‘I do, but I think having you with me is going to be the most calming thing.’ And so far so good.
‘New Year’s Eve on an island,’ said Alex. ‘Who would’ve thought? And we’ve both got two weeks off. Well, kind of for me, but good enough.’ With the financial struggles he would only be taking a break from the practical side of dentistry but would be keeping a close eye on the business side. He began to smile. ‘I can’t believe I got you on this ferry without your laptop.’
‘I feel bereft without it.’ She shook her head. ‘Actually, it felt really good to tell work that this was a total break, that I wouldn’t be doing anything. I’m pretty sure I shocked more than a few of my colleagues.’
This was another thing they’d agreed on, as well as openness and communication. They needed more time together, just the two of them. Work couldn’t take over every moment of their lives, and since they’d had the discussion it had been surprisingly easy to start separating office time from home time. Alex, while initially devastated at the prospect of having to sell his practice, had started to see the plus points should it happen. They’d talked about him continuing with dentistry – he could do that anywhere – and he wouldn’t have the added stress of management, which was taking its toll. They had their marriage, they had each other, and they’d even begun to talk about retiring early and perhaps doing some sort of repeat of the travels they’d done as twenty-somethings. Susanna had added the caveat that they’d at least increase their budget a bit when it came to accommodation, but other than that she was all for it.
When she heard a noise even over the din of the boat’s engine, she looked at Alex. ‘Was that your tummy?’
‘No.’ He quickly added, ‘Yes.’
‘You’re hungry.’
‘Reallyhungry,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want to get anything to eat as I know the smell of food might make you nauseous.’
She leaned closer and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. ‘It’s better you wait anyway.’
‘Oh? Why is that?’ He turned and grazed her lips with his own.
‘The winter menu at the Sweet Life Café, from what I remember, is pretty good.’
‘I predict eating my bodyweight in puddings over the next two weeks. They might not take me back by ferry, I might exceed the weight limits.’
‘Totally worth it for Gayle’s puddings.’
‘And Addie’s.’
‘And Addie’s,’ she echoed.
She and Addie had had a long talk on the ferry on the way back to the mainland following the living funeral, and once they knew Gayle was going to be okay. Susanna had opened up the conversation with an apology.
‘I’m sorry I made you come to the mainland,’ she’d said.
‘Why are you sorry?’
‘Because it was my plan.’
‘It wasourplan.’
She’d smiled. ‘It was, but we’d both changed. You loved baking with Gayle, and I wish I’d seen past my own needs and wants at the time.’
After a pause Addie had told her, ‘In a way, so do I. But then again, I love that we stayed so close to each other. It’s good that I became independent and did a job for the money, if only to show me what it was like in comparison to doing what I love. And without London I wouldn’t have met Jonty, and I wouldn’t have Isaac.’
‘Very true.’
‘I think things worked out pretty well in the end,’ Addie had said to her, looping her arm through Susanna’s and leaning her head on her shoulder.
They’d come full circle, back to the island, and now here she was doing it again.
‘Do you see them?’ she asked Alex as they emerged from below deck and up towards where people were greeting arrivals. It really seemed to be just the people here to meet loved ones; nobody else would be here merely to watch a ferry come in when it was this cold.
‘There they are,’ said her husband, and took her hand to navigate the crowd.
And as she saw Gayle waving and young Isaac desperately trying to spot them too, she felt a pull she hadn’t felt in a long time.
The pull of a family life here on Anchor Island.
34
