Rowan reached out for her hand. He pulled her to the railing and leaned against it, then wrapped her in his arms. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Don’t feel pressured at all to do it, but it’s a suggestion.”
She tipped her head back to look into his eyes. “What is it?”
“You’re so busy, and I’m looking for a way to stay on the island and give up my job. Maybe we could work together.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Could they work together? What if it destroyed their connection? She could be difficult, emotional—even demanding at times. He might not like that about her. And then where would they stand?
“Together?”
“I could help do the administrative tasks for the refuge and take that off your hands. You could focus on managing the place and caring for the animals. It’s only an idea, so don’t feel as though you have to make a decision right now. I won’t be offended if you’d rather not. But I thought this might be a way for me to be home more while helping you at the same time.”
“It would help me…”
He caressed her back, his hands moving in circles. “We could spend so much more time together. What do you think?”
She looped her arms around his neck and pushed up onto her tiptoes to kiss him. His lips were warm and soft on hers. She was so excited that she would get to spend the rest of her life with this man.
“I think it’s a fantastic idea, but I also think you’re making so many big changes in your life already. I worry this might be one too many for you. It won’t be much of a challenge compared with what you’re used to spending your days doing…”
“I thought I’d probably keep up with some freelance work for the local papers on the mainland. But I’m ready to slow things down and settle in one place for a while.”
“But what if you grow to resent me? Or get sick of me?”
“I’ll let you know immediately and send you packing,” he said with a grin.
She pouted. “I’m serious.”
“So am I,” he replied, kissing the end of her nose. “We’ll talk. All the time. If things change, if I find I’m getting restless, I promise to tell you. Does that make you feel better?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I like the sound of that.”
“So, will you hire me?”
“As long as you’re not inappropriate with the boss.”
He laughed. “You’re foiling my plan.”
Five
LIVINGin the small apartment above the florist shop was everything Charmaine had hoped for. It was quaint, cosy and best of all, free. Betsy had given her an old rusty bike to help her get around the island as soon as she realised Charmaine was traveling on foot. She’d told her the island was too big to manage without wheels and that she didn’t ride anymore, so she had no need of the contraption.
A couple of new tyres and a pump had been all it took to get the bike into riding shape. The care and concern Charmaine had already encountered in the short time she’d lived on Coral Island had surprised her in the best possible way. She felt as though she’d stepped onto a Hallmark movie set.
There was only one problem. She was completely alone. She loved that she’d met so many friendly acquaintances since she arrived, but she didn’t have family or close friends to share her life with. Or to tell her secrets, to complain about her hard day, to commiserate over an aching back from lifting so many boxes or stooping over vases of flowers at the market.
No one to laugh with over bad dates—not that she’d had any kind of date in years. Or to set her up with a cute coworker who’d turn out to be a bore intent on lecturing her over cocktails on the benefits of crypto currencies, as her last blind date back in Newcastle had done. She had to break it to him that she didn’t really possess any kind of currency, let alone crypto, nor did she understand what it was, even after he patiently and then impatiently explained it to her. To this day, she still couldn’t understand why anyone would use real money to buy pretend money. But when she’d calmly relayed that opinion to him, he’d retreated into a huff, implied that she was simple minded, and the rest of the date had been a disaster.
Loneliness wasn’t anything new for Charmaine. She’d been alone for three years, ever since her mother died. She assumed her brother lived somewhere in Melbourne or Adelaide. She wasn’t exactly sure, since he’d left after their mother died and hadn’t stayed in touch. Even before her death, he’d been absent more than he’d been present. He’d visited them every now and then, mostly at the holidays. But he wasn’t good at keeping contact, and for much of that time she was a teenager, too caught up in her own life to notice.
He’d returned to Newcastle to live with her in their family home when their mother got sick. She’d been grateful for that. It was hard on her — studying, taking Mum to her appointments, paying the bills. Especially when Mum got so bad that she couldn’t manage her job. That was when things got really tough and Sean had stepped up, helping her pay the mortgage and buying groceries when they needed them. It’d surprised her how much concern he’d shown, since they’d barely heard from him in over a year and even then he’d forgotten to bring a gift to their Christmas celebration.
But he became a doting son and brother at the last moment, and Charmaine had learned to rely on him in a way she hadn’t relied on anyone other than her mother for her entire life. One of the mantras Mum had taught her early in life wasWe’ve only got each other and we don’t need anyone else.It’d been the two of them against the world for so many years that Charmaine wasn’t entirely sure how to make room for Sean at first. But then she didn’t have much of a choice and she quickly grew accustomed to his being there.
In the end, it was a series of strokes that took her from them, and the doctors still couldn’t give them a definitive reason why. It hardly mattered after the fact. Charmaine had been so mired in grief and pain, she’d become quite numb. She’d dropped out of university weeks earlier, when it all became too much. Instead of returning to her studies, as soon as her mother’s funeral was over and her affairs in order, Charmaine left Newcastle behind and didn’t look back once.
What broke her heart all over again was the fact that Sean disappeared within days of her mother’s death. Right when she needed his help to pull together a service to celebrate her life. Right when she was finding it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Right when she was fielding calls from creditors and solicitors about bills owed and estates to manage, he was gone. She called his phone for days, but finally it responded with the out-of-service tone and she knew—he wasn’t coming back.
When Sean didn’t show up for their mother’s funeral, she’d been devastated all over again. But several basic internet searches didn’t give her any clue about his location. He was a programmer and paranoid about his digital footprint, so had never opened any social media accounts.
