by Kay Correll
She opened the note that was in the box.
* * *
Charlotte,
Hope you’ll enjoy this. I know you admired it at the gallery. I hope it will always remind you of our trip to Blue Heron Island. I think I fell in love with you that day, even though I didn’t truly realize it yet.
I swear I’ll make you top priority in my life and show you how much I appreciate you if you’ll give me another chance.
All my love,
Ben
* * *
She clasped the carving close. He had been listening to her. He remembered so many little important details.
And she missed him so much…
But would he really change? Or would things slip back to how they’d been? Him too busy and cancelling on her repeatedly.
She closed her eyes, willing some kind of decision to miraculously come to her. She just wasn’t quite ready to trust him and try it again.
Or was she?
Lillian looked up from the reception desk as David walked up. “Hi. Did you find Dr. Harden’s office?”
“I did, thanks.” He nodded.
His face held a somber look and sadness clung to his eyes. She frowned a bit. Maybe something was wrong with him, but she couldn’t pry.
“I’ll be checking out tomorrow morning. Got an early flight out. I need to get back home. I know I said I wasn’t sure how long I’d be staying, so I just wanted to tell you so you know you have the room available starting tomorrow.”
“Oh, we’ll be sorry to see you leave.” Now she was worried. This was so sudden. Ruby had just said that he was in no hurry to leave. Though, maybe some emergency came up at home. Or… there was the Dr. Harden visit.
“I wondered if you’d do me a favor.” His haunted look bit into her very soul.
“Of course.”
He reached out and handed her an envelope. “This is a letter. For Ruby. Will you make sure she gets it?”
She took the envelope. “I will, but don’t you want to talk to her before you go?”
“No, not today. She doesn’t want me around today. And… well, it’s better this way.”
Lillian frowned. “Are you sure?”
He shrugged. “Can we ever be sure of our decisions?” He turned and walked away from the reception desk.
Lillian walked directly to Robin’s office. “Robin, can you get the front desk for me? Or find someone to handle it? I need to run an errand.”
“Sure, no problem.” Robin stood and walked around the desk.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Robin smiled. “That’s what I’m here for. For anything you need with running the inn.”
Lillian went to The Nest, grabbed her jacket, and hurried over to Ruby’s house. She didn’t know what was going on, but she sure was going to try and find out. Why did Ruby not want David around today? And why was he leaving? Had they had an argument?
She found Ruby sitting out on her deck, Mischief by her side. Ruby looked up as she climbed the steps.
“Lillian, hi.”
She could see that Ruby had been crying. Had David done this to her? She’d warned him not to hurt Ruby. She sat next to Ruby. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s… it’s the anniversary of Barry’s death. I’m just… very sad today.”
She took Ruby’s hand in hers. “And rightly so. I know it’s not the same thing, but I’m still sad on the anniversary of my sister’s death and it’s been years. Even though I did get Sara out of that tragedy, the pain is still there with my loss. It’s certainly okay to feel sad.”
“I know. It’s just… I almost forgot about today. The date. And then it just hit me.”
“You’ve been busy recently. Sometimes the days just blur together.” She paused. “Or maybe you were subconsciously just trying to avoid it. So is this why you don’t want to see David anymore?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Is this why he’s leaving?”
Ruby’s eye’s widened. “David is leaving?”
“Yes, in the morning.”
“But… he didn’t say a word to me. I thought… I thought he was staying for a while.” She looked out at the sea. “Or maybe I frightened him away when he found me crying on the beach today.”
“He doesn’t seem like a man that would be frightened away by a few tears. And very justifiable tears for someone you loved and miss.” Lillian reached into her jacket pocket. “Anyway, he gave me this letter to give to you. Maybe it will say why he’s leaving?”
She handed the letter to Ruby who took it in her hands and stared at it as if the one word, Ruby, written on the outside of the envelope would explain everything.
Ruby stared down at the envelope. She already knew what it would say. David didn’t want to compete with her love for Barry. She couldn’t blame him. She’d frightened him away when she’d said she wanted him to leave and she wanted to be alone.
She opened the letter and read the words. They didn’t really explain anything. Just that he needed to get back home and he’d remember their days together fondly. And he wished her the best in life.
No reasons why he was leaving.
Just… goodbye.
Her heart crumbled into a million grains of sand, blowing away in a storm. The heart that had just started to mend. The heart that she had just allowed to feel again. It clutched in her chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. This is what she got for… for… for offering her heart again. And she had. She cared about him. Even if it had only been a short time that she’d known him.
She finally took a deep breath. She was finished crying over men. Men who left her. Even if it wasn’t Barry’s fault, she still did get irrationally angry that he left her. And now David. He was leaving because he couldn’t deal with her feelings for Barry. Or… or maybe he just didn’t feel about her like she felt about him.
She was sure that was the unwritten excuse between the lines.
“What did he say?” Lillian looked at her, her eyes full of sympathy.
“Just that he had to get home.” She folded the letter and slipped it carefully back in the envelope. “I guess I misconstrued our relationship. I guess his feelings weren’t the same as mine.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Ruby.”
“That’s life. If I’ve learned anything these last few years it’s that you are never guaranteed anything in life.” She turned and stared out at the waves, rolling in, one by one. They wouldn’t ever stop. They stretched out endlessly before her. Like the minutes in this never-ending day.
Chapter 22
Ben dropped by his mother’s late that afternoon. He wanted to check on her. He was vividly aware that today was the anniversary of his father’s death. He wasn’t sure how his mother would take it.
He entered the house and found her sitting at the table, sipping tea. “Hey, Mom.”
She looked up at him and he could tell she’d been crying. “Hi, Ben. This is a nice surprise.”
“I just… I wanted to check on you. Are you doing okay?”
“It’s been a long day.”
He sank onto the chair beside her. “I’m sure it has been. Anniversaries are hard.”
“They are. And… David is leaving town.” Her eyes clouded with hurt.
“He is? His vacation is finished and that’s it?”
“I’m not really sure. He just gave me a note that said he had to get back home.”
Ben scowled. “He didn’t even tell you in person that he’s leaving?”
She looked at him, an unmistakable sadness in her eyes. “I was… well, I was at Lighthouse Point this morning and I was sad. Crying. David found me there. I told him why I was upset. I guess me loving your father so much was… too hard for him to see? Or something. Maybe I scared him away. Anyway, he’s leaving in the morning, so you’ll be happy now. You won’t have to worry about me seeing him.”
“Oh, Mom. I’m not happy. I don’t ever want to see you sad like this. And I was worried
he’d hurt you.” Just like he had. The rotten jerk. Protectiveness and anger rushed through him.
“I knew he had to leave someday. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. But don’t worry about me. I’ve got The Yarn Society, Lillian and I have become great friends, and I have you. I’ll be fine. Tomorrow will be a better day.”
“It will be, Mom.” He squeezed her hand.
“Now, I don’t want you just sitting here with me. I’m fine. You go back to work. I know you’re busy.” She squared her shoulders and a determined look settled on her face.
“But—”
“No buts. I’m fine.”
He got up, kissed his mom on the top of her head, and left. Reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
He headed over to the marina, lost in his anger at David and the pain of the loss of his father etched into this heart. And the sad look on his mother’s face. So sad. So much pain. And nothing he could do would erase it.
“Ben?”
He looked up in surprise. “Charlotte.” A wave of happiness rushed through him, competing with anger and sadness. What a strange day today was.
“I—I got your presents. They were… thoughtful.”
“I’m glad you liked them.”
“I always thought that you weren’t truly listening to me. That your mind was on your business.”
“I was a jerk, thinking my job was so important. Well, it is, but it’s not more important than you. Or my mom. My thinking was so screwed up and I’m really sorry.” He hoped she could hear the sincerity in his voice.
She stood there facing him, not saying a word. He wasn’t sure what else he could say to convince her.
She broke the silence. “How is your mom?”
He let out a long breath. “Not good. Today is the anniversary of Dad’s death.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Are you doing okay?”
“Okay enough. But Mom is having a hard time. And it seems that David picked today to tell her that he’s headed back home. He found her crying on the beach and I guess that was too much for him. Knowing she’s not over Dad. I knew he was going to break her heart. And he did. I warned her to stay away from him.” He scowled just thinking of the look of hurt in his mother’s eyes.
“Sometimes you have to take a chance with your heart. Like your mother did. But maybe it just wasn’t the right time for them. It doesn’t matter how much you care about someone if it’s not the right time in their life.”
He wasn’t sure if Charlotte was talking about his mom and David or maybe about him and about her.
Charlotte frowned. “I saw him coming out of Dr. Harden’s office earlier today. He looked really upset. I wonder if that had something to do with all this? With him leaving?”
Ben rubbed his chin. “Maybe? You know what I’m going to do? I’m going back to Mom’s and tell her to go over and talk to David. Get answers.”
“That will probably help her deal with it better if she knows for sure why he’s going.” Charlotte nodded.
“Yes, I am going back to Mom’s. I’ll talk to her.” He started to leave and turned back to Charlotte. “It was good to see you, Charlotte. I miss you.”
She gave him a small smile and he clasped onto it like a lifebuoy in a raging sea. He watched her walk away, then turned and hurried back to his mother’s.
“Ben, what are you doing back here? I told you that you didn’t have to worry about me.” Ruby looked up from the kitchen table where she still sat drinking tea.
He slipped into the chair across from her. “Mom, I think you should go talk to David.”
“What? No. He sent me the goodbye note. If he wanted to see me, to say goodbye, he could have had the decency to come by and see me and say it in person.”
“So… I don’t know if this has anything to do with his decision to leave, but Charlotte saw him coming out of Dr. Harden’s office. She said he looked upset. Maybe there’s more to this than he’s saying?”
She frowned. Was there more to his decision to leave? What wasn’t he telling her? She sat there for a moment, suddenly sure that this rash decision to leave wasn’t in keeping with the David she knew. She was certain there was more to the story.
She pushed back from the table and stood. “You know what? I am going to go see him. Talk to him, face to face. If it’s just that he doesn’t want to date me, if I was just some way to pass his time while he was on vacation, then okay then, I judged him wrong. But I think I did get to know the real David… and this sudden leaving without talking to me? It just doesn’t seem like the David I’ve come to know.”
“Good. At least you’ll get to the truth and won’t be left wondering.” He stood and his mom gave him a hug.
“Thanks for coming back and talking to me. For suggesting I go talk to him. I know that must have been hard for you. I know you’ll be glad when he’s gone.”
“Mom, I just want you to be happy. That’s all I want.”
Ben left and she went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face, washing away the traces of tears. A determined look shone from her eyes. She was going to confront him. And he was going to tell her the truth.
She grabbed a sweater and hurried outside, marching along the sidewalks to Charming Inn. When she got there, Lillian looked up from the reception desk. “Ruby, what are you doing here?”
“I’m going to talk to David. He’s going to have to tell me to my face why he’s leaving. I don’t believe his tell-me-nothing note. And Charlotte saw him leaving Dr. Harden’s office today and said he looked upset. I’m not getting the full story. I just know it. The David I’ve come to know wouldn’t just leave without seeing me.”
“Good for you.”
“He’s in the corner suite, top floor, isn’t he?”
“He is.”
Ruby turned and hurried up the stairs. She stood in front of his door and took a deep breath. She raised her hand and knocked firmly on the door. The door swung open and David stood there, a surprised look on this face. “Ruby.”
“Yes, it’s me. Now I want you to ask me in.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think—”
“That’s right. You don’t think. You aren’t thinking clearly. Now I want you to tell me the real reason why you’re leaving.” She pushed past him and entered his room, not waiting for an invitation. She whirled around to face him. “Why are you leaving? I want the truth. I deserve that much. I care about you. I never thought I’d care about another man after Barry, but I do. My heart skips a beat when I see you. Just thinking about you makes me smile. And I’m certain you feel… something… for me.”
“Ah, Ruby.” He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “I do care about you. But… it’s difficult. There’s a lot you don’t know. I don’t want you to know.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because you’re going to tell me. You’re going to explain this nonsense about heading back home. And don’t tell me it’s because you found me crying about Barry. You said you understood that. And my feelings for him don’t mean that I can’t ever care for someone else.”
“It’s only been a short while that we’ve even known each other.” He slowly shook his head.
“Sometimes your heart just knows when someone is right for you.”
“You think I’m right for you?”
“I… I think so. But we’re never going to find out if you run away, now are we?”
He let out a long sigh. “I—well, I have something I didn’t want you to know. I don’t really like anyone to know because then… they treat me differently.”
She eyed him.
“Here, sit on the bed.”
She sat down and watched as he paced in front of her. He finally stopped and faced her. “You see, I had cancer. And then it was gone after years of tests, surgeries, and chemo and radiation. So many treatments.”
“I’m so sorry.” Her heart clenched in her chest. Such a battle he’d had.
“I don’t want you to be sorry. I don
’t want sympathy. I hate that sympathetic I’m-so-sorry look I get when people find out. So… I just quit mentioning it to anyone.”
“I understand that. I get tired of the sympathy look I get when people hear I’m a widow.”
“Yes, and that. A widow. Your husband died. You shouldn’t date a man who had cancer.”
“But you said it was gone.”
He looked away from her before turning back. “But I’m never really sure. It’s always there in the back of my mind, will it come back?”
“And you’re afraid it has? That’s why you were at Dr. Harden’s?
“How did you… Never mind, no secrets in this town. I’ve found that out. But, yes, I’m having a few symptoms that my oncologists told me to watch out for. Dr. Harden is running some tests.” He raked his hand through his hair. “Don’t you see? I can’t put you through this. The not knowing. The waiting for test results. And what if it has come back? So many doctor visits and treatments and I was so weak and sick last time. I don’t want you to go through that. I don’t want you to see me like that. And most of all… I don’t want you to care about me and then… maybe lose me.”
She sat on the bed, gathering her words. She wanted to get this exactly right. She stood and crossed the room, standing right in front of him. “David Quinn, I already care about you. You’ve brought joy and light into my life. You’ve made me feel again. And it is so nice to just… feel. Even if sometimes the feeling is pain or sadness. Walking numbly through life is worse.” She reached up and touched his face. “Don’t throw this away. Whatever this is that we have. Don’t give up before we even have a chance.”
“But Ruby—”
“No buts.” She smiled at him.
“What if I get bad news from Dr. Harden?”
“Then we’ll deal with it.”
“You shouldn’t have to go through this. Not again. I’m afraid you’ll change your mind in the middle of the chaos that is cancer and its treatment. You’ll leave just like my wife did.”
