~ * ~
Keely liked the feeling of Hunt’s arm around her. She liked his warmth seeping over to keep the chill away. They sat in companionable silence on the front porch. A gentle breeze drifted across from the water. For a while they just gently rocked back and forth in the swing and sipped their wine. Keely couldn’t remember another living soul who she felt this comfortable with, who she could just sit with in silence and thoroughly enjoy herself. The night darkened around them with the random call of the gulls and an occasional car passing down the road, their headlights cutting a swath across the darkness until they faded into the distance.
“Another glass?” Hunt leaned over and picked up the wine bottle sitting on the weathered gray boards of the porch.
“Sure, that sounds good. Just a short one, though.” Keely held out her glass while Hunt poured the rich mahogany-colored wine. She sipped on her drink and stared across at the beach in the moonlight. It was back to the real world tomorrow. It was time. She’d called Katherine every day, but her sister had assured her everything was fine. Keely was anxious to get back and see, if indeed, everything was as good as Katherine said.
“You look lost in thought. Thinking about the cafe?”
“How’d you guess?”
“We’ve been gone three days, and I figured that’s about your limit.”
“It is. But I’ve had a really great time. It was nice to get away. It was nice to write again. Thanks for going over my article this afternoon.”
“I’ll send it in when I send in my photos. I’ve already mentioned it to my editor.”
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this. Even if nothing comes out of it, it was fun to work with you again.” Keely felt a longing inside, the familiar tug of wanting to be able to roam the world, write, and most of all, make her own choices. She sighed.
“That was a heartfelt sigh.” Hunt took her hand in his.
The connection to him was electrifying, comforting, and yet, unnerving.
“What’s wrong?” He squeezed her hand.
She paused for a moment, trying to put her feelings into words. So many emotions had bubbled through her the last few days. Freedom. Guilt. Happiness. Regret. “I just feel… lost. Trapped. Wondering when I’ll ever have a time away again like this.” A magical time like this.
At that very moment, it hit her. It hit her hard, with a quickening of breath and a whirl of why-didn’t-I-see-it-before-this thoughts. It was not only the excitement of traveling and writing. It was spending time with Hunt. That was a big part of what had made it so extraordinary. His smiles, his teasing, a random kiss here and there. Talking, lots of talking. Just sitting here holding his hand. She would miss all of this. Tomorrow was the end of a truly enchanting time for her. Yet she had to go back. She had to.
Hunt gently rocked the swing with one stretched out foot. “I sound like a broken record, but maybe it’s time to let Katherine run the cafe for a bit. Take some time to travel. Maybe go back to school. Night school might be possible. It seems like Katherine is handling things okay this week. With a bit more time to learn the ropes, she could probably do just fine. I know you said no before, but now that Katherine is catching on to things, don’t you think you could just do some things for yourself?”
And just like that, the mood was broken, shattered into a million if onlys. Keely could physically feel the magic slipping away into the night, out of her reach, never to be grasped again. Hunt sat clueless to the obliteration of the hypnotic charm that had been hers for just a brief few days.
“I just can’t dump the cafe on Katherine. It wouldn’t be right.” Keely’s chest tightened and the familiar wave of guilt washed over her, crushing her in its magnitude. It was all her fault. Everything. There was no way she’d leave Kat to deal with the cafe, not to mention their mother. She couldn’t. Not now, not ever.
“I know I’ve said it before, but everyone has a right to make the kind of life they want for themselves. Make choices. Live their life how they want to. You just need to look at Katherine as the grown woman she has become. And you know what? She seems to love working at the cafe. It should be a win, win situation for both of you.”
“I can’t just run off and leave Katherine. I can’t leave her with the cafe or leave her to deal with Mother.” Keely’s voice was low and she struggled to control the tears that threatened to flow.
“I just don’t understand.” Hunt looked at her with an expression that clearly said he thought she was wrong.
But then, Hunt didn’t know the truth, the whole truth. Oh, he knew it was her fault her father had had a heart attack—not that he agreed with her. But he didn’t know Katherine’s accident was all her fault. Her mother knew, though, and had never let an opportunity go by where she didn’t subtly hint at it.