by Bella Andre
“You okay?” Trent asked.
“Yes. I’m great.” She smiled at him. “Are you?”
He smiled back. “I’m with you, so how could today be any better?”
But she had a feeling he wasn’t telling her everything. Not because he wanted to hurt her by holding things back, but simply because they didn’t have much practice yet with being really good communicators. Which was why instead of letting it go, she asked, “Do you miss the hustle and bustle of the city?”
Trent shook his head. “Not even a little.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that?”
He frowned, as if he’d just realized he should have been more forthright when she’d asked if he was okay. “Let’s go find a quieter spot so that I can explain.” He led her several steps away from the gallery and the throngs of people trying to get inside.
“I came back to the island because my grandfather mandated the takeover, but the decision to change my life and accept his offer wasn’t one I made lightly. Because of my practice, the idea of moving was complicated. Although, honestly, I had been thinking about it for years, and once I came back and entertained the idea on a more serious level, the right decision became crystal clear. I wanted to be back on the island because I love it there. I’m still the guy I was when you met me, the guy who loved to take walks and throw rocks into the bay, run on the beach, and read on the deck. I also realized I wanted to be part of running the resort, which I know is far from what I felt when I was building my practice. I’m a Rockwell, and I’m proud of that. I want to be part of my family’s legacy.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear, so focused on her that she could tell he was oblivious to the people walking by and the line forming outside the gallery. As he gazed into her eyes, the din of the streets fell away for her, too.
“And then there was you, Reese.”
“But you just said you came back for all those reasons you just listed. Not for me.”
“Those were the reasons I was willing to admit to myself. But the most important reason of all was you. Only it wasn’t until I watched Quinn and Shelley fall in love—and when I spent enough time on the island again to see my parents together and remember what true love really looks like—that I fully realized what I’d so stupidly thrown away.”
“Just like how until we bumped into each other last week,” she told him, “I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was still in love with you.”
“I’m done with lying to myself, Reese. I want you. I want to live with you and I want to raise our family on the island, not in the city.”
“But your practice is in New York. Won’t you eventually have to go back?”
“That’s another thing I wanted to discuss with you.” He glanced around them, looking as if he actually had forgotten they were standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk in downtown Boston. “Do you want to find someplace more private? Or would you rather wait to talk about this more until after we see the exhibit?”
“We’ve already waited long enough, Trent.” They could be onstage at this point, and it would still come down to just the two of them. “And I need you to know I’m not that scared nineteen-year-old girl anymore. I visit New York and Boston a few times each year for my artwork. If you need to go back, I can handle it now.”
“Sweetheart, I know you can handle anything. You’re an amazing, capable woman. You’ve built your own business; you have your work in major galleries. Of course I know you can handle the city, but you won’t need to. Because I’m planning to sell my practice.”
Shock sent her mind reeling. “Sell your practice?”
“Yes. I’ve already set the wheels in motion.”
“But you worked so long and so hard to build it up. How can you just let it go?”
“Letting go of it now doesn’t make the work I put in mean less. I’ll always be proud of the career I built in New York, but it’s time for me to work on building other parts of my life. Most important of all, our life together.”
“But I thought you loved practicing law. I’d hate for you to give up something you’re passionate about because you think it’s what I need you to do.”
“I’m handling all of the legal aspects of the resort and helping the resort to grow, so it’s not like I’ll lose that part of myself. And the truth is, it’s what I need me to do. Selling the practice will allow more time for me to be there for you as a boyfriend and, hopefully, as a husband and a father to our children someday soon.”
He was saying the things she’d wanted desperately to hear all those years ago. But it was all coming so fast—just like everything had come between them—that her heart, and her mind, couldn’t stop spinning.
“I know you were brought up to always put family first, Trent. So when you began working ninety hours a week, I wondered how you could have changed so fast, and now…” She took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart. “Now I feel like you’ve changed, just as quickly, back to the man I fell in love with before. I love the changes, but I hate that the speed at which they’re happening is leaving me doubting even the slightest bit.”
“Of course I wish you didn’t have any doubts,” Trent told her, “but I understand why you do.”
“Things have been wonderful,” she said, “and I wish I could throw myself back into our relationship without any hesitation, but...”
When her words fell away, he tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. “We promised to always tell the truth. No matter what. Whatever you need to say to me, I can take it.”
“I still need more time to be one hundred percent sure, Trent. More time to look fear in the eye and vanquish it. More time to make absolutely sure that I’m still moving forward instead of backward. I know you’re ready for more, and I—”
“You don’t need to apologize for anything. I wasn’t asking you to share your feelings to push you anywhere you don’t want to go. I just didn’t want to make the mistake of assuming I knew what you were thinking like I used to and then getting it all wrong. Thank you for telling me everything you’re feeling, Reese.”
“You know what?” She smiled at him, and he felt like the sun had finally come out. “Now that we’re getting the hang of it, I think we might actually be pretty good at this communicating stuff. Heck, even Chandler sounds like he’s getting better at sharing his feelings.”
“I can’t believe I’m giving credit to my grandfather,” Trent said with a wry smile, “but really, his summoning us to the island gave me the push I needed to see things more clearly. There’s no one in my life I want to impress but you, Reese. You’re everything to me. You always were. I just lost my way for a while.”
“We both lost our way, but all that matters is that this time we’re helping each other find our way back, one step at a time.” She took his hand in hers and pressed it to her heart. “Together.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
WHILE REESE MARVELED at everything in the gallery, from the elegant marble floors and grand sculpture exhibit in the entrance to every piece of art inside—Trent marveled at how joy came so naturally to her. No matter how many times he saw her smile, the next smile still tugged at his heart. And as they walked through the gallery hand in hand, Trent realized that for the first time in years, he felt free. He hadn’t realized how repressing his true feelings all these years had made everything seem heavier and more difficult. But after telling Reese how he really felt, and what he truly hoped for, he finally felt alive again.
“I didn’t realize we’ve been here so long,” Reese said after looking down at her watch. “Are you bored?”
“Never, as long as I’m with you. And there are few things better than watching you be surrounded by art that you love so much.”
“I really do,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she pointed at the painting they were standing in front of. “You can see the artist’s Mediterranean roots in the vivid colors and the depth and textures of her work. It’s like she’s taken the richness an
d vibrancy of the sun and layered it onto every painting.”
“They are unique, that’s for sure, but no more beautiful than yours.”
“You’re my biggest fan,” she said as she went up on her toes and kissed him.
“What’s your favorite piece?”
Her eyes sparked with heat as she told him, “You.”
Just as he swept her into his arms so that he could kiss her breathless in the middle of the crowded gallery, his cell phone rang with Chandler’s ringtone. Not today.
“Your grandfather?”
Obviously, even though they were working on verbal communication, Reese could still read most of his expressions like a book. “The one and only.” He pressed his lips to hers for far-too-brief a moment. “Excuse me for a second.” He stepped to the side and quietly answered the call.
“Trent? Hi. This is Darla. I’m sorry to bother you. I know you took today off, but Chandler would like to see you.”
“What’s the issue?”
“I’m not sure, exactly. But he mentioned that he was unable to find the file on one of the LLCs.”
Trent thought about the gap he and his grandfather had just begun to bridge and how hopeful it made him for a closer relationship with him. Then he shifted his gaze to Reese, who was alternately admiring the paintings again...and looking back at him with a concerned expression on her face.
Normally, Trent would jump on the next ferry back to the island, but he wasn’t trying to build a normal life with Reese. He was working to build an extraordinary life with her.
Chandler Rockwell had always been controlling, and it was high time Trent took a stand and regained some of his own control. His decision was swift and made without guilt: Unless there was a dire emergency, he was done playing his grandfather’s game at the expense of losing time with Reese.
“Please call my assistant and ask her for whatever he needs. If she can’t find it, let Chandler know I’ll be in tomorrow and I’ll handle whatever he needs then.”
When he ended the call, Reese immediately asked, “Is everything okay?”
He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. “Everything is perfect.”
* * *
BY THE TIME they returned to the island after eating a romantic dinner at a cozy Italian restaurant, it was after ten o’clock.
“Thank you for such an amazing afternoon,” Reese said as they cuddled on her couch.
“Thank you for spending the day with me in Boston.” He pulled her in closer. “And I really love being here with you, too. Your home is everything you always said you wanted. Cozy, safe, and warm in a way that makes me want to hold you here on this couch forever.”
“If it weren’t for you,” she said as she smiled up at him, “I might never have thought to buy it. I was so young when we met. I didn’t know anything about life, and you taught me so many important things, even when I didn’t know you were doing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve talked about the painful mistakes we made, but there was so much good between us, too, Trent. I think it’s time we start talking about those things, too.”
“I agree, sweetheart. Especially,” he teased, “if it means I actually managed to do something right back then.”
“You always talked about planning for the future and making sure the kids we wanted would have a loving home that they could return to when they were older. I remember thinking, I’m only nineteen and just out of my parents’ house. How can I plan where my kids will grow up? I never really thought past tomorrow, and even then they were just thoughts of how much I loved you and wanted to be with you. And then for a long time after our divorce, I was just circling around and around where we went wrong...while also secretly hoping, and waiting, for everything to magically go back to the way it was. But then, when I saw this house, I knew it was a platform for me to finally spring forward. It had all the things both of us always wanted, and the truth is, I thought about you a lot as I bought it. At the same time, though, I was also thinking about what I wanted for my own future. One without you.” She was silent for a moment as she said, “But now here we are. Just like I always secretly wished for.”
“I had just as many secret hopes and wishes, Reese. And now they’re all coming true.”
“I still can hardly believe you blew off Chandler so that we could stay in Boston.”
“No one was dying. Nothing was on fire. We’ve got a lot of years to make up for, and I don’t want to miss a second with you.”
She gave him a soft kiss before saying, “Well, I’m sure he’s going to take back what he said about being happy that we’re back together now. Because if he called, I’m sure he thought what he needed was important.”
“You’re important, Reese. You matter most. Everything else in my life, the resort, my practice, it’ll all work itself out. But I am not going to make any more mistakes with you. From now on I want you to always know I’ll be there for you. No matter what else is going on, you, and the family I hope we’ll have, will come first. Always.”
She rested her head on his chest and said, “I swear you must have taken a ten-year course in how to woo Reese Nicholson.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I spent ten years figuring out how to love Reese Nicholson.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
THERE WAS SO much commotion at Shelley’s Café when Reese drove by on her way to Bay’s Edge the next morning that she couldn’t resist stopping by and taking a peek at what was going on. When she and Trent had left for work earlier that morning, he’d mentioned that they were putting the final touches on the café for the grand opening, and she was excited to see them. She was still on the sidewalk, standing just at the edge of the bushes out front, when she heard male voices.
“I’ve got this, Ethan.” Derek stood atop a ladder holding a big oval sign that read Shelley’s Café. The a was fashioned like a coffee mug with steam rising from it. The rustic wooden sign had dark green letters, accented with pastel-colored flowers along the border, matching the flowers in the garden beside the brook. It fit the appearance of the old mill perfectly.
Derek’s biceps strained against his long-sleeved shirt. Beside him, Ethan was climbing up a second ladder with a wide grin.
“I can do it,” Ethan insisted.
Both men were so focused on their staring contest from the top of their ladders that neither had noticed her standing there yet. Boys will be boys, she mused.
Trent walked out the front door, and Reese’s heart did a little tap dance. “Are we really going to argue over who gets to hang the sign?” He always had been the mediator among his siblings.
“It’s not about who gets to hang it. We have other stuff that needs to be done,” Derek explained. “Ethan can go get the tables set up on the patio.”
Ethan reached for the sign and said, “I want to help so you don’t fall and need more stitches. I’d hate for Didi to have to stitch you up again,” which made Trent and Ethan both laugh and Derek scowl.
Derek finally relented and shifted the sign so Ethan could take half of the weight. Trent held the ladders as his brothers climbed down. Reese couldn’t hear what they said, but they all roared with laughter, which brought Sierra and Shelley outside to see what was going on. They, too, began laughing. Quinn came around the side of the building and swooped Shelley into his arms, spinning her around as he kissed her.
Reese had forgotten how fun it was to be around Trent’s family. They were so naturally loving and playful. Trent draped one arm over Sierra’s shoulder, the other around Ethan’s, showing the protective side of himself that she’d always loved.
Everything he did made her fall deeper in love with him.
“Reese!” The second Trent spotted her, he was out on the sidewalk with her, his arms around her and his mouth lowering to hers for a kiss. “You should have told us you were here.”
Her head was spinning from his kiss just enough that it took her a few seconds to stop staring
into his eyes like a lovesick fool and say, “I didn’t want to distract anyone from the work you’re all doing.”
His eyes immediately smoldered with heat. “I’m always up for being distracted.”
But before either of them could further distract each other, Sierra was calling out Reese’s name, then saying, “I’m so glad you’re here. Shelley and I needed another hand with the curtains. You can spare fifteen minutes, right?”
Moments later, she was working just as hard as everyone else. The Rockwells had always made her feel like family. She had missed being a part of their family terribly after she and Trent had split up. But thankfully, even though it was ten years later, being with all of them again felt just as right as it always had.
* * *
AFTER WORKING WITH his family at Shelley’s, Trent went directly to Chandler’s office. He was prepared for his grandfather to unleash his fury at Trent for not dropping everything and rushing back from Boston the day before. But as he stood across the desk from his grandfather, it wasn’t disappointment or anger he saw in Chandler’s dark eyes. Instead, there was an emotion coursing through the old man that was entirely unfamiliar.
“Didi, would you mind giving us a moment alone?” Chandler asked his private nurse.
“Of course.” She smiled at Trent as she walked out of the office, then closed the door behind her.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t return to the island when you had Darla call yesterday afternoon,” Trent said. “I’m making changes in my life, and part of those changes is setting my priorities in a way that will ensure that my relationship with Reese comes first.”
“I’ve always believed that family should come first, Trent. Do you think you’re telling me something new or doing something unique?” Chandler’s tone was stern.
You have a strange way of showing it. “No, sir. But I am telling you something that is new to me.”
Chandler stared at Trent for a long moment before saying, “I’m glad to see you’re finally taking control the way a Rockwell should. I was sorely disappointed when your marriage ended, and now I am glad to see that my faith in you to fix the things you broke has not been misplaced.”
