Oakley nodded, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
They sat quietly for a long time, just listening to white noise of water on rock. The bigger waves sprayed up over the edge of the cliffs, misting them with a fine spray of salt water.
“Do you think you’ll marry him?” Oakley asked eventually.
“Noah?” Anne asked, surprised by the question.
“Who else?”
“I don’t know.”
“But do you want to?”
“Honestly?”
“Always.”
“I’m not sure.” She thought for a moment, trying to put her feelings into words. “I let Colin become the center of my life, so much so that I let Zoe go without a fight. I always meant to come back for her. But after college, when she wanted to stay with Mom and Dad, I just… let her.
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but I think a big part of that was not knowing how she would fit into the life I’d made for myself – not least of all, how a kid would fit into my relationship with Colin.
“I don’t want to center my life around a man ever again. Not even a man as perfect as Noah.
“I’m so glad that we’re in each other’s lives again, but I don’t want to structure my whole life around him. I look forward to our dates, but I’m not fixated on them to the exclusion of everything else. I’m too old for that.”
“You’re not old,” Oakley interrupted.
“I’m old enough. Too old to build my life around a man. Any man. I’m ready for a life of my own.”
“Whatareyou building your life around, if not the man that you love?”
“Family,” she said immediately. “Community. This is the first time in my whole adult life that I’ve lived near family. And honestly, it makes me sick to think of how desperate I was to escape something that feels so idyllic now. When I think of the time I could have had with Dad, I just want to scream.”
“That house used to be a lot more chaotic than it is now,” Oakley reminded her. “It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows growing up. We wanted out for a reason.”
“True,” Anne acknowledged. “Even so, I’ve had to work through a lot of guilt. And I feel like I’m finally through it now. Or through the worst of it.
“I’m actually enjoying my life, for the first time in a long time. I love spending my days with family. I love having all three of my kids in one place. I’m not eager to overturn any of that just to move in with a man.”
“Even if that man is Mr. Right?”
“Even for Noah Kapono,” she confirmed. “I’m happy with things as they are, for now. Once all the teens are grown, maybe we’ll reassess. That’s just a few years away. I’m not saying that Ineverwant anything more serious. But for now… I’m happy with things as they are.”
“But he’s the love of your life.”
Anne turned to look at Oakley. Her almost twin. Her lifelong best friend. Her biggest cheerleader and adventure buddy. The person she could call for a midnight pep talk or cry to at two in the morning.
“No,” she said, squeezing her sister’s hand. “I love Noah. I do. But he’s not the love of my life.”
“Tell me you’re not still hung up on Colin.”
Anne snorted and shook her head.
“Well?”
“You’re the love of my life, Oakley. You always have been.”
Oakley’s eyes filled with tears, and she put her head back down on Anne’s shoulder. They sat that way for a long time, in the shade of the same trees that had sheltered them when they were small.
