Page 72 of The House on Firefly Beach
“I got on the board to talk some sense into them. I talked Colin out of building in the area, and I bought all the lots myself so that they would be forced to listen to me. The empty lots are going to be a natural preserve. There will be parking, but it will be inconspicuously placed. The view from Starlight Cottage won’t change. I’ve been working with the county on hiking trails and water access for kayaking, planting trees, and landscaping out to the road. I’ve been calling people about it since the wedding. I didn’t want to say anything in case I couldn’t make it happen, but it passed with a vote of fifteen to two.”
Sydney stood up and clasped a hand over her mouth in utter shock. It felt like a ten-year weight had been lifted, as if she were waking up from a terrible nightmare. How could she have gotten it so wrong: it had been Nathan Carr who’d been the imposter all along.
“I wish you’d have said something all those years ago…”
He nodded. “It was the worst decision of my life. I had to go to therapy for years just to stop the stress of it from eating me alive. That’s how I was in touch with Mary Alice. I needed someone I could trust. I had run into her after college, and we’d shared what we were doing at the time, so when I needed a therapist, she was the one I turned to because I knew she would keep it from the press. She urged me to call you, and I tried, but I just didn’t know if you’d want me in your life after what I’d done to us.”
Sydney looked around the room, processing all of this.That’swhy Mary Alice’s name was on his phone…
He rose and put his face right in front of hers. “I did it all because I’m totally in love with you.”
“Nate, I’m so sorry,” was all she could get out. She felt terrible that she’d misjudged him. All those times she’d thought he was being awful and selfish… Then all of a sudden, she noticed his frown and the disappointment on his face and she realized he thought she was apologizing for not feeling the way he did about her. “No,” she said, taking his hands. “I’m sorry it took me so long to understand.”
His face lifted and he squeezed her hands in his.
“I haven’t stopped missing you since the day you left,” she said.
With awhoop, Nate scooped her up into his arms, laughing with happiness. Then he looked into her eyes and pulled her close. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long damn time.” Agonizingly slowly, he pressed his lips to hers, and in that one kiss, he made up for all their lost time. His lips moved urgently on hers, his hands unstill, finding all the places they used to roam the last time his fingers had been set free upon her. She reached up, and ran her fingers through the back of his hair, the feel of him better than anything in the world.
Gently, Nate pulled back, the effort clearly quite difficult for him. He took his phone out of his pocket and typed something. Then, as he set his phone down on the counter, hers buzzed to life. Suspiciously, she pulled her phone from her back pocket and peered down at the email push notification.
I told her everything.
Love, Me
She looked up from her phone, confused.
“I wanted to talk to you when you weren’t so angry. I wanted to hear what your real thoughts were…”
“Mel?” she asked.
“Short for Melody, the name we wanted for our little girl.”
She swallowed. “And what’s the significance of 4221 in your email address?”
He lifted his eyes to the ceiling, and then shifted his gaze around the room. “It’s the address of our new house,” he said, spreading his arms wide.
“Ournew house? Nope, I’m not shacking up with anyone who hasn’t made an honest woman out of me,” she teased, recalling their old memory. “My ring is back at Starlight Cottage.”
Nate grabbed his phone again, and started typing something, his action jarring and pulling her out of the moment. Was he responding to something in the middle of their conversation? The fear that Nathan Carr was still present came rushing back, despite everything.
“Come outside with me?” he asked suddenly. “Let’s take a walk.”
He grabbed a pad of paper and a marker from the drawer and led her through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that opened up, exposing the entire room to the beach. The warm breeze blew in like an old friend as he took her hand and led her across the deck and down the stairs to the sand.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see.” He led her around the house and down the path they’d driven, into the mass of trees. The brush had all been cleared and shade-grass planted, the tops of it cool against the sides of her feet as she walked in her flip-flops.
“What was the message you sent from your phone just before we left?” she asked casually.
He stopped and faced her, looking down at her with a grin on his face. “It was nothing,” he replied. He leaned down and kissed her.
“Then why won’t you tell me?” she pressed playfully as she got up on her toes and looked him square in the eye. “You’d better tell me,” she said when he laughed instead of answering her. “I’m small but I’m feisty! I can take you down.” She hit her best karate pose, making him laugh even harder.
“You have nothing on me,” he said, tossing his notebook and pen into the grass. He grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up and making her squeal.
She wrapped her legs around his torso to hold on while she tickled his sides, causing him to collapse from the weight of her, both of them tumbling together onto the soft grass.
