“I love you enough to let you go. And if you love me, you’ll go. Don’t make me be the one who steals those moments from you.” He paused, finally meeting her eye. “You have to go home, Evelyn.”
“What am I supposed to do without you?”
“Be happy,” he said lightly. “Please.”
“I can’t.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then crossed to her and kissed her forehead. “You have to.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead one more time and then went into the house, leaving her on the porch, tears rolling down her cheeks.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
I woke up before my alarm, scrunching my face at the memory of the previous night, pressing my fingertips to my cheeks. Did that really happen? I was dreaming, right? I removed my hands and looked around the room. I was definitely in Hereford. In the cottage. Was it something in the air? In the water? Whatever it was that spawned the ridiculous force of nature that was my grandmother was healing me here. It wasn’t just Joe—she could have dangled him in front of me at home a week earlier, and I wouldn’t have cared at all.
I grinned. I was going to see a whale today.
Joe had warned me that we might not find one. But I knew better. If I wanted it enough right now, I could manifest that whale myself.
I sat up, swung my feet onto the wood floor, and went to the window to open the curtains. Another beautiful day.
Humming softly to myself, I went to take a shower.
I didn’t wait for Joe to come to the door when he arrived. Grandma had already figured out that something had happened, and despite her insistence that she was helpful, the last thing any budding flirtation needed was my grandmother giving sex advice. Instead, when I heard his car pull up, I kissed her cheek and ran out the door and down the steps.
“Hi,” he said when I jumped into his car.
“Hey.”
“You’re really excited to see a whale, huh?”
“That, and I didn’t want my grandma giving you the third degree about last night.”
He smiled sheepishly. “Appreciate that one. And glad you didn’t bring a harpoon.”
“Didn’t really go with my outfit.” I glanced in the back seat and saw a backpack. “Did you bring your camera?”
“I did. Please don’t tell me you want a picture of you riding a whale.”
I laughed. “You don’t think that’d work?”
“It’d be a great shot. But I think it’s illegal to ride an endangered species.”
“What a dumb law.”
“I know. Such a bummer.”
“What’s the point of even going, then?” He looked at me for probably longer than he should have while driving. “What?” I brushed my hair behind my ears self-consciously.
He shook his head. “I didn’t expect to have this much fun this week. When your grandmother asked me to keep you busy for a couple days.”
“I knew she hired you to babysit me.”
“No, just—I said yes as a favor. She didn’t ask me to take you out yesterday or today.”
I bit my bottom lip, embarrassed. “Oh.” I had just assumed my grandmother had arranged for him to show me around all week.
He looked over again at my tone. “I wanted to.” I didn’t know what to say. But he took my hand, holding it until we parked by the docks.
Instead of going to one of the whale-watching ships, though, Joe led us to a sailboat.
“We’re not doing one of those cruises?”
“Definitely not.”
“Is this your boat?”
“Nah. It’s Tony’s.”
“I should have known.” I looked it over. “Tell me it’s not named for my grandmother.”
He gave me a strange look. “He hasn’t spent the last seventy years pining over her. You know that, right?”
I didn’t know that at all. Everything I’d heard so far made it sound like the two of them were so in love that they’d never get over each other. She also hadn’t seen him since we’d been in town, so I didn’t know what to think. “To hear her talk, no one she’s met has ever gotten over her.”
“You may have a point there.” He climbed onto the deck and held out a hand to help me up. “Let’s go find you a whale.”
I took a seat at the back of the boat while he prepared to leave and watched him setting everything up, his muscles rippling as he pulled the various ropes and moved the tiller.
“How did you learn all of this?”