I was scared of the storm that was coming. If it was really about to strike the island, I’d need to buy lots of stuff: water, food, a flashlight, batteries, candles. Or maybe just a ticket for the next ferry to PEI, where I could change the date on my airplane ticket and go back home.
“There you go.”
Ridge set down a plate of eggs and bacon, toast, and sauteed mushrooms. He’d sprinkled something on them that smelled delicious. I thanked him and bit into a strip of bacon as he sat down across from me. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.
“This is delicious!”
Ridge smiled, somewhat startled. “Thanks. You can have seconds if you like. On the house. I think you’re the most enthusiastic customer I’ve ever had.”
I smiled and kept chewing. I like to eat, and even though I’ve never had a talent for cooking myself, I can tell when someone else does, and he did.
“Who’s Emma?” I asked. “This is called Emma’s Place, right?”
“Yeah. She’s the old owner. When I decided to stay here, the first thing I did was look for a job. Emma lived by herself on the island.Her whole family had moved to Quebec, and she was starting to feel the years and wasn’t keen on running the place on her own. She hired me for three months on a trial basis and then signed the place over to me.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, it surprised me, too. I tried to pay her, and she threatened to break the deal, so I shut my trap.”
“Smart.”
“Emma’s still on the island, though. I always ask about her family and when she’s going to join them, and she always says next spring or next summer, and she’s been saying that for three years now.”
I stopped chewing and asked, “Are you sure she has family? That it’s really that shedoesn’t wantto go?”
“Yeah, they’ve come here a few times trying to take her back with them, but it’s impossible. You know what? You might end up meeting her. She comes around often to give me a hard time.”
I laughed and had to cover my mouth to keep from spitting out my breakfast.
Ridge didn’t seem in a rush to get back to work, and he told me more about his life. He’d studied marine biology at Dalhousie University, specializing in marine mammals and habitat preservation.
During his last year, he was invited by a group of ecologists to take part in a program about climate change in the arctic tundra and its impact on the oceans. Seeing the risks of deglaciation firsthand made him realize this was his calling, and after graduation he committed to the struggle against global warming.
He felt guilty about leaving his girlfriend behind, but even though it took him a long time to get over her, he eventually realized he’d made the right decision. Through the distance, his perspective on their relationship changed, and he finally had to admit it had never worked between them. They were different. They had different dreams.
Three years ago, soon after his twenty-fifth birthday, his life changed again. He fell completely in love with Petit Prince and its inhabitants. And now he was happy. Sometimes—not often, but sometimes—he felt a little lonely. But he didn’t regret a thing. He hadn’t given up, and he’d wound up where he wanted to be.
I finished my eggs and toast, enchanted by the way Ridge’s eyes lit up as he told me about the islanders and their life there. He said there were no supermarkets on Petit Prince, just a few shops owned by families or individual residents where you could find almost anything you needed. There was a pharmacy, a post office, and even a bank with an ATM, which must have been a major step forward, given how enthusiastic he seemed about it.
I had the feeling I had stepped back to a previous era, that I might be accused of witchcraft if I pulled out my cell phone.
As Ridge told me about his neighbors, spicing his story up with a bit of gossip, he served me more coffee along with some oatmeal and cranberry cookies he had baked himself.
He was so nice that it seemed almost false. And he was handsome—not cute, but handsome. Every time he smiled at me, his charm hit me like a warm wave. But then I’d cross eyes with Carlie. As she wiped off the tables, the look on her face told me she might die of boredom at any second.
By the time I left, I knew practically everything there was to know about the place.
I felt less worried about being far from civilization. In the daylight, the place looked very different. I saw big green fields, houses painted in bright colors—green, yellow, red, white, gray, blue… Unpaved roads twisted off in every direction.
My cheeks were hurting from so much smiling. I didn’t remember the last time I had smiled for so long.
I still wasn’t quite oriented, and as I drove away, I tried to memorizeevery crossing and building. I soon found the main road, the only one that was paved and the only one that led to the port. Ridge had told me it passed through the center of town, and most of the businesses bordered it.
There was a little shop with a wooden sign nailed to a post in front and a parking lot to the right where I stopped.
When I pushed the glass door, I heard some bells ring. The air inside smelled of smoked fish and cheese. The owner had an inviting expression as she sat behind the counter talking to two of her customers about the storm. Soon a chorus of voices was wishing me a good morning. I smiled at their warmth and their peculiar accent. It was funny, the way one island was so different from another. The people on this one had their own special tone.
I grabbed one of the baskets stacked by the door and paced past the shelves of beans, canned goods, soaps and cleaning products, pet food, newspapers, and magazines, filling up on anything I thought I might need. I continued toward the cash register, where I saw a little display of chocolates. That’s my second addiction, right after coffee. I grabbed a couple of bars, and five minutes later, I was traveling back to Old Bay.
