“That’s it?” I asked. “You’re ok, with seeing how the two days go?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He shrugged, pushing himself off the bed. He walked to the bathroom.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” I held up one of the white paper bags.
“I think I’ll take a shower. Not that hungry.”
I didn’t want to correct him. He had been starving. So hungry he rushed to the grill.
“Ok.”
He closed the door behind him, and I wondered how in the hell we were going to make it through the next two days without breaking each other’s hearts all over again. It seemed like it might be the thing we were best at.
There had been so many things I had neglected since I’d left the island, I didn’t know where to start to repair them all.
Blake had left a few hours ago. He said he was supposed to meet Cole at the barn to talk about opening the boat business again to his family. I knew it wasn’t the right time to start asking questions.
This morning had been amazing and a disaster.
My finger trailed over the address book Aunt Lindy kept next to her phone in the kitchen. There were other ways I could track down Emily, but this one would work.
I dialed the number and waited for her to answer.
“Hello?”
“Emily, it’s Sierra.”
“Sierra?”
“Yeah, hey. I know this is weird calling out of the blue, but I’m at Aunt Lindy’s and I found your number. So I thought I’d call and say hi.”
“Hi.”
I chewed my lip. I was too nervous to get the courage to keep talking.
“Sorry about your aunt,” she offered.
“Thank you. I inherited the estate. I’ve been on the island a couple of weeks trying to clean out the house.”
“Oh, that sounds like a big undertaking.”
I smiled. It was almost as if she were here. “It is. Bigger than I thought.”
“Do you maybe want some help?”
“What?”
“I could drive over for a few hours. I could help you for a little bit. If you want.”
I had to stop from squealing. “I would love that. I’d love to see you.”
“Ok, I’m about thirty minutes away, so give me about an hour and I’ll be there.”
I clutched the phone in my hand. “Thank you.” I hadn’t even bothered to ask where she lived now or what she did. I guessed we could catch up on all those things when she arrived.
An hour later I had my former best friend wrapped in a bear hug. I greeted her on the porch and almost cried from happiness.
“You look amazing.” She glanced at me.