Page 103 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

‘And have you made another date?’

‘She’s busy this week, but we agreed to get drinks at the lighthouse soon.’ He took a sip of coffee, his eyes narrowing on me. ‘Speaking of women, ’fess up. I can tell by your hangdog look that you met someone.’

I scratched a hand through my hair, took a sip of coffee and made an uncomfortable gulp. ‘Gah, that’s bad. You can’t really drink it if you’ve had the good stuff.’

‘Good stuff? This from the guy who swore the only kind of good coffee was black.’

‘Things change,’ I murmured, pushing the cup away.

‘Does coffee have something to do with the girl?’

I clasped my hands on the table and spilled the entire story about Piper. Showed him the selfie we’d taken at the lake. Told him about our first ‘sticky’ encounter. The way she’d not wanted anything to do with me at first. How the small town had made it impossible to avoid each other.

He drained his cup and set his hulking elbows on the table. ‘How’d you leave it?’

‘Said we’d talk. Maybe FaceTime.’

‘That’s it?’

‘She made it clear that when I left we could only be friends.’

‘That was after you told her how you felt?’

My body sank as I laid my head on the table in defeat. ‘No,’ I mumbled.

‘Ford, you’re a smart guy. Since I met you a few years ago, you’ve had tunnel vision. Married to nothing but medicine. Finally you meet the perfect girl and you don’t tell her how you feel? Sounds like a cop-out, man.’

‘I was doing what she wanted,’ I said in my own defense.

‘What about what you want? Even if she turned you down, at least you would have gotten your truth out there. You’ll never know how she felt because you were too much of a frightened ass to be honest.’

The telltale signs of jet lag – a throbbing headache, blurry eyes – descended. I sat up and said, ‘I need to go lie down.’

‘The great thing about living in the modern world is that we can make phone calls, send texts, do FaceTime, Zoom, any time we want,’ he said ignoring me. ‘You won’t feel right until you tell her your true feelings. Take care of it now before you get too wrapped up in your duties here.’

‘When did you get so damn smart about women?’

He gave me a weighted look. ‘Some a-hole told me I shouldn’t give up. That I should practice my French.’

I laughed, told him I’d see him later, and headed back to my cabin. My balance grew more unsteady as I passed the crew’s sleeping quarters, the maintenance offices and the section of the ship where they sorted the mail.

More than once, I was stopped in the hallways by nurses, techs, some of the deck crew, who shook my hand and welcomed me back. My wandering led me to my door but for some reason, even though my head was pounding, I continued to the end of the hall and pushed out the door leading to the deck.

Senegal was finally in its dry season and the temperatures hovered around the low eighties. I took in a breath of fresh air. This was what I needed to clear my mind, stop my temples from throbbing.

Laughter and singing pulled me to the starboard side of the ship. On the deck below sat the program’s school.

One of the best things about Humanity of the Seas was that they allowed families of the staff to live on board, which meant the ship needed a school. I leaned my arms over the railing, glancing down at the kids sitting in a circle. A teacher sat in the center with an acoustic guitar laid across her lap. She whispered to the kids before picking up the instrument and strumming out the first note. The children swayed along until they began singing the sweetest melody.

Piper would have loved this. How the kids sang in unison, clapping their hands along to the beat. The way the teacher beamed at them, nodding her head in an encouraging way.

Since I’d walked on to the ship, I’d waited for the familiar feeling of relief. The comforting sense that I was home, but only a hollow ache filled my chest. My pulse lacking its regular hum of anticipation. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what was wrong. Why being here felt like a big mistake. This place wasn’t Ivy Falls.

There wouldn’t be any more free donuts and unsolicited advice from Barb and Susan, or constant waves and phone calls from Silvio and Old Mrs V. The elated smile from Dex when we did our secret handshake.

Piper made me swear things would end with us once my time in Ivy Falls was over, and I’d let her set the rules because I needed to be with her. But in that frenzy of want, I’d ignored what my life needed. What my mind and heart had been screaming since I’d gotten on the plane. That Ivy Falls was where I was meant to be. That Piper was my home.

The sad part was I couldn’t go back. She was thousands of miles away. I was here.

There was no changing that fact now, no matter how much I wanted to make things different.