by Amanda Ashby
“Don’t talk nonsense, girl,” Charlie said in a gruff voice.
“What?” Emmy frowned. “Of course she would’ve. She spent her entire life taking care of the farm and us. You, out of everyone, should know that. After all, that’s why she turned down your marriage proposal—because she put us first.”
Charlie barked with laughter before he stretched out his wrinkled hand to pat her shoulder. “While it does make Ivy sound very noble, you’re wrong.”
“I don’t understand. So why did she turn you down, then?” Emmy chewed her lip as she studied his eyes, turned pale blue with age.
“I thought that was obvious. Because she didn’t love me. Not like that. If she’d wanted to be my wife, that woman would’ve moved heaven and earth to make it happen. Knowing her, she would’ve been the one doing the proposing. So rid yourself of the idea that she put others before herself. As for looking after you girls and keeping you safe, she didn’t do that out of duty, it was out of love. The one thing I can tell you about Ivy is she didn’t die with any regrets.”
Emmy’s breath caught in her throat.
She’d always just assumed Ivy had been secretly nursing a broken heart all of these years ago. And for the first time since she’d come to Wishing Bridge farm as a child, she felt lost. The bond she and her great aunt shared had always acted like a lodestone. Giving her direction and keeping her safe. To discover it was false was disarming.
What the hell?
She stared at Charlie. “Are you saying I should go after Christopher?”
“I’m saying you should follow your heart. Those sisters of yours always like to say you’re too scared to leave, but I know you, Emmy Watson and it’s not fear that’s holding you back, it’s a misplaced sense of duty. And if Ivy knew, she’d be turning in her grave. All she ever wanted was for her girls to be happy. For you to be happy.”
“What about Bec? And the business? Even without buying my sisters out, I still need money to pay the bills and keep the farm going.”
“This farm was going long before you arrived, and it will keep going long after you leave. As for Bec, it’s not you she needs, it’s this place. This community. They’re the ones who’ve always kept you strong, so let them work their magic on that wild sister of yours. Don’t you see? That’s why she came home. Not because she was pregnant but because something was missing in her life. And if you don’t think there’s something missing in your life, Emmy Watson, then you’re not the girl I thought you were.”
Without another word, he hoisted himself out of the chair and slowly made his way back across the barn, leaving Emmy alone with the dull pounding of her heart.
Okay, so that happened.
It was so much to take in, to try and untangle and make sense of, not to mention—
No! She jumped to her feet as she finally understood what Charlie had been trying to tell her. It wasn’t complicated at all. There was nothing to untangle. If she loved Christopher, she shouldn’t be sitting at the farm, moping around and dreaming of what could’ve been. If Ivy lived and died without regrets, then that’s what she needed to do, too.
She needed to go out and be with him and let the farm and Bec take care of each other until she returned. If she returned at all.
Her body heated as she looked up at the perfect Connecticut sky, and as the soft hum of insects buzzed all around her, she got the feeling Ivy approved.
Chapter Thirteen
Emmy Watson hurried across the Honolulu International Airport clutching the two-foot high trophy Christopher had won. In retrospect, traveling with it had been a mistake. She’d only taken it to convince him anything was possible. Unfortunately, after a long flight, several delays, and no sleep, the trophy wasn’t the only thing Emmy was starting to question.
What am I doing here?
She hadn’t been able to get in touch with Christopher because, according to his agent, he’s secured the development deal for the show and was off climbing the rim of some non-active volcano. Of course he was. If anyone was going to climb a rim of a volcano it was him. And me, apparently.
This was all a terrible mistake. Like, the Titanic of mistakes.
What if she couldn’t find him? What if she’d read more into the article than was really there? After all, it was his job to be a brilliant and amazing writer, so those words were just all part of a day’s work. The adrenaline that had charged through her while she’d booked her ticket, packed her bag, and left her sister with a mile long set of instructions faded, giving way to blind terror.
She increased her grip on the trophy and swallowed hard. She still needed to catch another flight to where he was staying and even then there were no guarantees Christopher would be there. He might’ve decided to kayak his way back to the mainland, or skydive in, or do whatever adventurous people liked to do.
A spurt of hysterical laughter burst up from her chest.
Of all the ridiculous things she’d ever done in her life, surely this had to top the list. Even more so than when I kissed him for the first time.
She’d left the farm and the business in the hands of her pregnant, footloose sister to follow some crazy, stupid idea—
There he was.
Heat slammed through her body as the all-too-familiar figure of Christopher Henderson walked across the terminal. It was him! What was he doing here? Had someone called him? Then she frowned. And why was he pushing a luggage trolley loaded with suitcases? What happened to traveling light?
A thousand questions crashed through her mind as she watched his eyes widen at the sight of her. Okay, so that answered question one. He hadn’t known she’d be here. Which meant that he was on his way somewhere. Making yet another trip. For him it was just a regular Tuesday.
“Emmy?” He finally reached her. “W-what are you doing here?”
“I—” She opened her mouth, searching the millions of rehearsed speeches she’d practiced on the flight. But nope, there was nothing. Which, for the record, wasn’t ideal.
Why didn’t I write it all down?
Or at least created some bullet points. Yes, bullet points definitely would’ve helped. She caught sight of the trophy in her hands. “You forgot this.”
She thrust the gleaming figure skaters toward him. He took it.
Who flew all the way to Hawaii to give someone a secondhand trophy? Oh, wait. That would be me.
“I see.” He traced a line along the trophy and Emmy trembled. “Um, well, thank you. I guess I left in a hurry.”
“Yeah. You never know when you’re going to have a trophy emergency.” Her cheeks heated as she realized how unprepared she was. “It seemed like a good idea, but then I couldn’t get in touch with you, and now I can see that—well, that you’re on your way somewhere. I shouldn’t have come. You have a flight to catch.”
“Screw my flight.” He growled, his voice low and intense. Hope flared in her chest. “Emmy, what’s going on? Why are you really here? Is everything okay? Bec—”
“She’s fine.” Emmy breathed in. It was a mistake and his scent filled her nostrils her chest pounded like a puppy. “Everything’s fine. I guess I just wanted to see you. H-how are you?”
“Up until about two minutes ago I was miserable.” He seemed to be weighing his words as he carefully placed the trophy on top of his luggage as if it were a prize jewel.
“And now?” Emmy dared to look up at him. If she thought breathing around him was a mistake, then looking definitely compounded the problem. His face was all lines and angles—unshaved stubble that called for her touch, eyes that looked tired and needed kissing, and clothes that most definitely needed removing. If this backfires, I’m so screwed.
“Now, I’m hopeful. You really flew to Hawaii just to see me?”
“Yeah. I guess I’m more impulsive than I knew,” she said, before daring to ask the question. After all, she hadn’t traveled all this way for nothing. “So, where are you going?”
“Me?” For the first time since she’d seen
him, a smile formed across his face. “I’m going to a small town called Sunshine. You might’ve heard of it.”
“You were coming to see me?” Her knees started to buckle and the sentence she’d been starting to formulate vanished from her mind. “Are you serious?”
“Completely. Though, if I knew you were such a jetsetter, I would’ve made better plans. To think we almost missed each other.”
“That would’ve sucked.” Her mouth went dry as he reached out and touched her face. A slither of warmth went through her body, but she stepped back. She knew she lost all reason when they touched, and she was pretty sure that losing reason at an airport couldn’t result in anything good. Plus, if they stood any chance of working things out, they needed to talk first. “Why were you coming to see me?”
“To grovel.” He stepped away from his trolley so he was in front of her.
How was it fair that anyone could look so gorgeous?
“I-I see.” The air disappeared from her lungs, and she dug her nails into her palms to stop herself from shaking. “And what would this groveling entail?”
Kissing? Getting naked? Both of those work for me.
“For a start, it would involve me saying I’m sorry.” He reached for her hands and pressed them up to his mouth.
Fireworks.
Everywhere.
Okay, maybe just in my head.
“Then it would move on to me admitting that I’m the dumbest guy who ever walked the earth. Times six hundred.”
“Go on,” she managed to say as he began to trace a line along her palm as if it were a roadmap. The fireworks spread through her belly.
“After that, I’d declare all of the things I’m going to do to earn your forgiveness. Like cooking you dinner.”
“Not worms,” she reminded him as his finger trailed up her arm.
There’s a good chance I’m going to end up in a puddle if he keeps touching me like that.
“Definitely not worms,” he groaned before letting out a strangled sigh. “Hell, Emmy. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said as his mouth found hers. Thank, God. His lips parted, hungrily searching her out. His hands slid around her waist and drew her close so that the space between them disappeared. If this was groveling, then she was a fan.
He finally pulled back, his mouth swollen as he shook his head. “Okay, that wasn’t meant to happen until after the groveling was finished.”
“Wait? There’s more?” Her pulse pounded.
“Oh, yeah. So much more. I love you. That’s why I was coming to see you. To tell you that I made a mess of everything, and that I lost sight of what mattered most—that you know I love you. I’m crazy about you. Unable to do anything but think about you. I mean what’s the point of feeling it and not saying it?”
He loved her? To the point of crazy?
Okay, it was official. Her knees buckled.
“Christopher—” She opened her mouth to go on, but he shook his head.
“It’s okay. You don’t need to say it back, I just needed to say it to you. And the rest. I should never have left. I love you, and I love everything about Wishing Bridge Farm and Sunshine. I even wrote about it.”
“Put Some Sunshine in Your Life.”
“You saw it?” Color mounted in his cheeks, making him look adorable.
“Everyone in Sunshine saw it. Stan even has a laminated copy in his taxi. I think he’s proud of the fact he charged you fifty dollars for a scenic tour.” She took a tiny step forward, hardly daring to breathe in case something happened to make the man in front of her disappear, like he’d done in the numerous dreams she’d been having. Nightmares.
“So, that’s where I was headed. To tell you stuff and to make things right. I’m not sure why you’re here, though.”
“I wasn’t sure either,” Emmy admitted as she licked her lips and looked up at him. All of her worries faded away, and she reached for his hand. “But I am now. I love you, too. I think that’s what scared me the most. But I get it now. It’s not the love part that’s scary, it’s the being without it.”
“What are you saying?” His voice was low.
“I just want to be with you, and if that means living in a grass hut in Hawaii, or bunking on a ship, or camping up a mountain, then that’s what I want to do. Have passport, will travel.”
Christopher sucked in a sharp breath as he reached out and touched her face. “You’d do that? But what about the farm? And Bec?”
“Well, let’s see. Bec’s taken to wedding planning like a duck to water, and thanks to your article we’re getting more bookings than we know what to do with. As for Bec herself, Charlie quite rightly pointed out that Sunshine has a way of looking after its own. More importantly, I had to remind myself every day why you and I wouldn’t work, and every day I was less and less convinced. So, here I am.”
Christopher stepped forward, the distance between them gone, and his lips crashed down on hers. The feel of his mouth, his breath, his skin set her on fire, all the tension and strain of the last four weeks falling away.
This was what she wanted.
And I was nuts to think I could survive without it.
Her hands instinctively slid around his waist, and she let out a small sigh. This was right. They were right. And that’s all she cared about. Christopher deepened the kiss for just a moment before stepping back, his green eyes still concerned.
What? No. Don’t pull away.
“I’ve got something else to tell you—” He licked his lips and didn’t quite return her gaze.
“If it’s about the show. I know. Trent told me,” Emmy said, accepting that for now there would be less kissing and more talking. Being an adult was so overrated. “And I couldn’t be prouder. You worked so hard to get it, and I don’t care if it goes on for years, I’m sticking with you.”
“That’s the thing.” Christopher took a deep breath. “I talked with the production company, and as of yesterday, I’m no longer going to host it. That honor will go to my buddy, Patrick. Who, quite frankly has even more energy than that bouncy sister of yours.”
“You turned down the show?” Emmy studied his face looking for clues. What did this mean? “But what about your career? You’ve worked so hard.”
“And I’ll keep working hard. I’m still on as a producer and will be spending a lot of my time researching locations and setting up challenges for Patrick to do. Plus, everywhere I went all I could see were unusual treasures that would look good at a vintage wedding. I’ve been away just over a month and already have three suitcases full. That’s more than I’d normally buy in a year.”
“But what about your dad? You were worried if you stay still you might become bitter.”
“My father’s bitterness came from the inability to change and adapt. He kept the same damn goal his whole life, and every year he that he sat in his chair, not making the smallest attempt to make his dream come true, his resentment grew. I won’t be like him because I’m choosing not to be.”
Emmy’s head was spinning. “What are you saying? That you want to come back to the farm?”
“I’m saying I want to come back to you,” he corrected as he drew her back toward him. “And if you’re at Wishing Bridge Farm, then so am I. If you want to travel around the world, that’s where I’ll be. I thought it was complicated, but actually it’s—”
“Simple.” Emmy finished, as she let her body melt into his. “And while I’m so happy you want to come home, I wouldn’t mind a few days in Hawaii. I believe there’s a particular waterfall you wanted to show me.”
His lips found hers. “I always knew you had the heart of an adventurer,” he murmured, as Emmy lost herself in their kiss. If this was what living without regrets entailed, she could definitely get use to it.
Epilogue
“I don’t like it,” Christopher announced two weeks later as he watched Emmy from across the room. The grass skirt grazed her thighs and the bikini top gave him a full view of her
divine stomach. A stomach that, until several minutes ago, he’d been kissing.
Man, I’ll never get tired of doing that.
“What do you mean? It’s a traditional Hawaiian dance. I’ve been practicing it all day. What’s there not to like?” Emmy lowered her hands and flipped off the music that had been playing from the stereo system in the Airbnb property where they were staying. The original plan had been to go backpacking through the rest of the Pacific, but after visiting some of the outer islands, and having several more meetings with the production company, they’d decided to rent the gorgeous house on the beach.
It was luxury on acid, with long sliding doors, opulent furniture, and high tech appliances. When Emmy had first seen it, she was worried it might freak him out, make him think that she was trying to change him. Make him stand still.
What she didn’t seem to realize was that she had changed him, and he’d forever be grateful. He was also sure that he’d never forget the sight of her at the airport. She’d been surrounded by the unfamiliar and yet had never looked sexier than at that moment.
Even if she was holding a figure skating trophy.
He glanced to where the trophy was now sitting, covered in the welcome leis they’d received on their last flight. Besides, he wasn’t the only one adjusting. Compared to the vintage style she preferred, he’d been concerned she might not like the ultra-modern space, but after several long baths in the state-of-the-art tub, she’d been converted.
They both had.
He echoed her unanswered question. “What’s not to like? Well, for a start, you’re too far away.” He ticked his objections off on his fingers. “And two, you don’t seem to require a partner. I like the kind of dancing where I’m standing right next to you.”
“By standing, you mean seducing,” she clarified as she moved slowly toward him, the low skirt emphasizing her hips. Lust stirred in him. “Plus, the idea of this dance is for you to watch. Are you saying you don’t like to watch me?”
Good point.
“Okay, but you’re still too far away,” Christopher said as he un-ticked one of his fingers. His mouth went dry as she took another step forward, her bare foot tanned and the tiny tattoo she’d gotten on her ankle clearly visible. It was a small bird. She wanted to get it to remind herself to fly, and while he’d pointed out that she didn’t need reminding, he was starting to learn that once Emmy Watson made up her mind, it was hard to change it.
