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“I wish I could.”
“You can, you know.”
Devon closed her eyes and squeezed them tight. “Ted asked me to marry him again.”
“And?”
“I said no.”
“Whoa, really?”
“It was everything a girl could want. He surprised me with flowers and rose petals but—I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t say yes.”
“Because?”
“I told Ted it was because of his career and how mine would have to take a backseat eventually.”
“I can see that. But why do I get the feeling there’s more?” Dara asked.
“Because there is,” she whispered. “I just keep thinking about everything and I don’t ever want to be in a relationship like that. Like… Mama and Daddy’s. I mean, I was about to accept breadcrumbs when…”
“You want the whole dang loaf,” Dara said with a soft laugh.
Devon smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I just believe I’m loaf worthy.”
“That’s because you are,” Dara said. “I hated the though of you giving up everything to be a pretty face but I knew it had to be your decision.”
“So tell me something—and be honest. What would you do? About the jobs?
Dara’s inhalation filled the phone. “Look, Dev, we are very, very different people.”
“I know but—I need help here.”
“Do you? Because I think you already know the answer.”
Devon leaned her head back against the metal rail behind her and stared up at the night sky.
“Look, I support you whatever you decide, okay? I just want you to be happy, Dev. Wherever—with whomever—that means. But you’re the only one who can decide how this plays out for you.”
Devon didn’t speak for a long moment, her thoughts racing between possibilities and facts. “The city feels…different now. Not because of Ted but just—different.”
“And when you were here? How did it feel?”
She closed her eyes again. “It felt like home.”
“But?”
“I don’t know. This is home, too? And after leaving the way that I did, moving back to Carolina Cove just seems like… failure,” she said.
“Are you kidding me? You were offered your own television show. If you took it, you’d be returning in triumph having made your mark in New York.”
She supposed that was one way to look at it. “You think so?” she asked, glaring at the interior of her darkened apartment.
“I know so,” Dara said. “Now… what are you going to do?”
One month after Devon’s departure for New York, Oz walked along the beach, trying and failing to clear his mind for the plotting session he had planned for the day.
It was early, the sun barely making an appearance on the horizon. The beach was nearly deserted with only a few early risers walking the surf, looking for shells, or holding phones ready to capture the sunrise.
