A beat, and then Sammy thrust the wooden object into her hands. “Congratulations on your win.”
She turned it over. Two spoons joined by a wooden chain lay in her hands. “What is this?”
“It’s Norwegian love spoons,” Sammy said. He buried his hands in his pockets. “I carved it out of some of the leftover wood from the cabinet I took out of your grandparents’ kitchen.”
Oh. My. So sweet. So beautiful.
Intricately carved designs ran along the bowls of each spoon. She identified Lake Superior, a peacock, a bicycle, and even a tiny representation of the Fox Bakery. Two foxes chased each other through a grove of pine.
And in that moment, the room grew hot. Tight.
She looked at the spoons and the chain joining them, and a possible future spooled out in front of her. Life in Deep Haven, baking bread and an occasional cake…the never-ending winters…a quiet life. A safe, boring life.
No more espressos on the Seine. No more international travel on the weekends. No more art and creativity and—
“I can’t believe you’re really thinking of going to Paris. You—I mean, I know you lived there, but I thought that was done. You’re not—you belong in Deep Haven, Robin—”
Heat flared in her belly. “You know going back to France is my dream. It’s always been my dream—”
“I thought—” His jaw clenched. “I thought what we had was a pretty good dream.”
His voice had fallen. And now her throat filled, her eyes burning.
It had been. A nice dream.
But this was herlife. “Sammy, I—”
“Do you want me or not, Robin?”
She stared at him, and something white-hot burned inside her. “I don’t know, okay? I mean—don’t pressure me!”
But his mouth tightened. “No pressure. Because I think it’s pretty clear that you don’t want to come back home with me.”
She stared at him, her jaw tight. Fine. “Maybe not.”
Sammy stilled. His gaze searched her face, so much hurt in his own.
Her throat clogged, her words a knife between them. She swallowed several times.Please understand.“I’m going to take my prize money and move back to France, to Chantilly. I want to try again.”
“Try again with Victor?” he said, almost in a whisper.
And yeah, he had a point. But Victor had promised it would be her and Valerie. “Not really. I’ll be in Chantilly with Valerie. She and I will work together. I won’t have anything to do with Victor.”
He looked away, as if in disbelief.
“We’ll split the money.” She knit her fingers together in front of her. “You can use yours to buy a new truck, or to move to Montana or Wyoming or whatever. Join Tucker’s crew. Have an adventure.”
Her words seemed to ignite him, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the relative privacy of a corner of the room. “That’s not what I meant, and I think you know it.”
She did know it, and seeing the pain in his eyes made it worse. Her voice softened. “Sammy, we can figure it out. We can video chat all the time.”
He winced. “Why bother? You never wanted a long-distance relationship. Besides, it’s becoming clear that we want very different things out of life.”
Maybe they did. “I need to do this. Can you understand?”
“No, don’t think I can. Why can’t you be happy in Deep Haven?” Sammy leaned closer to her. “You won’t find what you’re looking for chasing a mountaintop experience all the time.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
