a large silver platter. Parker had been working on some new recipes for crudités that he wanted to try out on the wedding party and had created five platters’ worth of them.

  Finally ready to face the zoning board, Emily put on her game face, marched to the front door, pulled it open, and slammed straight into someone.

  Daniel, she thought instantly, her heart missing a beat.

  But she was sorely disappointed when she drew back and saw not the longed-for Daniel standing on her doorstep, but the much-maligned Trevor.

  “Trevor,” Emily said in one long exhalation. “To what do I owe the displeasure?”

  “I was just thinking we could save ourselves a journey,” Trevor said in his usual arrogant, haughty tone.

  “You want to carpool to the meeting?” Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Actually,” Trevor sneered, “I was thinking we could skip the town meeting altogether.” When Emily gave him a bemused expression, he added, “If you let me buy the house off you we wouldn’t need to have a pesky meeting at all.”

  Emily folded her arms, instantly understanding what Trevor’s whole campaign about getting her sign removed had really been about. She should have realized it sooner, that Trevor would pull a stunt like this. It was never about the sign being a blight on his ocean view, or about him trying to close down the B&B because of the increased traffic outside his property. Trevor had just been trying to push her right up to the edge of her patience. His whole motive, since the moment she’d set foot in Sunset Harbor, was to get the property off of her. It must have killed him seeing it sit there empty for twenty-five years, and then when she’d shown up he’d come around and offered a paltry amount to take it off her hands. When she’d refused, he’d started his campaign. He must have been thinking that if he just kept on prodding, poking, and provoking, she’d eventually give in and realize it was all far more hassle than it was worth. He must have thought she’d just be looking for a quick profit from the place, not having expected her to be so determined to make it succeed and keep it in her family.

  “That’s not going to happen, Trevor,” Emily said. “I’m not selling the house to you for a paltry fifty thousand dollars. Now could you please move out of my way?”

  Trevor stood his ground. “Last time I made you an offer, the place was little more than a dilapidated shed. Now you’ve restored it and it’s looking quite wonderful. So I’m upping my offer to match market value. I’ll give you five hundred thousand for it. That’s ten times the amount I offered last time. It could be the quickest and easiest sale in the history of real estate.”

  Emily raised an eyebrow. Hearing the sum was a shock. It would be a life-changing amount, more money than she’d ever had before. She could buy herself a cute little apartment and live comfortably off the rest for a few years at least. But more than the fact she didn’t trust Trevor at all was the fact that he was the last person in the world she would want to see the precious home fall into the hands of. The house was worth more to her than money; it contained memories, memories she’d only just begun to unlock. There was no way she could give them up.

  “Read my lips, Trevor,” Emily said firmly. “NO.”

  She shoved past him then, her patience spent, and headed to her car.

  “In which case,” Trevor called after her, “I’ll see you at the meeting. And I will block you getting that sign back. Just you wait and see!”

  Emily got into her car, her anger overwhelming her. It felt like another cruel trick that fate was playing, trying to force her hand. It would be so easy to just sell the B&B, to leave Sunset Harbor and head back to her new job in New York without ever knowing whether Daniel returned or not. But that was the operative word, Emily thought. Easy. Easy was akin to escape, and that was something Emily didn’t want to do anymore. She didn’t want to be an escapologist like her father had been. When the going got tough, she didn’t want to run away.

  And so Emily drove to the town meeting, fuming all the way. If she could just hold onto her anger at Trevor then she wouldn’t break down.

  When she got to the town hall, she saw that it was packed with her friends from town—Birk and Bertha, Jason and Vanessa, Charles and Barbara, Raj and Sunita, Cynthia, Parker, and Serena. She hadn’t expected to see them all here. In fact, she hadn’t expected to see any of them here! It reminded her why she loved Sunset Harbor in the first place. The friends she’d made here were wonderful people, full of love and generosity. Would escaping to New York really be the easy option, when there was all this she’d be leaving behind?

  The only person absent was Daniel. Emily’s stomach tightened at the thought of him. She was doing a lousy job keeping him off her mind.

  Karen came over and pulled Emily into a hug. “We’ve got this, sweetie. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  Emily hugged her tightly. She’d always viewed Karen in a maternal kind of way and wondered if this was what it felt like to be loved by one’s mother.

  Mayor Hansen called the meeting to order. “We’re here to discuss the permit for the sign at the Inn at Sunset Harbor,” he said. “I’ll start by passing the floor to Trevor Mann, who has raised… several… objections to the sign.”

  Trevor looked like a horrible toad as he took to the stage. Emily rolled her eyes. Of course he’d prepared a speech.

  “The inn is on a quiet residential street. I am being constantly disturbed by noise and increased traffic, and the last thing I need is this unsightly sign!”

  Emily shook h
er head as she listened to all of his prepared excuses, each and every one of them just a ruse to get her to sell him the property.

  “Anything else?” Mayor Hansen said, his voice sounding completely weary.

  “Yes, actually,” Trevor added with a sneer. “I’m raising a legal challenge to the sign through the Litter Pollution Act.”

  “Litter?” Karen scoffed, leaping to her feet. “How on earth can you categorize it as litter?”

  The crowd began to babble amongst each other and look from one to the other. Emily caught Karen’s eye and she shot her a worried expression. She’d assured Emily that Trevor had exploited every last legal challenge he had, yet somehow he’d still managed to seek out a loophole and exploit it.

  Marcella was on her feet immediately, her local government rule book in hand. “I believe Mr. Mann is referring to Article 19 of the Litter Pollution Act 1997,” she stated. “That the council may block posters, banners, and signs at their discretion if such advertisement is considered to be litter.”

  Mayor Hansen sighed and rolled his eyes. “Right, and how long will it take Miss Mitchell to contest this legal loophole?”

  Now it was Emily’s turn to stand. “How about no time at all,” she said. She reached in her purse and pulled out a form. “I believe this is the correct paperwork needed to declare that the sign is not on public property and thus not subject to the rules of the Litter Pollution Act 1997, which is primarily used to stop electoral candidates from placing banners outside of the election campaign window.”

  A hushed silence fell across the audience. Everyone seemed stunned that Emily had come so prepared. But she’d had six weeks of loneliness to prepare for every eventuality of this meeting and had expected Trevor to pull such a trick out of his bag.