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“I told you, I wouldn’t have missed this.”He reached across the table, and she let him take her hands in his.His skin was still cool, but the moment he touched her, there was nothing but heat.“But maybe I can see how you might think I wouldn’t come.”His gaze dropped.“And I don’t mean because of the storm.”
“It did cross my mind,” she admitted.“I feel like maybe this question is almost forty years too late, but I’m going to ask it anyway.”Talking to Elise had helped Maureen remember that there was no time to waste in this life.Not anymore.And as far as she was concerned, there was no point in not taking the opportunity to get some answers.
“Please.”Adam nodded.“Ask me anything.But I think I already know what you’re going to ask.”
She wasn’t surprised.Instead of vocalizing the question, Maureen took a deep breath as Adam began to explain.
Thirty-Seven Years Ago
Adam woke up before the sunrise.Truthfully, he’d hardly slept at all the night before.Or for the last few nights.
Not since he’d told Maureen about the opportunity to go to South Africa and work on the medical team.
It was his dream.Ever since his third year of optometry school when he’d first heard about the charity that went from village to village helping impoverished people by treating their eye infections, passing out old donated prescription glasses and manning eye health for people who would never normally have access to that kind of care, he’d known that it was exactly what he wanted to do when he graduated.
His entire life, Adam had wanted to help people in a way that would really make a difference.So when the opportunity to apply for the position came up, he jumped at it.
It had been a long shot.The program only took a few candidates every year.But he had to try because he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
That was, until he’d met Maureen.
In an instant, the moment he heard her sweet voice ordering a lemonade, he knew it was the only sound he ever wanted to hear again.And then, later, when he pulled her close on the dance floor and stared into her eyes, his heart knew it before he did.
He was lost to her.
When his Aunt Judy and Uncle Jack extended the invitation to spend the summer with them at the lake, Adam jumped at the offer.He was exhausted from spending the last six years at school.The last two especially had been intense with all the board exams and clinical work.He was overdue for a break and a few months to relax, have fun and figure out what he wanted to do now that he’d graduated.Ifhe didn’t get accepted into the program in South Africa.
He hadn’t planned on meeting Maureen.
Not that he’d change the last few weeks for anything.They’d been some of the best of his entire life.
Adam replayed every moment with her as he slipped from his uncle’s house and made his way through the quiet streets to the city dock so early in the morning, there were only a few people launching fishing boats.But otherwise, he had the dock to himself, which was exactly what he needed to think.He sat on the edge, pulled his shoes off, and dropped his feet into the cool water.
There were twelve hours until he was supposed to meet Maureen for dinner.
He dropped his head into his hands.
“Adam?”
He looked up slowly to see his Uncle Jack, his father’s brother, standing next to him.
“I thought I might find you out here.”He gestured with his head.“May I sit?”
Adam nodded and moved over a bit to make room on the edge.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Adam said.“I needed to think and…”
“You’ve got a big decision in front of you.”
His aunt and uncle had been thrilled for Adam when his mother called with the news that a letter had arrived from the foundation.She’d read it to him over the phone, and Aunt Judy had pulled out a special bottle of wine that was dusty on the shelf to celebrate.He may not have seen them much since he was a kid, but they’d kept in touch, and both Uncle Jack and Aunt Judy knew exactly what this opportunity meant to him.
They also knew what Maureen meant to him.
“I don’t know what to do.”
His uncle was quiet for a moment before he spoke again.“Are you sure?”
“Sure about what?”
