“You don’t have to be strong anymore.”
Everything I’ve ever done up until these last few weeks has been for Billie and Quinn. But somehow I lost sight of that the minute Tally’s lips touched mine.
“Walker, do you have any idea how rare this is?” my sister says, stepping closer to me.
“What is?”
“This kind oflove.” The word doesn’t even scare me. My sister says it like she expects me to deny it, but there’s no denying how I feel. I love Tally. I know that.
Billie’s eyes fill with tears. “Walker, you need to tell her.”
“She’s leaving, Billie.” My eyes fall shut and my shoulders sag because she has to go, and I’m not naive enough to believe she’ll stay.
“Who says she can’t be happy here?” My sister motions to the land around us. To the fields, which are now in full bloom, bursting with pink and purple tulips, white dahlias, yellow daffodils. And the goddamn wildflowers that make my chest ache every time I see them.
“She doesn’t even know the truth about the farm. She’ll hate me when she finds out.”
No matter what I want to do, eventually I’ll have to tell her why I’m really here. And when I do, she may never forgive me.
My sister’s eyes dance toward the cottages, and she offers me a half smile.
“Not if she sees what you’ve been trying to do. You should tell her Peter’s plan. It’s your plan now, Jesse.”
I blow out a breath. I can’t tell Billie that’s what I want to do because then she’ll never agree to move here. It’s a lose-lose situation. In the end, I need to do what’s best for her and for the Darling girls.
Billie and Quinn stay here and they’re happy. Tally goes to Nantucket, and then to school, where she’s happy.Thisis what’s best for everyone.
“You don’t have to be strong anymore.”
Tally said I have her, but she’s supposed to leave in threeweeks. It’s officially May, and while normally I’d be thrilled about the warmer weather and the longer, sun-filled days, it all feels like a countdown that I don’t want to hit.
“I’m not an idiot, you know,” she says.
I balk at her words. “I don’t think you’re an idiot.”
“You know the girls do this thing …” She shakes her head, and her lips hook up again. “I don’t have champagneso I can’t cheers you and force you to tell me the truth. But if I agree to tell you the truth, will you do the same?”
I roll my eyes and let out a huff of air. “You can talk to me, Billie. We don’t need to play some truth-or-dare game.”
She gives me this look that is so Billie, one I’ve seen a thousand times during my life. One that signals she’s about to call me out on my bullshit.
“I’ll go first,” she says before licking her lips and pausing. “I gave my notice at the hotel last week.”
My eyes widen, and she shakes her head to let me know she isn’t done.
“I should have done it a long time ago. I should have listened to you when you told me I was working too much and missing all of these moments when Quinn needed me. I wanted to prove to you that I could do something on my own. Wanted to prove it to myself, too. I didn’t want you to have to fix something else for me. I’m stubborn, I admit,” she says with a half smile.
I laugh. “You think?”
“Where do you think I get it from, grumpy old man?”
“I’m not that old,” I mumble.
“My whole life you’ve protected me. Given up things for me.”
I open my mouth to object, and she holds up a hand tostop me. “Don’t even try to say you haven’t, because you have. Our grandfather lost this land, and all we ever heard about was how the Darlings stole from us, how they owed us. It made Dad a miserable person, just like his dad. You could have been the same way. But you are good. You protected me. You worked hard. And Peter saw that. You didn’t con him into giving you this land. He came to you because he needed help, and he knew how much this land meant to our family. To you. You deserve good things, Jesse Walker. Peter saw it, I see it, and Tally will see it. You need to be honest and admit that you don’tneedme to come help with the farm. Youwantme here, with you. I know what’s best for Quinn and me and, as long as I’m welcome here, I promise I’m moving in. Whether I work on the farm or not. Now tell me why you’re letting Tally leave rather than fighting to keep her. Because Walker, I’ve never seen you smile this much. And I can’t tell you the last time I heard you truly laugh.”
Well, shit. I tug my sister beneath my arm and squeeze her tight right as the music starts up to signal the ceremony is about to begin.
