Page 83 of Enemies to Lobsters
“O-oh?”
I nod. “You’re a smart woman. When a man willingly cohabitates with a lobster and rows a boat through a nor’easter for a woman, he is long gone.”
She seems to be stunned silent. Her blue eyes are wide and bright.
I take her hand, pulling it to my mouth and kissing the back of it. “I’ve been gone for you for about…” I look at the ceiling, pretending to do the math. I know exactly how long I’ve been obsessed with her. “Sixteen years, plus a few months.”
The surprise on her face is priceless. “That’s awfully specific.”
“Because the moment that started it is tattooed on my brain.” I keep her hand, leaning back in my chair while I grin at the memory. “It was the day I saw you in your red bathing suit in Stevie’s backyard.”
“Yeah, okay. Quit smiling like that.” She tosses my hand away with a laugh. “We need to eat before the food gets weird.”
I chuckle and help her find dishes and silverware. A few minutes later, when we’re down to our last bites of grilled cheese, I feel Diana’s eyes on me.
“What?” I ask.
“We’re doing this?”
I look at my bowl of soup and the crumbs from my sandwich. “Having dinner?”
She groans. “Staying married. The long haul. Are we doing this?”
I shrug. “I thought we already talked about it.” At her look of consternation I drop my spoon. “We did. Remember the nightof our reception? I told you I want to make this real? And then today, when I was at Marlow’s and she got you on the phone? And you said…” I hold my hands up, prompting her to fill in the blanks.
“I told you I want you to be my husband for a long time.” She blushes through the words.
“Yeah.” I push away from the table, pulling her to her feet. She looks up at me, and the tiny lift at the corners of her red lips gives me courage. “I married you. I did the fox trot with you in front of everyone we know. Good luck getting rid of me, Diana Wentworth.”
She arches an eyebrow at the name. “Hmm.”
That’s it. Diana needs to be kissed. Thoroughly. I take her soft face in my hands, shaking my head as I peer down at her. I can’t believe this incredible woman is mine. Her bright blue eyes sparkle up at me.
“I—” A knot in my throat stops me short. I love this woman—my wife—so much I can hardly get the words out. My vision blurs with unshed tears. I blink them away. “I love you, Diana.”
Her delicate smile brightens like a sunrise. “I love you, too,” she murmurs, then her eyes ask me what I’m waiting for.
I’m not waiting any more. I duck down, covering her soft mouth with mine and burying my fingers in her hair. I trail kisses across her jaw and back to her mouth, taking my time. We have time for everything: lingering kisses, Christmas morning, baseball games—all of the married people stuff. We have nothing but time.
Since we’re standing here and music is playing, I lift our hands to the side like Patty taught me and lead Diana in a slow fox trot. She melts into my lead, pressing against me with a sigh.
I close my eyes, soaking in the feeling of dancing with my wife in our kitchen. I hope this is the first of many quiet nightsand after-dinner slow dances. “Isn’t this a little close for the fox trot?” I murmur close to her ear.
She shivers. “Not close enough.”
Epilogue: Six Months Later
Ike
Diana scans the crowd, lines forming between her eyes. “Did Louise and Boone make it over?”
My wife is insane, but I’m learning to love it.
First of all, she planned a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly completed lighthouse on an evening when she knew the tide would be high. She organized Desmond, August, Hal, and a few other guys to ferry boatloads of people to and from the mainland. She even got Shirtless Adam to drop his axe and put on a shirt for the event. He looks wildly uncomfortable.
“I haven’t seen them yet.” I’m eyeing the refreshment table. Marlow went above and beyond with the food for this thing, and my stomach is growling.
Diana groans. “Well, we can’t start without them,” she snaps. She might be hungry, too. She’s been running all day.
