Page 63 of The Shell Collector
“Amanda.” He stood, with Hailey still hanging on him. “It’s you?”
She stood there, confused and trying to grasp what just happened. She knew it wasn’t Jack, but she clung to his name, his familiar face.
Just then Maeve came up to them, her hand tightly holding Jesse’s. “What’s happening?” Alarm etched her face. “I was coming up the beach from the house when—”
“I don’t…” Amanda closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her face as she huffed, trying to catch her breath. She stepped back, shaking her head.
Paul Grant stood there looking at her.
“Oh my gosh.” They were the only words she could string together. He looked the same. The hair, the tan. Wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him in just shorts and sweaty hundreds of times before. They’d been inseparable: her, Paul, and Jack.
“Amanda, I didn’t know—”
Amanda snatched Hailey from him. She wrapped her arms around her, rocking her. “You scared me to death. Hailey, that’s not Daddy.” She breathed in the familiar scent of her baby’s hair. “Don’t ever run from me again. You’re okay. Shh.”
Hailey cried quiet tears. “I thought…” Her body lay against Amanda, soft like a rag doll.
“I know, baby. It’s okay.”
She could feel him still watching them. “You’re okay. It’s Paul. Do you remember? You were so little.”
“What is going on?” Maeve demanded an answer.
“I was a friend. Am a friend of theirs…hers—”
“He was the best man in our wedding.” Amanda stared at him, still hardly able to blink.
“Thank goodness.” Maeve let go of Jesse’s hand. “What a small world. You can’t be too careful these days. Are we okay here?”
“Yeah.” Amanda nodded, swallowing hard. “Hailey, honey, it’s Paul. See?”
Her daughter slid off her and stood, facing Paul. “I thought it was Daddy. I’ve been praying so hard for him to come home so we can be happy again.”
Amanda’s heart froze right there. In that moment, it seemed to fall into a thousand shards around her. Hailey wasn’t doing okay. She felt Jack’s absence, her sorrow. For all the efforts to protect them from the grief she was trying to survive herself, they still had to go through it too.
“Hailey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you all excited…” He held his hand to his heart. “Amanda, I had no idea. I didn’t know you were…”
“How could you? I didn’t tell anyone.” She inhaled and then threw her arms around his neck. “Paul, I can’t believe it’s you.”
He looked confused. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“I live here now.”
“It’s so good to see you,” he said.
“It’s really you.” She’d wondered what she’d say to him if she ever saw him again, how she could apologize for her behavior. “I’m so sorry I was unkind. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I wanted to call you a hundred times.”
“I don’t blame you for not calling. I told you not to. How can you ever forgive me?”
“Please don’t push me away again.” He held his arms out toHailey. “Hailey, do you remember me? You were my little Lightning Bug. Remember?”
Hailey nodded slowly but inched over and clung to Amanda’s legs.
“I can’t believe how big Jesse has gotten. He’s the spitting image of Jack.”
“He is.” Amanda looked at Jesse standing there next to Maeve. “I’m sorry. Paul, this is my friend Maeve. She lives up the beach from here.” Amanda gestured between the two. “Maeve. Paul.”
