Memory of You (A Misty Cove Love Story) (2 page)

I was unpacking a box of books—my most prized possessions as an avid reader—and shelving them on the wall-length mahogany bookshelf in the long corridor when the doorbell rang. I froze and then turned toward the door in slow motion.

Please don’t let it be Bryce
. I wasn’t ready to face him a second time in one day. I had barely recovered from the earlier encounter.

The doorbell rang again and I moved forward with pursed lips and a pounding heart.

I relaxed when I peered through the peephole and saw Erin standing on the other side, wearing jeans and a loose, peacock green shirt, her coal black, wavy hair tucked into her signature French braid ponytail. She had mentioned that she might come over. But it was almost nine p.m. I thought she’d changed her mind. “It’s Friday.” She flashed a smile, revealing the cute gap between her top teeth that she was proud of, said it made her unique. “We still didn’t get a chance to welcome you back to Misty properly.”

I hugged her petite frame. Pulling out of her embrace, I accepted the bottle of wine she pressed against my chest. She pushed past me, leaving behind a whiff of honeysuckle, a scent that always followed her around.

“I managed to convince you to come home.” Erin’s aquamarine eyes sparkled with triumph. “Do you think I’m going to let you lock yourself up in this cottage and brood? No chance.”

I smiled and said nothing. She’d given me an answer to one of my questions. Why she hadn’t told me Bryce was back in town.

I heard you had an incident with Jerome. That jerk. He goes around conning anyone he thinks is weak.” Erin bent down, her hair spilling off her shoulders and hanging in mid-air as she pushed one of my boxes away from the couch. She stood up again, flipping the hair over her shoulder. “I also heard about…”

“Bryce. Yep, he came to the rescue.” I flopped onto the couch and pulled my feet up, hugging my legs. “Why didn’t you tell me he was in town?”

“He hasn’t been for a while. He must have heard you’re back.”

My stomach clenched. “You think he came back for me? He can’t have forgiven me.”

“Want to know the truth?” Erin leaned against me. “I’d never seen a man love a woman as much as Bryce loved you. I’d have been so jealous if you weren’t my best friend.”

“But you know why I couldn’t go through with the wedding, Erin.”

“I do, and I understand. But you never got to talk to him about it. You just left. Maybe it’s best that the two of you are in town at the same time. You were bound to be at some point.” Erin stood again. She was never one to stay seated for long, always had to be doing something. She picked up the bottle of wine that lay next to me and in a few twists of the wrist, she opened it.

“I guess you’re right. I just thought I would have time before it happens.” I stood as well. “I’ll get us some glasses.”

I went to the cabinet in the dining room, where Gran had always kept her fancy glasses and china, and picked out two gold-rimmed crystal wine glasses.

Back in the living room, I filled our glasses. At first we just sat and drank in silence. I sipped the semi-sweet wine, enjoying the way it fired up my taste buds.

“I still can’t believe I’m back.” I took another sip and gazed out the window at the distant sea.

“I can’t either.” Erin placed her glass on a side table and picked a book from the box I had been emptying before she arrived—a marketing book I’d bought in college. She flipped it open and then closed it again, putting it back in the box. “Do you sometimes wonder how it would be if you hadn't left?”

“I try not to.” I shrugged. “After what happened, it probably wouldn’t have worked out. One of us would have left eventually.”

“Have you ever stopped loving him, though?” She paused. “Or did you love Milton more… in the beginning?”

“No,” I said truthfully. If I lied, Erin would have read it from my expression in an instant. She knew me better than I knew myself.

She reached for her glass again and leaned back but her foot kept tapping on the wooden floor. “I knew it, you know? I knew that Milton was not the one for you.”

I nodded. “I guess I did too… deep down. I never thought I would be walking into a marriage made in hell.”

“I’m glad you refused to let him cut your ties with me. Controlling bastard.”

Erin could call Milton whatever she wanted. He’d killed any love I had felt for him with each word that he’d sent hurling toward my heart. I never knew emotional abuse could be just as serious as physical.

I twirled a lock of hair around my finger. “We were actually only happy on our honeymoon. As soon as we got back, he showed his true colors. Can you believe he told me point blank he wanted a wife who did nothing but serve him?” He’d insisted I ditch any plans of a career because he wanted to get started making babies as soon as possible, and he wanted me to be a stay at home mom and a housewife. When I couldn’t get pregnant, he got nasty. He looked at me differently, as though I were less of a woman to him. Then the affairs started. What hurt the most was that he didn’t even hide them.

I shook my head sadly. “I was a fool. I wish I had left sooner… before the cancer. I couldn’t leave him until…” My voice drifted off into silence.

“You’re too good of a person. Don’t be hard on yourself.” Erin draped an arm across my shoulders and pulled me close. “You’re back now. That’s all that matters.”

I wiped a tear off my cheek and rose. I went to the kitchen to get some blueberry muffins I had bought from
Mrs. Muffins
yesterday morning, and returned to find that Erin had switched on the TV and was watching a reality TV show.

She turned away and gave me a serious look. “Marybeth left town not long after you. Apparently she’s now married to a lawyer in Michigan. She Hasn’t been back since. So you don’t have to worry about bumping into her.”

My chest hurt just hearing that name. “Good.” The word was barely able to make it through my throat.

Chapter Four

After the last guests trickled out, Linda Gayle and I were left alone to do the final cleaning up a few minutes after midnight.

“It's been crazy busy around here.” Linda Gayle leaned against one of the tables, dishcloth in one hand. “You’ve been back to town three weeks now. People giving you a hard time still?”

I knew where this was going. She would continue on to ask about my life in New York and why I had returned. Talking about my problems was the last thing on my mind, but Linda Gayle had given me a chance when no one else would, and she’d always treated me with kindness, never meddling. The least I could do was answer any questions she had.

“Not everyone,” I admitted. “But some have been kind enough.”

“Give the ones who are not more time. People like to gossip because there's nothing interesting happening in their own lives.” Linda Gayle laughed, as if she had told a joke, her gray eyes sparkling. She was in her mid-fifties and still stunning. Her once black hair was now salt and pepper, but that seemed to be the only major sign that she was aging at all. Her skin was still quite smooth save for a few faint smile lines. Erin mentioned that Linda was religious about her weekly visits to the local beauty parlor where she was given the works.

I smiled and wiped crumbs off a nearby table to keep myself busy.

“I have to say it was mighty brave of you to return to Misty Cove after what you left behind. I applaud you for that.” Her voice was like hot chocolate, smooth and comforting. “Things didn't work out too well in New York? I heard you were married.”

I stopped cleaning and a rock plunged into the pit of my stomach. Then I straightened up and looked at her. “My husband died a year ago.”
My husband
. Had Milton ever been that? Maybe on paper. “He... he had prostate cancer.”

Shortly before his diagnosis, I had talked to a lawyer about filing for divorce. I had finally gathered up the courage to leave him. He told me about his diagnosis a week later. Leaving had seemed cruel after that.

I would never have forgiven myself if I had left. So, I stayed another year and, in addition to several nurses, I cared for him, saw him as nothing but a patient. When he was abusive to me, telling me I was nothing without him, that I was not a real woman because I hadn’t been able to get pregnant, I reminded myself that nothing I said to him to defend myself would reach him, as he was already dealing with the biggest blow life could hand him. I knew, he envied me my health. But late at night in my queen-size bed, in my separate room, I counted the days and hours until something happened, whether he healed or died would be my ticket out. When he died, I’d found it hard to cry.

“I'm so sorry to hear that. That's awful. I hope eventually you'll find the peace you're looking for here. Lilith would have been glad you returned home. She used to talk about you all the time, you know, said only good things about her granddaughter. She always defended you against poisonous accusations.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what I was thanking her for, maybe because her tone told me that she was on my side. “Thank you, Linda Gayle, for giving me a job. No one else would.”

“You needed a start.” She lowered herself into a chair, wincing. “This back is killing me.” She rubbed her lower back the way a pregnant woman would, and raised her gaze to meet mine. “Want to know a secret? I once made some similar choices to yours.”

I raised an eyebrow and sat down as well. “You did?”

She sighed and nodded. “The choice you made to leave Bryce. You were less of a coward than I was. I went all the way. I married a man I knew I wasn't in love with... not enough for marriage, anyway. Sex with him was great though. The best I’d ever had.” She gave a mischievous smirk. “But marriage is based on more than a roll in the hay. I was so young and stupid, as they say.”

“What happened?” How was it possible that I didn’t know she had been married before? This was Misty Cove, after all, a boiling pot of gossip. Since childhood, I’d only known Linda Gayle as Marcus Steel’s wife.

“After six months of marriage, I finally stopped being a coward and asked for a divorce. Hardest thing I'd ever had to do. Mama never did forgive me till her dying day. But it was the best decision for me. Thank God we didn't have kids. I never would have left.”

“Wow, I never knew that.” I thanked God that I didn’t have kids with Milton either.

“Not many people do. We had eloped to Vegas and then attempted to start a life in a tiny apartment in Georgia.” She folded the dish towel in her lap. “Many people here thought I'd run off with my boyfriend. When I returned to town, they thought we broke up. I carried on as if nothing had happened and brushed off any questions.” She placed the folded dish towel on the table and turned to smile at me. “I was a coward not to admit to Tony that I was not ready for marriage. You, on the other hand, you walked away before you dived into the cold water. I bet you a lot of money that many people in this town wish they had done the same thing. Maybe that's why they are so bitter toward you. You made the right decision not to marry a man you didn't love.”

I didn't respond. She was partly right. I made a decision to walk away from Bryce, but unlike her, I had loved him and saw a future with him. Contrary to what people thought, Bryce had actually walked away from me first.

Chapter Five

The doorbell rang and I rushed to open the door, expecting Erin.

My heart leapt to my throat when I saw Bryce standing in front of me, his blond hair drenched and plastered to his forehead. Raindrops dripped from the tips like liquid diamonds.

Since the day he stood up for me at
Gayle’s Diner
, two weeks ago, I’d been wondering when I’d see him again.

I never bumped into him at the grocery store, the bakery, or even during a walk on the beach. I still remembered how he had loved to go for an evening run on the beach every day, and how he would sit on the beach for hours before his jogs, painting the ocean.

“Oh,” I said. “Hi, Bryce. I…I had no idea you were coming over.”

“I want answers,” he said, not bothering to greet me. Behind him, the rain had softened to a drizzle.

“Whaaa...” I gripped the door frame tighter, causing the blood to drain out of my knuckles.

“Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about. You have never explained to me why you left me at the altar. I need to know now.”

“You have no right to show up making demands.”

“Oh, I think I do, Jade. After what you did to me, I think you owe me an explanation. I’m not leaving without it.” He pushed past me into the cottage. His gaze swept the room and when he looked back at me, something flashed in his eyes, sadness, anger, or regret. I wasn’t quite sure what.

“Talk,” he said, positioning himself in front of the coat rack and jamming his hands into his pockets.

My heart thumped inside my throat as I watched the twitch on the side of his jaw. “Do you want to sit down?”

“All I want is the truth. I think you've left it out way too long.”

I closed the door with a click and leaned against it. “I'm sorry.” Before we got to the truth, and no matter who was to blame, I did owe him an apology, even if it came five years too late. Despite what he had done to me, I had not handled the situation well.

He shrugged and detached his gaze from mine, moving it to a place above my head.

“Bryce,” I folded my arms in front of my chest, “you think I hurt you, and I did. I’m sorry. But you hurt me first.”

His eyes flashed. “I hurt you? What the hell do you mean by that? I was freakin' waiting at the altar to marry the woman I love. When I saw you standing in the doorway of Trinity Chapel, I had never felt happier in my entire life.” He paused and pushed a hand through his hair, sending droplets flying. “You played me for a fool, walked as if you were coming to me.”

He started laughing hard, so hard he collapsed into one of the English-style chairs that Gran kept at the door in case someone wanted to sit when putting on or removing their shoes. He buried his head into his hands. “Imagine my surprise when halfway down the aisle, halfway to our life together, you turned away.” He looked up again and his face was a blur in my eyes. “You have no idea how much you hurt me by walking out of that chapel. You have no idea. My best friend, the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”