“And Zia. And Ethan. And their wives. All of us together.”
Noah squinted in confusion. “Can I ask why?”
“Of course.” She told him what her idea was. Heard the matter-of-fact way she spoke. But in truth, her heart raced like a bird seeking to escape its cage. She was not merely making a suggestion for how they should proceed. This was not about the boat. Not really. It never had been. Just the same, the boat was a huge part of whatever happened next. For them. The couple named Jenna and Noah.
When she finished, she leaned against the counter, sipped from her mug, and waited. Glad she had done it. She wasn’t nearly as certain about what she had said as it probably had sounded. But she knew it was the right step. A very strange certainty filled her. What she was doing, at its deepest level, was moving forward. Showing Noah what it meant to share control. Allow her to name the next step. Even when it was utterly, totally different from what he himself probably wanted.
Finally, he said, “I agree with you.”
“Are you sure? Because there’s no way you can take this back.”
“Yes, Jenna. This is right. More than that. It’s what I should have thought of on my own.” When she did not respond, he went on. “The boat is one small part of a much bigger issue. No, small doesn’t fit. I’m talking about us. About love. About being a couple together. It terrifies me to say those words. But it’s true.”
Jenna set down her mug, walked forward, took hold of his arm, and guided him out of the kitchen. Willing herself forward, before she gave in to the desire to hold him and just not let go. For this wiser side, the one who actually seemed to know how to handle things, said,Not yet. She opened her front door and said, “Thank you for coming today, Noah.”
“Is that a yes?”
“It is me saying I need some more time.” She allowed herself to embrace him. Ever so briefly. Forced herself to step back, let him go. “Let me know when we’re going to meet with the others.”
CHAPTER33
Noah stopped on the way home and picked up takeaway Chinese, enough for lunch and dinner both. He had not eaten breakfast, and picked at the previous evening’s meal. Noah had not actually finished a decent meal since Jenna had walked out of his life. Or rather, since he had forced her away.
For the first time since Amos had brought over the dog, neither daughter showed up to take Bear for his sunset walk. There could have been no clearer message, what Aldana and her daughters thought of him. Noah had made himself a pariah.
After eating his solitary meal, he took Bear for a long walk, climbing the scarred ridge and following the hillside path until he was exhausted enough to make what he knew were going to be three awful calls.
He received three identical responses. Each time, they must have seen who was calling, because they all answered with voices flat and hard. “Yes.”
“This is Noah.”
Their view of what he’d done, the attitude they took toward him now, was immediately evident. By the third call, which was to Zia, enduring their silent response should have been easier to take. It wasn’t.
“Jenna asks if we can all meet.”
“She’ll be there?”
“She will. Yes.”
“What time?”
“Would eleven tomorrow morning work for you? And can you please bring . . . Hello? Zia?”
* * *
Dawn the next morning found Noah already outside working on his boat. In the past, he had lived for his work. Now it was what kept him intact. He refused to give in to the desire to stop and stand and worry and hope. He feared any moment of inaction would render him permanently stuck. Seasons might come and go, he would remain just another mute statue, lifeless and stained by storms of his own making. When it was time, he went inside, showered, forced himself to eat a meal he didn’t taste, put on a fresh pot of coffee, then stood on the rear porch. Waiting. Alone.
They all arrived early. Everyone was there and settled twenty minutes before Jenna was due. Noah greeted them solemnly as they climbed the rear stairs and settled on the porch, where they could look back over the boat. And scald him with gazes that arrested, convicted, and sentenced. Including the wives. Seven of them seated there, waiting for the lady of the hour. They remained distinctly separate, and not just from Noah. Their feelings about him and his actions had fragmented this group. He suspected they were waiting for him to try to apologize before launching in. Especially Aldana, who simmered by her husband, ready to explode.
Then Jenna pulled up. Noah went over to greet her, and followed her back up the steps, settled her in the last rocker, went inside for a straight-backed kitchen chair, then stood there. Cleared his throat. “If I may say something.”
“It better be good,” Aldana snapped. “For your sake. So good you need to say it on your knees.”
“If I thought it would help, I would,” Noah said. “I’ve apologized to her. I want to do the same to all of you.”
They responded with a unified silence.
“Just so you know, I offered Jenna the two percent that gives her full control over the boat.”
