Page 32 of Willow in the Wind

“Will do,” James said.

He’d tell her he lost it or something. Better yet, maybe she’d forget.

In a sense, James thought it was funny that a book by Stella Sutton was the reason Kinsey was so upset with him. It was as though Stella’s ghost had swanned in from the past to ruin his future. In a way, he deserved it.

He certainly couldn’t dispute the fact that he’d loved Stella more than he’d loved any woman on earth. That was his long-standing story. That was the foundation upon which he’d built his life.

Stella and James forever.

It was why he’d named his sailboat after her.

That had been a complicated time.

He’d still been married to Nancy when he bought the boat. Nancy hadn’t wanted him to buy it. She’d said it was silly, that it would go to waste. She’d already mentioned divorce twice by then, which was part of the reason he’d wanted the boat in the first place. He’d wanted the boat to guard his heart from the sorrow that awaited him on the other side of the divorce papers. When he’d bought the boat and had it painted with its name—Stella—he’d known his marriage was really over.

He’d considered reaching out to Stella, then. He hadn’t known where she was or what she was up to, but he’d dreamed of sailing along an eastern coastline with his sailboatStellafor allto see. He’d imagined she’d see the boat and call his name. He’d imagined she’d swim out to sea and come aboard and kiss him in a way that transported them through time.

We would have been happy together.

We would have lasted.

If only.

If only.

James stayed up late that night finalizing the article about Frank Baxter and sending it off. After that, he tookThe Athens Affairoff his desk and pressed it against his chest. What had possessed her to write this? What had she been thinking?

For the first time, he opened the back jacket. There was no photograph, but there was a bio.

Stella Sutton lives on Nantucket Island with her daughter and son. This is her first novel.

James’s heart pounded. There was no mention of a husband. Did it mean she’d gotten divorced and changed her name back to Sutton? Or did it mean she’d never gotten married? Maybe she’d adopted her children and raised them on her own.

So many possibilities that make up life.

James went to his laptop. Before he could stop himself, he typed in her name. He felt invasive.

But Stella didn’t have much of an online presence. She didn’t have social media. She had a website for pre-orders of her book, but she hadn’t included an author headshot for some reason. The only image of her he could find was located on TikTok—in the video Taylor had mentioned. But he couldn’t bring himself to watch the video. He didn’t want to see her like that. Not for the first time in more than twenty years.

But there was a link on her website that gave him pause.

BUY TICKETS forThe Athens Affairbook launch at the Sutton Book Club on August 24, 2024.

James took a breath.

Over the years, he’d been to his fair share of book launches for friends or musicians who’d written autobiographies. Usually, there was a nice array of wine and plenty of pretentious conversation. The writer might do a reading, a few people asked questions that were more like statements, and then everyone celebrated till the wee hours of the morning.

He’d never been to a book launch for a bookabout his own life.

James went to the window and peered through the curtain at a city glossy with rain. It was nearly one thirty in the morning, but the streets were still vibrant with life. Such was the way of Manhattan.

He wondered what it was like in Nantucket at this time of night. He wondered what the ocean sounded like. He wondered if anyone else stayed up late.

He thought,A braver man than me would go to Nantucket for the book launch and face Stella for the first time.

But James didn’t feel like an especially brave man anymore.

He wasn’t sure if he’d ever actually been brave to begin with. Maybe it had all been for show.

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