Page 62 of Willow in the Wind

But later that week, Stella got a call from the Nantucket tourism board. They’d read her resumé and wanted to chat to her about a potential freelance opportunity. Stella dressed in her mother’s nicest business clothes and went to the tourism office to tell them about her copywriting experience. There wasn’t much to report. But she felt James’s spirit flow through her as she fudged the details of her experience and told them how she could brighten up their website copy. They took a liking to her, and they knew her parents. She had it in the bag.

In a shocking twist, they told her she could write the copy from wherever she wanted to and email her work to the office. It meant she didn’t have to be anywhere at any specific time.

When she told her mother this, she said, “I don’t understand. They aren’t going to give you a computer? They aren’t going to give you a desk?”

But the freedom to freelance from anywhere fit well with Stella’s idea of life. Maybe she would travel again. Perhaps she would really go to London and track James down. Maybe she would defeat her own broken heart with a brand-new story.

Sometimes she imagined herself going to London and getting a crazy-good copywriting job. She’d find an apartment and meet a ton of really cool friends. She’d go out dancing and go to gigs. Maybe she’d meet a really handsome guy—a musician or an artist. And perhaps one night, they’d be out on the town, andJames would spot her from across the club, and they’d lock eyes, and he’d think,Wow, I really messed up.

But mostly, Stella just worried she’d die of loneliness. Of missing him.

In late October, Stella went to a coffee shop in the Historic District of Nantucket to read Proust and write in her journal. She still hadn’t returned to writing fiction yet. But she imagined that wherever he was, James had already written one hundred new songs since she’d last seen him. He was alive with creativity.

That afternoon, as October sunlight spilled into the coffee shop, the bell jangled from the doorway, and Stella turned to find a familiar face.

It was her high school boyfriend.

It was Matt Fallon.

Stella closed her book with surprise and got up. He strode toward her with a familiar smile. She hadn’t seen him since he’d left Nantucket at eighteen to attend college in Chicago. Back then, they hadn’t even discussed doing long-distance. They’d wanted to open their hearts to change. She couldn’t even remember crying about it. It had felt necessary.

“Well, well, well,” Matt said now, grinning. “If it isn’t Stella Sutton.”

“I’m sorry. Have we met?” Stella asked.

Matt burst into laughter. “I must have confused you with someone else.”

Stella invited him to sit down. He ordered a coffee and joined her, spreading his large, capable hands across the table and demanding she tell him what she’d been up to lately.

“I was in Greece for a while,” she said.

“That sounds fun,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go, um, anywhere.”

“How was Chicago?”

“Cold. Windy. Lots of hot dogs,” he said with a laugh. “Midwesterners are the nicest people in the world. But it’s good to be back in Nantucket. I just got a computer job at a little company down the road. I’m making adult money, which feels crazy. But I don’t mind growing up. It feels freeing not to fear the future.”

Stella told him about her copywriting freelance job, and he said, “That’s awesome. You were always a really strong writer.”

Stella grinned. She liked being complimented by him.

She thought,Did James ever compliment me? Did he ever read my writing?

She wasn’t sure.

“Are you staying with your parents?” Stella asked.

“I have an apartment downtown,” Matt said. “I had my freedom for too long out in Chicago. I couldn’t go back to having my parents always know what I was doing.”

This was attractive to Stella—the idea that he wanted to be close to his family, but he wanted to build his own life, too.

Plus, he seemed so open and honest.

So safe.

When he asked her to get a drink with him that weekend, she said yes.

Their first date of their “adult relationship,” as they ultimately called it, was on Halloween. Matt wore vampire fangs out to the bar, and they shared two candy bars and watched trick-or-treaters run around outside. It was cold—twenty-two degrees—and all the kids wore their costumes under big coats.

---