Page 116 of Fish Out of Water

“This is exactly what they wanted for you, isn’t it?” Robbie asked.

“I guess it is. Huh. Maybe they were onto something after all.”

Alex and Isabelleft early in the afternoon to beat the traffic. It was not a tearful goodbye, but a happy, almost relieved one. Jake couldn’t help feeling that it was an appropriate end to an era.

“I’ll be sure to visit,” Isabel said, holding Jake in a hug that had already lasted for several seconds.

“You’ve gotta make sure we’re keeping the house and bookstore up, right?” Jake chuckled.

“Oh, you’ll do just fine on your own.” She squeezed him tighter, and then finally let go. “But I imagine I’ll be back and forth quite a lot in the beginning simply because of the logistics.”

“You always have a place to stay here,” Robbie assured her. “This is still your house.”

“It’s not,” Isabel said, “but I do appreciate that. It’s yours now, Robbie. Yours and Jake’s. The bookstore is yours to run again, too, and I have the utmost confidence that you’ll be able to make it thrive again.” She pulled Robbie into a hug next. He really did look like he belonged there. “Goodbye, dear,” she murmured. “Take care of Jake.”

“You know I will,” Robbie said.

“I know.” She stepped back, taking in the sight of her nephew and the man he’d fallen in love with one last time. “I’m just a phone call away,” she said. “Anything, any time of day, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Same goes for me,” Alex said. “If you ever need help running a bookstore for a day,pleasecall me. I would love to help.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.” Jake gave her a begrudging hug, and then it was Robbie’s turn.

He looked so content having someone who cared about him for who he was, not who they desperately wanted him to be or errantly thought he would be based on a name.

“I hope we see you again soon, Alex,” he told her.

Alex beamed up at him. “I promise you will.” She turned back to Jake. “Oh, by the way, I’m talking to Mom and Dad about having Christmas here next year—or later this year, I guess. Either way, you’ve got basically a full year to prepare, so get to work, boys.”

“That will be nice,” Robbie said. “I’m looking forward to meeting your parents.”

“It will be nice,” Jake agreed. “I mean it.”

“I know you do,” Alex called as she dragged Isabel’s bags to the open front door. “You’ve always been a terrible liar.”

Robbie turned, giving Jake a knowing glance. Jake blushed, never more grateful that Alex had already walked out the door.

Alex and Isabel drove off into the horizon, the midday sun lighting their way like a predestined path onward. Isabel’s car, working perfectly after Jake’s final tune-up, was filled to the brim with boxes and bags of clothes, pictures, and every other little thing that meant something to the woman who had lived here for forty years.

She’d left some pictures for Jake: the family photo from that one summer, some holiday photos, and a couple more Jake had asked for in the sudden realization that he couldn’t bear to look at the built-in without them standing there. She was happy to leave them. Jake had never seen her happier, truly.

Robbie, who’d watched them go out the window and waved one last time, turned around and made his way to the couch where Jake sat. “Well,” he said, “it looks like we’re finally alone.”

“We sure are,” said Jake.

“Are you okay?”

“Me? I’ve never been better.” He leaned against Robbie’s side, and Robbie put his arm around him.

“I love you, Jake, but I want you to tell me if this isn’t what you want.”

“It is,” Jake assured him. “I love you too, Robbie. I love you more than I ever thought was possible—I mean that.”

Robbie smiled: the sweet, warm, loving smile that made Jake’s chest swell, not that devilish smirk. “Thank Mier that Isabel wanted to sell her house and you were stupid enough to get into a bar fight.”

Jake reached back and grabbed Robbie’s wrist, pulling his arm tighter around him. “That was a long time ago. We’re past all that now, right?”

“Oh, please, Jake, I’ll never be able to get past that sad, lost little man I saw in Sandway. That was the day my life changed.”