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Since that day at the airport, she'd never asked to ride in the front seat again. He was glad that wasn't going to be a constant battle. Ivy climbed into her booster in the back seat, and he buckled her up before climbing into the driver's seat and heading out.
As they passed Charlotte's house, he wondered what she was up to today. It had been a day since their disastrous first attempt at securing a bride-to-be. He couldn't blame her. He'd given her so little to go with. His only prerequisite was that the woman had to breathe and stand erect. Margot fits that qualification. He certainly had to elevate his expectations, or Charlotte might just marry him to a pig in lipstick and a wedding dress.
He and Ivy pulled up to the school, and he walked her to the entrance, holding her close. He looked into her eyes, and he whispered, “I love you.” Charlotte had always taken her, and he didn’t realize how weirdly emotional dropping a child at school could be.
When he returned to the house, he found Charlotte standing by the water’s edge. She picked up a rock and flung it into the water.
“Good morning?”
She spun around and slapped her hand to her heart. “You scared me.”
“You’ve got quite an arm. What’s with the rock throwing?”
She shrugged and smiled. “It’s just something I do every day.” She shifted on her feet and then smiled. “It’s silly.”
“Tell me.”
“How about I show you?” She pulled a permanent marker from her pocket and held it in the air. “Find something you want to return to the sea.”
“Like anything?”
She cocked her head. “Well, I’ve always believed it should have come from there first. I threw a piece of coral back, so maybe look for a shell or something like that.”
He scoured the beach before them and found a broken sand dollar. “How about this?”
“Nice one.”
“Now make a wish on it.” She handed him the pen. “You might need to use shorthand or numbers to remember.”
“What do you do?”
“I’ve got thousands of wishes floating out there. I use numbers, and I’m up to five figures.”
He couldn’t believe that she’d been keeping track of her wishes for all that time. He wrote the number 1 on the sand dollar and handed her back her pen. “What’s next?”
Charlotte smiled and nodded. “It’s simple. You close your eyes and throw it in with every ounce of hope and belief that your wish will come true.”
He followed her instructions, wishing to give Ivy a happier childhood and life than he had then throwing the sand dollar into the waves. When he opened his eyes again, Charlotte was smiling at him with admiration in her eyes.
“You're a good man,” she said. “Ivy is lucky to have you.”
His heart warmed at her words, and he felt his lips twitch into a smile as he thought about how far they'd come since Chloe passed away. It was challenging, but they were getting back on their feet again, finding joy in small moments like this one.
He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently before looking up at the sky. At that moment, he didn't care about any of his fears or anxieties; all he wanted was to appreciate life's beauty in this moment with Charlotte by his side.
“How do you know whether your wish was granted?”
“I suppose if it comes true, then it was.” She laughed. “When I was little, I thought that if the item washed ashore again, the universe was watching out for me, but I was too young to understand anything about tides. If my wishes are washing on shore, they're probably showing up in New Orleans.”
“What kind of things do you wish for?”
She shook her head. “I can't tell you because they may not come true.”
“Have any of them come true?”
“I guess my life isn't too bad, so something's going right.”
He was astonished that she'd maintained such a positive attitude despite what had transpired over the past few days. “How can you be so cheerful when you have nothing left?”
