Page 109 of The Choices I've Made
“No,” I answered. “The patients I receive are already past the diagnosis phase. I just fix them—from simple repairs to triple bypasses. But I make sure they’re alive. I don’t screw up.”
“Your father was human, Jake. Just like all of us. No doubt, he carried that mistake with him every day for his entire life.”
“Good,” I replied, feeling the levity of the day slightly wearing off.
“Come on,” she urged. “Let’s go snuggle in the Jeep before the crabs eat us alive.”
I nodded, seeing several of them along the shore. Their eerie white bodies that looked like skeletons were scuttling along the waterline in search of food. I remembered chasing them along this very same beach when I was young, my father running alongside me, laughing during a long day of fun.
Those were the days when he had still been a superhero in my eyes.
Still someone worth looking up to.
But, he had been just a man, and like most mortals, he’d been full of holes and regrets.
And irreversible mistakes.
I wasn’t sure what I hated more—the death of the superhero I’d once worshipped or the mistakes he’d made afterward.
We hopped into the back of the jeep, taking full advantage of the small space and the open rooftop. Molly shifted in my arms, finding a comfortable position as she turned her head skyward. Without the glow of city lights, dozens of stars could be seen from this beach. I’d forgotten how stunning it all was—the simplicity of living here. Stars, Jeep rides on the beach, home-cooked meals with the ones you loved.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
I pulled Molly closer into my arms, feeling the warmth of her body against mine.
Cherishing it.
Savoring it.
We sat like this for a long time in peaceful silence, enjoying our little slice of heaven. There was no time limit for once. I didn’t have to rush off to be somewhere, nor did Molly. Her guests were taken care of. She’d done her prep for the morning.
Tonight was ours.
“Why did you wait so long to take over the inn?” I finally asked.
If we had all night, I wanted to get to know Molly now—as a woman, not just the girl I remembered. We owed that much to each other if we were going to make this work.
She didn’t turn; she kept her focus forward. “I tried,” she said, “as soon as you left, and I decided to stay. I think my parents held out hope that I’d change my mind and go to college.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I could blame it on you, but ultimately, it was my decision. Even when it had been the two of us going together, I had felt scared. Scared to leave this place and go somewhere new. What if I hated it? What if I didn’t fit in? When you left, I guess all those fears just came rushing to the surface, and I panicked. I told my parents I didn’t need a degree to do what I’d been training to do since the day I was born. But they disagreed. They wanted me to travel, to grow up. So, our decade-long debate began. I spent years assisting them, slowly earning my keep while they kept hoping I’d go and spread my wings.”
“They weren’t wrong,” I said. “Giving you the inn so young would have just chained you to this place. You needed the option to leave if you wanted.”
“But I never did,” she said softly.
“Did you ever want to?” I asked, rubbing my hands along her bare arms.
“It doesn’t matter. I had the choice, and I stayed here.”
“It’s not too late,” I reminded her.
A silence fell just then. Not a comfortable one like before. A tension, reminding me of the years we’d spent apart. The lives we’d led without one another.
There was still so much we didn’t know about each other. So much left to explore and talk through. But we had time, right? Time to figure it all out.
Starting with this moment. Right here, right now.
