Page 78 of Kiss From A Rose

The last light of the year's final day was fading as Rose and I found ourselves standing by the newly reinforced retaining wall, looking out over the ocean.

The fresh air carried the scent of salt and the promise of a new year. Thomas was inside with Malou, and Rose had come to watch me finish the work on the wall.

"You look very sexy in all that construction gear," she mused.

"Yeah? I can wear it all day, every day, for you, babe." We hadn't had sex, but she let me touch her, and she even lay a hand on me on her own once in a while. It wasn't sexual, but it was intimate.

We weren'tback,but I now knew we could be. If nothing else, I had more hope than I'd had when I first came to Angel Island.

I wish we had been able to talk as we did now while we were married, but twenty-twenty hindsight was always so much clearer than the present.

Rose's eyes were reflective as she watched the horizon, where the sky met the sea in a splash of twilight colors. "I want to stay here, Gray," she said suddenly, her voice firm yet filled with an undercurrent of vulnerability. "I want to have a life here, at the B&B, on this island."

Her words didn’t surprise me; I had seen her come alive here in ways I hadn’t witnessed in years.

I set the trowel I was using down and walked to her.

"Okay," I replied, my hand finding hers, our fingers intertwining naturally. "I'll stay with you."

She turned to look at me, surprise and unspoken questions in her eyes. I took a deep breath, ready to share what had been on my mind for the past few days.

"I've been thinking a lot about what matters, Rose. About how many days I've spent buried in work, missing out on truly living. I'm only forty-two, too young to retire, but maybe it's time for a change."

The waves crashed softly against the shore, providing a gentle backdrop to our conversation.

"What?" she gaped at me and then shook her head as if I were an apparition.

I kissed her softly on the mouth because fuck she let me, and each time she did, it was like Christmas morning.

"I'm considering stepping back from the day-to-day operations at the company, letting Justin go from acting toactualCEO and President," I continued. "I'll take on a role as a board member instead, handling only a few select projects. It would give me more free time, Rose. Time to be here, with you, to be part of this B&B, to live."

Rose's eyes searched mine, looking for certainty, perhaps even for the hint of the man she once knew who would have never entertained such thoughts. "You're going to resent me. I just know it," she said, her voice an anguished whisper.

"I can't promise what happens in the future; no one can. But I canguaranteethat I willneverresent you.I want this," I tried to assure her. "These days at Angel Island have shown me how much I've missed out on. I don't want to look back one day and realize I lost not just parts of my life but all of it to something as insignificant as a career."

"But you'll miss your life in Atlanta," she pointed out.

"Ourlife. We'll keep the house, babe, visit when we feel like it."

"But the B&B?"

"Babe, we have resources to hire help."

"You have resources, I have—"

"Don't," I warned her.

"What?"

I took her hand and dragged her into the house. "Gray," she protested.

I found my phone in the kitchen and called my lawyer. Rose tried to wrench her hand away from me, but I didn't let her. Instead, I sat down at the breakfast nook and settled her on my lap.

"Cahill," the voice of my lawyer Barry Cahill came through.

"Hey, Barry, it's Gray Rutherford. Sorry to disturb you on New Year's Eve."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm working anyway. All good with you?"

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