‘It’s not your job to worry about me.’
‘I’m always going to worry about you,’ she replied softly.
I put the glass I was holding down. ‘How come you never mentioned you were thinking about selling up?’
‘I made you uproot your whole life to move here. I didn’t want to disappoint you.’
I walked around the bar and sat on the stool next to hers.
‘You didn’tmakeme do anything, OK? I offered to take this on for you. That’s just what people do when a friend is struggling.’
She smiled. ‘Normally, when a friend is struggling you cook them a meal or offer them a shoulder to cry on. Moving all the way across the country to run this business for me was going above and beyond, and you know it.’
‘I was happy to do it, for you and for Alex.’
She looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. ‘Do you think he’d be disappointed in me?’
‘No. God, no. Not at all.’
‘I feel like a failure. Buying this place was such a rash decision, and I was stupid to think that following his dream would somehow make me feel closer to him.’
‘You’re not stupid.’
‘Well.’ She shrugged. ‘Lesson learned, anyway. Don’t make life-changing decisions when you’re grieving. It is not the time to make big changes to your life. Maybe I should write a self-help book on whatnotto do when you lose someone you love. Top of the list, don’t buy a lobster restaurant in a small town on an island off the coast of Maine.’
‘That’s very specific advice. I’m not sure how big a market there would be for a book like that.’
She laughed. ‘Noted.’
‘Look, no one’s going to blame you for giving it a shot. You took a risk, tried something new and found out it wasn’t for you. That’s more than most people do in their lifetime. There’s no shame in it.’
‘Thanks, Jack. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.’
‘It is what it is. I’ll figure something out.’
‘We’ll figure it out together.’ She smiled. ‘I’m actually looking forward to getting back to L.A., now that I’ve made my mind up. Back to normal life.’ She laid a hand on my arm. ‘I know that being in the city is hard for you. It’s hard for me too. Memories of Alex everywhere. But as long as we stick together we’ll get through it, OK?’
‘I don’t know. L.A. might not be for me any more.’
‘Well you can’t stay here.’ She laughed as if the very idea was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard.
She had a point. Between her selling the restaurant and Taylor leaving in a few weeks to head back to New York, what was left to keep me here?
33
TAYLOR
I took a step back and checked out my handiwork. ‘Is it too much?’
‘That depends,’ Ray replied.
‘On what?’
‘The kind of look you’re going for. If you’re aiming for tacky, you’ve nailed it.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Helpful.’
‘Is that why you dragged me along this early?’ he grumbled. ‘To be helpful?’
