Ridge tried not to laugh, and that bothered me. This was no joke, and I wasn’t sure how serious the situation was.
“Listen, I’ve been living here for three years, and the first thing I learned was to pay attention to the locals when they tell you what the weather’s going to be. They’re rarely wrong. They may not have fancy equipment or satellites, but they have experience, and theyknow how it was in the past. I’d be willing to bet that storm’s coming on Wednesday, and we’d better be prepared.”
He sounded so convinced I had to nod and ask myself what the hell I was going to do. I was born under a cloud, and all I could think was that this was just the beginning of something much, much worse. The domino effect had been one of the guiding principles of my life, and once the first piece fell, others tended to follow.
I imagined all the possibilities: a leaky roof, the house lying directly in the flood path, me getting appendicitis in the eye of the hurricane… I brought a hand to my chest and leaned against the car.
Ridge could probably tell what I was thinking. He came up next to me, not close enough to make me uncomfortable, but not so far away that I felt alone. That told me a lot about him—above all, that he was a good person.
“Can I ask you something personal?”
“I guess so.” I shrugged.
“What are you doing here?”
“Wow! Are you always this direct?”
“I don’t want to get into your personal business, but I look at you, and…you’re a city girl. You don’t belong here.”
I concentrated on the house, all brightness and shadow under the headlights. “I have to make a big decision, and my sister thought I could find the peace I needed to do it here.”
He nodded, seeming to understand, and I almost asked him for advice. Maybe he was right; maybe it didn’t make any sense for me to be here.
“Is it important, this decision?”
“Very.” I could tell he was curious, but he didn’t inquire further, so I decided it was my turn. “Was it easy for you to leave Dartmouth and come here?”
He crossed his arms.
“Coming here was easy. The hard thing was deciding whether or not to stay.” Responding to my look of confusion, he smiled and turned his head toward the sky. “I came with a group of climate activists. We stayed for two weeks, we organized with the Climate Action Network, and…I just ended up falling in love with the island and the people here. Lots of people leave for the mainland. It’s only a few who come here and stay.”
“Does your family mind you wanting to be here?”
“They didn’t get it at first. I left behind a good job, my studies, a great girl, and now what have I got? An old bar with a bunch of surly customers.” He laughed and shook his head. “My father eventually understood, but he never misses a chance to tell me I’m ruining my future. My mother’s still so mad at me that she barely talks to me.”
“And yet here you are, taking care of your sister.”
“I’m more like her prison warden. Carlie was running with a rough crowd, hanging out in bad places, and here that’s not an option. She spends all day angry and hating everyone, but at night, she sleeps safe in her bed. That’s all that matters now. And it’s one thing my parents and I can agree on.”
“So you did what you wanted, even though everyone was against it. Weren’t you scared of losing them?”
“Not if I lost them because I was living the way I wanted to live. I mean… People have lots of defects, and one of them is telling everyone else what they should do, and how, and when, and where. I can’t stand people trying to get mixed up in my life when I never asked anyone’s opinion.”
“Still, what if thatanyonematters to you?”
“I don’t care ifanyonemeans my parents, my friends, my girlfriends.” He straightened up and tucked his hands into his pockets. “Can I tell you something?” I nodded, concentrating on him and his words. “No one will ever live your life for you. And if you don’t, then what do you have?”
I reflected on his words, trying to savor them in my mind. “Nothing, I guess…”
“Exactly. Nothing. And you can’t make your mark, live your life, with nothing.”
His words touched me deeply. Ridge was an interesting guy, and what he said reminded me of a paragraph I’d written the last time I tried to start a novel. That had been a strange moment in my life, but now it made sense. I had thought those words were just nonsense, a momentary inspiration, but they were the answer to a question I hadn’t let myself formulate. And without realizing it, I’d held on to them in my private collection of thoughts.
“We would be shadows of ourselves. Empty shells others have filled with their desires. Sad beings without motivation. Entities walking wherever others push us. Tempus fugit.” I recited these words exactly as I’d written them.
Ridge grunted in reluctant acknowledgment. “I prefer carpe diem, seize the day, enjoy yourself. Dum vivimus, vivamus.”
I giggled, pleasantly surprised and timid at the notion that I was sharing such private sentiments with a stranger. And yet, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like we had been friends our whole lives.
