“Next time,” she said quietly to her siblings, “we let him go with the tide. Like he wanted.”
No one disagreed. They sat together through another evening, four grown children learning the hardest lesson, that love sometimes means letting go, that honoring someone's wishes matters more than the need to keep them alive, and that the long goodbye is still goodbye, just stretched thin over time.
Pop would go back to Coastside tomorrow. He'd sit in his chair, be fed pureed food, stare at nothing. And someday soon, the pneumonia would return. When it did, they'd hold his hand, tell him they loved him, and let the tide take him home.
It was what he'd want. It was what love looked like now. Not holding on but knowing when to let go.
CHAPTER 35
September settled into an uneasy rhythm. Pop was back at Coastside, smaller somehow, eating pureed food and staring at nothing. The siblings visited in rotation, but he rarely acknowledged them. The inn hummed with late summer business, guests commenting on the beautiful weather, unaware that the Perkins family was holding its breath, waiting.
Kate stood in the kitchen on a Thursday morning, making her lists for the day when Dani burst in, glowing.
“Okay, I have news,” Dani announced, pouring herself coffee. “Ryan asked me to help him open a second restaurant. In Kennebunkport proper. He wants me as a partner.”
Kate set down her pen. “Business partner or...”
“Both. All of it. Everything.” Dani's smile was radiant. “We've been together six weeks, and I know that's fast, but Kate, it doesn't feel fast. It feels like we just paused for ten years and now we're continuing.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I needed to think about it. But I already know. I want this. The restaurant, the partnership, him. All of it.”
Kate stared at Dani. “What about the inn? What about the fact that you don’t have money for a business partnership? Don’t get me wrong, I like Ryan, but…”
“Katie, don’t spoil this for me,” Dani whispered.
“Spoil it? How can I spoil it? I just don’t want you to rush into anything. You’ve always had a habit of putting the cart before the horse. And you said it yourself, you always fall quickly for a guy and then when it falls apart, you’re surprised.”
Dani paced the room and then stopped and looked into Kate’s eyes. “Let me get this straight. You and Ben are finally a couple, and that makes you an expert on love?”
“Dani… I didn’t mean to suggest that you don’t love him. I just don’t want you to get hurt. You both live and work so close. Cape Porpoise and Kennebunkport might as well be the same town. What if it doesn’t work? What if the two of you have arguments? What if…”
“STOP!” Dani screamed. “You’re doing it again. When are you going to get it through your thick head that I’m not you. I’m not willing to go months and months of indecision like you did with Ben. I love Ryan. I love the life we can build here together, and he feels the same. Pop’s dying, Mom’s gone, Tom’s divorced. Life happens, Katie, the good, the bad, all of it. It’s just life, and I want to live it.”
Her voice soft now, and barely a whisper, Kate said, “Mom would be happy. She always liked Ryan. She thought he was one of the good ones.”
Dani's eyes misted. “I wish I could tell her she was right.”
“Maybe she knows.”
They were quiet for a moment, then Dani asked, “Have you looked at those applications yet?”
Kate froze. “What applications?”
“The UNE ones. James saw them in your browser history when he was fixing the computer. Marine biology graduate program.”
“I was just looking.”
“Kate, you've been 'just looking' at that program for years. Maybe it's time to do more than look.” Dani paced again, “See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. What in the world are you waiting for? The dolphins and whales aren’t going to come to the front door and invite you to explore the ocean with them.”
Kate laughed. “I don’t explore dolphins and whales.”
Dani giggled. “Well, I’m just saying that whatever it is, don’t keep waiting for the right time. I promise you, the right time will never come if you keep this up.”
Before Kate could respond, Tom arrived with the morning mail and a grim expression.
“Coastside called. Pop's not eating. Even the pureed food. He's just... refusing.”
