by Kay Correll
For the first time in a long time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to take the easy way out.
Chapter 17
Will took a long beach walk after his talk with Caroline. Try as he might, he couldn’t sort out his feelings. The evening light dimmed with the sunset, and he headed back to Whit’s cottage. He cut across the beach and climbed the stairs to the deck. He looked over to see if, just by chance, Ashley might be out on her deck. But, no. The faint smell of burning wood drifted around him. Someone must be having a bonfire on the beach. He looked and saw smoke behind Ashley’s cottage.
Whit came out on the deck. “What are you staring at?”
“Someone must be having a bonfire on the beach.” He pointed to the smoke behind Ashley’s cottage.
Or was it behind Ashley’s cottage?
The hair rose on the nape of his neck. “Whit… I don’t think that’s on the beach. That’s from Ashley’s cottage. Call the fire department.”
He leapt off the stairs and hit the beach running, fear racing through him.
“Be careful. Wait for the fire department.” Whit called after him.
Will rushed to the cottage, his pulse pounding in his ears. Was Ashley home? Was she okay? He took the stairs to her deck in one stride and jerked on the sliding door to the cottage.
It wouldn’t budge. Locked. Maybe she wasn’t home?
He pounded on it. “Ashley?” He pounded again. “Ashley are you there?”
He raced around to the front of the cottage and saw her car was there, but that didn’t mean much, she usually walked around town. He tried the front door. Locked. He ran back to the sliding door and peered into the cottage. The room was filled with smoke, but through it, he could see Ashley on the floor. “Ashley!” he screamed her name.
He turned and grabbed a chair from the deck and swung it with all his might against the glass in the sliding door. It shattered around him and he lunged into the house, sinking low to his knees, mindless of the shards digging into his hands. He crawled, low, under the smoke to Ashley.
“Ashley. Are you okay?” He reached her and grabbed her with both hands.
“I…” Ashley coughed.
“Okay, don’t talk. I’m getting you out of here. Hold on.” He gathered her into his arms and rose unsteadily to his feet, crouching low, and raced outside into the cool, fresh, full-of-oxygen night air. He dropped to his knees and set Ashley on the sand, gasping for breath.
“Ash?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice sounded thready and weak. “I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up and there was smoke. I fell and got disoriented. I heard your voice and tried to get to you.”
“I found you. You’re okay.” His pulse pounded in his ears, his breath came out in gulps, and his eyes burned, but he paid no attention to all that. He pulled her into his lap, rocking back and forth. He could hear the sirens in the distance as he sat, holding her tucked tightly against his chest. He stroked her arms and gently swept her hair from her face.
“I thought I lost you.” He whispered into her ear and drew her closer. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
Whit rushed over and dropped to the sand beside them. “Are you okay?
“Yes.” Will coughed and sucked in more air.
“And Ashley?”
“I’m okay.” Ashley murmured the words.
“Help is coming.” Whit knelt beside him, one arm around his shoulder, peering at Ashley.
He held Ashley until the emergency medical technicians showed up. “We need to check her out. Sir? Sir? Let us exam her.”
“I’m right here, Ash. I’m not going anywhere.” He whispered the words in her ear. He reluctantly released his grip on her and let the technicians do their job.
Ashley awoke in the hospital to find Will asleep at her bedside, his head resting on his arms on the bed. She reached over, stroked his hair, and he stirred. He lifted his head and smiled at her through sleepy, bloodshot eyes.
“Ash, you’re awake. You feel okay?”
“I’m fine. You didn’t need to stay all night.”
“Yes, I did.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “When I saw that smoke coming from your house… I just… I thought I might lose you. I couldn’t breathe. I just…”
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She reached out to touch his face, streaked with soot. “You doing okay, though? There was a lot of smoke.”
“I’m fine.”
“The cottage?”
“There’s a lot of damage. They said the fire started in the back bedroom.”
“I don’t use that one.” Ashley frowned.
“They think it was faulty wiring. A lot of these old cottages haven’t been brought all up to code. They get grandfathered in until someone remodels.”
“I’m lucky you saw the smoke.” Ashley clung to Will’s hand. “You saved my life.”
“I’m so glad I was there. One more day and I would have been gone, back to Belle Island.” Will took both of her hands in his. His grip was warm and strong. “Ashley, there’s no way I’m leaving without telling you one thing.”
“What’s that?” She looked at his tired eyes, disheveled hair, and thought he’d never looked so handsome.
“I love you, Ash. I’ve never stopped.”
Her pulse raced and the room spun. He loved her. And of course she loved him, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she didn’t. But love alone wasn’t enough, was it? Maybe when you’re silly kids, but not when you’re mature adults with dreams and goals.
“I love you, too, Will.”
His eyes lit up.
“But… that doesn’t really change things, does it?” Her heart twisted in her chest. “We want different things. We’d just make each other miserable.”
His eyes clouded. “We could make it work. We’re not so very different.”
“Ah, my Will. We are so very different.” They were different and she couldn’t just leap into his arms and forget they wanted different things out of life.
“We love each other. It should be that simple.” Will’s face held a determined look.
“You drift through life—and I’m not saying that’s wrong—for you. But I need structure and plans. I know that about myself. I need to know what the future holds.”
“Do we ever truly know what’s in our future?”
“Will, you’re asking me to choose between you and my dreams. We live in different towns and you know you don’t want to live in Indigo Bay.”
“We’ll work it out. You could come to Belle Island with me.” His eyes flashed.
“Or you could come live here. You can bartend anywhere.”
As soon as the words slipped out, she knew she’d hurt him. He pulled away from her.
“The same could be said about practicing medicine.” He stood beside her bed and looked down at her. He slowly turned and started for the door. He paused halfway and turned to her. “We could have tried. You shouldn’t be afraid to try… to give us a chance.”
She saw him standing in the middle of the room, so proud, asking her to be with him. Her heart begged her to say yes, but her mind argued it would never work.
“I just… can’t. It wouldn’t work and then we’d have to go through all the pain again.”
Will looked at her, his shoulder’s set, his face a stony mask of disappointment. “I never thought of you as a quitter, Ash. But I can’t make you want to try, can’t make you give us a chance. I’ll leave now. I’ll go back home. I wish the best for you, I do. I hope those plans of yours make you very happy.”
She watched him walk out the door, and the cold loneliness of the hospital room seeped into her very bones.
Chapter 18
Will entered the rehab center in Savannah, Georgia. A young lady at the reception desk smiled at him. A smile like that would have garnered her an answering smile and some sweet talk just a few short weeks ago, but now he just asked to see Warren.
“He’s in the sunroom now. It’s j
ust down that hallway, make a left, and you can’t miss it.” She smiled at him again.
He just nodded and headed down the long hallway. He entered the sunroom and found Warren sitting and working on a crossword puzzle, of course. Warren looked up, and a wide grin spread across his face. “Will. Good of you to stop in.”
“It was on my way back home.” Will dropped to a chair beside Warren.
“Well, it’s good to see you. I hear Whit was all upset when she couldn’t get ahold of me. My cell phone battery was dead and I didn’t bring a charger for it. They finally found one I could use, and I called her when I got the messages. I feel horrible that she didn’t find my note at first. She must have thought…” Warren’s voice trailed off.
“Actually, she was pretty vocal about defending you. Saying you had changed and you wouldn’t have just left without saying anything.” Will screwed up his courage. “I know I didn’t give you much of a chance this visit.”
“You have no reason to trust me, Will, but I have changed. I hope to be able to prove that to you.”
“I don’t know how this is going to work…” Will was lost. He didn’t know how to have a relationship with this man.
Warren reached over and put his hand over Will’s. “I think we can just take it a day at a time. When are you coming back to Indigo Bay for another visit?”
“Not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon.” Or anytime for that matter. Unless Ashley decided to move far, far away. And that wasn’t going to happen either.
“Well, maybe I could come with Whitney next time she goes to visit you.”
“I’d like that.”
Will stared at the man who he’d sworn he’d never forgive. “All I ask is that you don’t hurt Whitney again.”
“I won’t. I promise. I can’t change the past, but I can promise I’m going to be a good father to Whitney… and to you, if you let me. Or we can be whatever you’d like if you can’t think of me as your father. I am so sorry about the past.”
Will stared at Warren’s hand covering his own. A hand that hadn’t been there to help him as he was growing up, but one that was willing to try to build a relationship now. A tiny spot in Will’s heart thawed. A part of his heart he’d kept firmly wrapped up, not daring to hope. “You know, Warren, I do forgive you for the past. Let’s put it behind us. Everyone makes mistakes. You’re doing a lot to make up for them. I’ve… missed you. I’ve missed the father I had before Mom died.”
“I’ve missed you, too, son.” Warren’s face was flushed with gratitude and his eyes glistened.
Will cleared his throat. “Well, I should get back on the road.”
“I’m glad you stopped by.”
Will stood and reached out to shake his father’s hand. “I’m glad I stopped by, too. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, son.”
Will took a few steps across the sunroom, then turned back to Warren. “See you soon, Dad.”
Ashley hoped a piece of Caroline’s pecan pie would improve her mood. She’d been sulking around since Will left. The clinic kept her busy during the day… but the nights seemed to last forever. A loneliness like she’d never felt before settled around her. She felt all alone, which was strange since all her life she’d worked so hard to fit in and to feel like an accepted resident of Indigo Bay. She finally was getting her wish. People filled the waiting room at the clinic. Even Victoria had brought Mia in for a checkup saying something about it was too inconvenient to go into Charleston to the doctor there.
But even with all that, she still was so, so lonely.
She sat at a window by the table, watching the townsfolk walk by outside. Happy families strolled by and couples walked hand-in-hand. She saw Miss Sanderson and Maggie go into a shop across the street. Everyone seemed to have… someone.
“Did you come in for pie?” Caroline stood at the table with a welcoming smile.
“I did.”
“Thought so.” Caroline placed a tray with two pieces of pecan pie and a pitcher of sweet tea on the table. “Want some company?”
Ashley nodded gratefully and Caroline sat across the table from her. Caroline poured them both a tall glass of tea and doled out the pie and forks. “Pecan usually cheers a person up.”
“I hope it works.” Ashley took a sip of the tea.
“Want to talk about it?” Caroline leaned forward. “I’m a good listener.”
“I… I just feel… wrong. Alone. Which is crazy because people in town are actually asking me to do things. I’m going to help with Ashland Belle Society’s fundraiser in a few weeks. The clinic is busy. Very busy.”
“You miss Will.” Caroline cut right to the point.
Ashley sat back in her chair. “I do. I admit that. At one point I thought… well, it doesn’t matter. He’d never stay in Indigo Bay.”
“Location is all that is keeping you apart?”
“Well, that’s a biggie. There’s a ton of miles between us. And we’re different. We want different things from life.”
“Do you? Don’t you think plans can sometimes change? That we sometimes need to adapt to changes? Life throws us surprises, and we need to figure out how to handle them. Life isn’t all neatly planned out… and if we do plan it out, life has a way of laughing at us.”
Ashley played at eating her pie. “I guess so. I did have everything planned out. I came back here to prove to everyone I was more than that geeky girl from the wrong side of town. I wanted everyone to accept me for who I am… and they do now. Don’t they?” She looked at Caroline.
“Is that so important? What people think about you? I believe the only person we need to worry about pleasing is ourself. You need to believe in yourself and accept yourself… whoever you are. Whether you’re the smart, geeky girl in a rundown apartment with a fabulous father who loved you very much, you know, or whether you’re the town’s newest doctor. What is important is if you’re happy with the person you are, not what anyone else thinks about you.”
Ashley set down her fork. “I… I guess I’ve been so busy worrying about what others thought, that I didn’t stop to think about what I thought.” Ashley frowned. “I am proud of me. I worked hard to become a doctor and I think I’m a darned good one.”
“Exactly.” Caroline smiled. “That’s what’s important. But you’re more than just a doctor. You have to like you as a person.”
Ashley felt her forehead crinkle. “Well, that one is tougher. I’m not sure about Ashley the person.”
“What does Ashley the person want now? That’s what’s important.”
Ashley looked at Caroline, and it was as if the kind woman’s wise words had chased the fog away and she could see clearly now. She jumped up from the table. “I know exactly what I want.”
“Whitney? You here?” Ashley called through the screen door of Whitney’s cottage.
“In the kitchen, come on in.”
Ashley hurried back through Whitney’s cottage.
“Hey, Ashley. What’s up? I was just pouring myself a glass of wine. You want one?” Whitney stood in her kitchen with a bottle of wine in one hand and a corkscrew in the other.
“No… Thanks, but… can you give me Will’s address?” Ashley stood with one hand on the back of a kitchen chair.
“You going to write him?” Whitney cocked her head to one side.
“No, I’m going to go see him.”
“I thought things were over between you? Over for good, that’s what he said when he left.” Whitney’s voice held a protective overtone.
“I messed up. Really messed up. I was so focused on my life plan. Never waver, never veer off track. I thought that we wanted different things. Well, we do, I guess. But it all comes down to that fact that I love your brother.”
Whitney grinned. “Of course you do. I just didn’t think you were ever going to realize it.”
Ashley sighed. “I thought the best thing that could happen to me was to come back and prove to the town that I’m a success, that I’ve m
ade it. But even though the town has accepted me—the clinic is full every day now—I’ve been miserable every single minute since Will left.”
“You don’t say.” Whitney smiled, poured herself a glass of wine, and took a sip. “I was wondering if the two of you would ever figure out that you’re meant to be together.”
“I don’t care if all Will wants out of life is to be a bartender. If that makes him happy, I’m good with that. Great with that.” Ashley walked over to the window and looked out at the sea, the waves rolling in, one after the next. “I’m fine if he wants to drift through life without a plan as long as he’s happy.”
“He’s not exactly just a bartender.” Whitney frowned. “Didn’t he tell you he owns The Lucky Duck tavern?”
Ashley turned back towards Whitney. “No, he left that part out.”
“He not only owns the tavern, he owns some rental properties around town. Remember how great he was with math in school?”
Ashley nodded.
“Well, it turns out he’s not only good at math, he’s good at playing the market and investing.”
“Really? He didn’t say a word.” Ashley crossed back to the kitchen table.
“He doesn’t really like to talk about it. You know Will. He doesn’t care what people think about him. He’s pretty low key about the success he’s made.” Whitney’s eyes shone with pride. “I’m proud of him, though. I always knew he’d do something with his life.”
“But… he dropped out of high school. I thought he just wanted to float through life…” Ashley pulled out the chair and sank onto it. “I don’t understand.”
“He dropped out of high school to take a second job. Hasn’t he ever talked to you about it? I know when we were kids we swore each other to secrecy… but didn’t he talk to you? Our father disappeared that year Will turned eighteen, his senior year in high school. We were running out of money and never knew when Dad would show up. He… he was a binge drinker. He’d just disappear for weeks at a time. This time it had been a month and… well, I was worried that social workers would come and take me away.”
