Evening Stars

“I don’t, either. It’s not about you, it’s about me being uncomfortable and...” She paused as the truth settled over her. A truth she’d been avoiding for a long time now.

“I want to go home.”

She said the words without thinking about how they would sound. How he would read them. His expression didn’t change, but his hand reached for the line, and seconds later the jib collapsed. He pulled in the large sail, keeping it from sinking into the ocean.

“Kevin, no,” she said, grabbing his free arm. “Don’t do this. I didn’t mean right this second.”

Because by “home” she’d meant Blackberry Island. They’d both understood that.

He secured the sail, then turned to her. “It’s always been home. I’ve known that. You need to see Nina. What I don’t get is you two can’t be in the same house for more than a day without fighting. It happens whether she comes to see us or you go to see her. Yet, you can’t seem to make a decision without her. Why?”

She didn’t have an answer. She wanted to tell him he was wrong, only he wasn’t. Nina was... She swallowed. He was right. Nina was the voice in her head.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s not about an apology. I’ve given you all I have, Averil. All I am. If it’s not enough, I’ve got nothing left. Maybe I’m not supposed to make you happy. Maybe you’re supposed to figure that out on your own.”

She wanted to tell him she didn’t know how. Didn’t understand what being happy meant. Contentment was relatively easy, but happy? Who could say that?

“I don’t want you mad at me,” she murmured.

“I’m not. I’ve loved you from the first day I met you, but I can’t live in this half life any longer. I need you to be in this with me, or I need you to leave.”

The fear returned, but she held on to it, enduring the sense of having her heart ripped into pieces.

“Go see your sister,” he continued. “Figure out what you want. I’ll wait.”

“For how long?”

He removed his sunglasses then. She gazed into his eyes, seeing a combination of sadness and determination. “I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I’m done wanting you to come home.”

Which was fair, but terrifying. What if she waited too long? What if...

And with the questions came the realization that she’d already made up her mind. That whatever the price, she needed to go back home, to find answers. She felt as if everyone else had grown up and moved on, while she’d been stuck.

“I’ll be back,” she promised. “Please, don’t give up on me.”

* * *

Nina confirmed the charts had been pulled for that day’s appointments while she waited for the coffee to fill her cup. She’d had a restless night, no doubt brought on by the phone call from her sister. Averil was coming home for a visit. By herself.

Nina placed the files back on the shelf, then walked toward the break room. Kevin was such a great guy. She could only hope her sister wasn’t being an idiot over something inconsequential. Averil could be flighty—a characteristic she had inherited from their mother. Or maybe their father, who had walked away shortly after Averil had been born.

At the time, Nina had been too young to know much more than he was gone. Later, she’d blamed her mother for driving him away. Now, as an adult, she wondered if he had somehow sensed that in her heart, Bonnie preferred to play for the other team. Not that the news excused him for abandoning his daughters.

“Wow—where did all that come from?” she asked aloud. Obviously she’d been spending too much time on her own, she thought, shaking her head.

She poured a cup of coffee and took a restorative sip. The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Andi appeared.

“Morning,” Nina called. “You’re looking like you feel better.”

“I do! I ate breakfast without having to throw up. I call that progress.” Andi reached the main floor and grabbed Nina’s mug. She inhaled deeply. “God, I miss coffee. More than wine. I would have thought the wine would be the hardest to give up, but it’s not.”

She returned the mug and glanced at the stack of files. “Looks like a busy day.”

“We had a fairly light schedule, but there were a few last-minute calls.”

“There always are on Monday.”

They talked about who had phoned for an emergency visit, then Andi led the way to the break room.

“Guess who we had dinner with last night?” Andi asked as she filled a mug with water, then set it in the microwave. Her green eyes danced with amusement.

Nina took a step back. “No way. I don’t want to know.”

“But I want to tell you and you have to listen.” She grinned. “Dr. and Mrs. Harrington and their son, Dylan.” Andi clapped her hands together. “I can’t believe I’ve been on the island nearly a year and this is the first time I’m meeting the infamous ‘my son, the doctor.’”

Nina groaned. “Seriously? They had you over?”

“Uh-huh. It was great. He’s handsome. I wasn’t expecting him to be so ruggedly good-looking.”

“He’s okay.”

Andi hesitated. “Is this hard for you? Should I not fill you in on the details and tease you?”

Nina wanted to say yes, but that was ridiculous. She squared her shoulders and instead said, “Of course it’s fine. Dylan and I were over years and years ago. I never think about him.” Or she hadn’t until this past weekend. Which was his fault. If he hadn’t stopped to help her, she would have been completely fine. And happy not to have him on the brain.

Because he’d never called back. Not that she wanted him to. She didn’t. She wasn’t interested. But she would have enjoyed having him call so she could have told him that to his face. Or at least his ear.

“He’s single,” Andi announced. “I asked if he was seeing anyone.”

Nina leaned against the counter and clutched her coffee. “You didn’t.”

“Why not? I’ve never met him before. Asking questions is a part of polite conversation. He didn’t have a date, so I asked if he’d left someone special behind, and he said no. It was a natural bridge to ‘Are you seeing anyone?’ He said he wasn’t.” Her smile was smug. “So it’s a clear field.”

Nina held in a groan. “I don’t want a clear field. I’m not interested. What part of ‘it’s been decades’ doesn’t make sense to you?”

“It’s been only one decade and you were both young.” Andi pulled the mug out of the microwave and dropped in her tea bag. “Oh, and his parents mentioned that they’d been instrumental in your breakup. They feel bad about that.”

Nina felt a tic starting under her right eye. “You talked about me?”

“Not a lot. But I think it’s interesting, don’t you?”

“That my boyfriend let his parents dictate his love life? No. That’s not interesting.” Not that she was surprised by the admission. Dylan’s parents hadn’t worried at first. Nina would guess they’d assumed, once he got to college, the relationship would naturally end. But it hadn’t. He’d come home on weekends, and they’d spent breaks together. By the summer after his second year of college, the elder Harringtons had been pressuring them both. Nina hadn’t been about to give in, but Dylan had finally ended things with her.

Which she supposed she could accept. What had really hurt was he’d tried to make it her fault. He’d said... She reminded herself it didn’t matter what he’d said.

Andi pulled out the tea bag and set it in the sink. “He was a kid.”