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“Really?Because I’m kind of getting the impression that maybe you and Adam—”
“Wanted different things.I’d just graduated from high school and I was looking forward to going to college and experiencing everything that came along with that.”Maureen smiled at the memory of her eighteen-year-old self, so full of possibility and hope.“He was older, recently graduated from college, and knew exactly what he wanted out of life already.”She shrugged as casually as she could.“The timing wasn’t right.”
It was the same thing she’d told Declan when he, too, had asked why she and Adam hadn’t worked out.In fact, she’d told herself that very thing so many times over the years that, for a time, she’d even started to believe it.
Ian nodded as if he understood.“That makes sense.”
It didn’t.
It never had.
“You had to make a choice.”
Maureen nodded sadly.“I did.”
“And you chose your future,” Ian said matter-of-factly.“That makes sense.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before responding.“That’s just it,” she said when she opened her eyes again.“I didn’t.”
ChapterSeven
Present
Elise’s headwas pressed back into the headrest, her eyes closed when Maureen finished telling her about her children’s reaction.She sat for a moment, sure that the older woman had fallen asleep.
“Why did you stop?”The older woman’s eyes snapped open.“You’re just getting to the good part.”
“The good part?”Maureen shook her head.“I thought you were sleeping.”
“I was resting my eyes.At my age, they get tired of looking at things all the time.”
Maureen raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“And yes, the good part,” Elise said again.“The part of the story that brought us here to today.Obviously you told him no.You broke the poor boy’s heart and sent him to Africa alone.”
Maureen had to chuckle at Elise’s certainty.“Well, if you know how it ends already, why are you asking?”
Elise shook her head and picked up her crochet.“I don’t know how it ends.No one does.Not even you.”
“I do know.”
“No.You don’t.”The old woman’s hand stopped moving and she stared at her.“Because if you did, you wouldn’t be here, waiting for him to walk through that door.”She gestured with her head toward the door that, no matter how many times it had opened and closed as guests braved the blizzard to go next door to the pub, hadn’t produced Adam.
“I’m not—”
“You are.”
Maureen blew out a breath.“Okay, I am,” she admitted.“I can’t help it.But yes, I am hoping for some sort of a miracle that the roads opened and Adam is on his way.”
“Because you don’t know the end of the story yet.”
“I guess I don’t,” she reluctantly agreed.“But I don’t think he’s coming.”It was a thought she hadn’t wanted to speak out loud.Even before the storm, she’d worried he wouldn’t come.It wasn’t completely rational, but there was part of her that couldn’t help but think that he’d changed his mind.
“Why would you think that?”
Maureen shrugged.“Do you think that sometimes history repeats itself?”
“Sometimes, certainly.But I don’t think that’s the case here.”
