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Dean stretched his hands out across his cheeks. His shoulders shook. Elise placed her hand across his shoulder, an act of love, of understanding.
“She never asked me to leave my wife. She never asked me to do anything for her. And she never told me...” Dean dropped his hands and shook his head violently. “She never told me, Elise. And here you are. And you have that name. Elise.”
“The main character in the film,” Elise whispered. “I know.”
“It’s like you were this symbol to another life I could have had,” Dean breathed.
Elise stretched her hand out toward the island. Her throat felt tight, like the situation itself was suffocating.
“But look at all you have.”
**
ELISE AND DEAN COULDN’Tspeak any longer about the situation. Clouds formed overhead moments afterward, shoving aside the sun and the bright blue sky and tossing big droplets of rain across them and the water. Diesel began to howl at the grey sky, which made both Elise and Dean laugh outright as they hurriedly canoed themselves to the edge of the water.
When they reached the trees, Elise and Dean brought the canoe back up onto the sand and hustled up beneath the trees for shelter. Elise studied Dean’s face silently as she pondered what to do next.
“I think I’d better get back home,” Dean said. He ran his fingers through his grey hair as he tried and failed to smile.
“Okay. I understand.”
“But I know this isn’t the end of our conversation,” Dean said. He swallowed, and then added, “You might have to be patient with me, help me along the way. There’s a lot of years between us. But I want to know you, Elise. I want to find a way to make this right.”
