It hadn’t worked out that way.
“I don’t know.” I pursed my lips.
“You’re not saying something,” Galen guessed. He was the sheriff, so he was fairly intuitive. I hated when I felt I was going through an interrogation.
“I just … I haven’t talked to any of them in more than a year. I’m a terrible person.”
Galen’s brow furrowed. “Excuse me? How does that make you a terrible person?”
“I said that I would be in touch. I even said …” I didn’t finish it out.
“I know that you weren’t planning on staying forever when you first moved here,” he said in a gentle voice. There was none of his usual swagger propelling the words. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you for planning things the way you did.”
I slid my eyes up to his, looking for a hint that he wasn’t telling the truth.
“Hadley, you moved to an island where you didn’t know anybody, including the grandmother who left you this lighthouse.” He smiled. “It’s not all that surprising that you assumed it wouldn’t work out.”
“I think I romanticized the idea of living in a lighthouse,” I admitted. “I mean … that’s the stuff of books.”
“The sort of books that have a handsome leading man.”
“Of course,” I replied. “Book boyfriends can’t be uggos.”
He burst out laughing. “Is that what I am? A book boyfriend?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much.” He looked far too cocky for mycomfort level. “Don’t get too excited. Booker and Brody are book boyfriends too.”
His smile disappeared. “Booker is not a book boyfriend.”
“Did you even know that term existed before today?”
“No, but I know what it means.” Galen was adamant. “Booker doesn’t fit the bill.”
“A guy who was best friends with his love interest for years, only seeing her as a best friend, right up until she has a world-changing epiphany that he’s integral to? You know, like having to be the funnel for her powers so she didn’t explode and destroy the whole island? That doesn’t sound like a book boyfriend?”
“I’m way better looking,” Galen huffed.
“It’s not about looks. It’s about what you feel in your heart.”
He poked my side. “What do you feel in your heart?”
“That you’re the perfect man ninety percent of the time.”
“And the other ten percent?”
“I want to dunk your head in the surf until you get over yourself.”
He didn’t immediately respond. Ultimately, he shrugged. “I feel the same way about you.”
“Oh, no.” I was smiling when I shook my head, happy to play the game. “I’m perfect. You’realmostperfect.”
He gave me a severe look but he couldn’t hold out. His grin was a thing of beauty. “You are perfect.” He gave me a kiss. “You’re also stalling.” He was serious when pulling back. “Don’t you want to invite your friends from home?”
Why was this so important to him? “How do I explain when some monster crashes the reception and we have to use magic to beat it back?”
“The odds of a monster crashing the reception are low.”
“But not zero.”
