Brian stepped closer to her and cupped her cheek as he stared deeply into her eyes. “I love you, too.”
He knew she loved him?
But, of course, he knew. He’d always known exactly what was inside her heart, way back to when they were just a little girl and boy out on the playground.
As he wiped away her tears, she knew this was the moment of reckoning, the one where she'd have no choice but to throw away everything she'd worked so long and hard to build because she couldn't imagine leaving him.
But even though he'd just declared his love for her, he didn't look the least bit happy as he gazed down at her. On the contrary, the man she loved looked like his heart was breaking into a million pieces.
“I love you so much that I can't actually do it,” he told her in a raw, hollow voice. “Even though I thought I could. Even though I've been telling myself for weeks that I would do it. That I would do whatever I needed to do to make you stay, no matter what, this time. That I would convince you that you'd done enough in the city and had enough success to be happy staying here on the island with me now.”
Her heart had all but stopped beating in her chest by the time she whispered, “What are you saying, Brian?”
“I told you I wouldn't let you go again, but I know how important your dreams, and your career, are to you. Because they're just as important to me. All I want is for you to be happy. It's all I've ever wanted.”
“I am happy with you,” she told him, the deepest truth she knew.
And yet, even after she'd said the words, Brian closed his eyes tight for a few seconds before opening them again and searing her with the intensity of his gaze. “If you stayed today, if you didn't get on that plane back to New York, do you think you could continue to be happy? Or would you eventually end up resenting me, and your family, and the entire island for holding you back from achieving the rest of your dreams?”
Back in high school, she'd known for sure that she needed to leave or she'd regret it all her life. But now? Now things weren't nearly as cut-and-dried. She loved Brian, loved her family, loved always being so close to nature on the island. But her career was almost entirely based in New York. Maybe if she'd had another week or two to try to figure things out, she'd have a clear solution all mapped out.
“This was why I tried to keep my distance from you,” she said. “I didn't want this to happen again, for us to have to say good-bye. But I couldn't stay away.” She couldn't stop her tears from falling. “I'm sorry I couldn't stay away.”
“Even if you can't stay, every moment I got to spend with you,” he said as he pulled her into his arms and held her close one more time, “was worth it.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“How is your packing going, dear?” Grams asked from the doorway to Morgan’s room.
“Everything fit in the case when I came here,” she said, frowning as she looked at the huge pile of clothes and shoes and makeup that wouldn't even come close to zipping into her suitcase.
“I find that’s the way with things,” Ava said as she came into the room to help. “They never fit as neatly as we might like.”
“Can you make sure that the others get the bag of makeup?” Morgan asked, nodding to one of the many things she was going to have to leave behind. “I’m sure it will suit them.” Morgan finally got her suitcase closed, then moved to hug her grandmother. “I really loved being back here, Grams.”
“You know you’re welcome back anytime. Perhaps you won’t leave it so long next time?”
But Morgan wasn’t sure how realistic it was to start thinking about coming back home again. After all, she’d barely managed to get back to the island in the past seven years, and with her own TV show and makeup line, things were hardly likely to get any less busy.
Morgan checked her watch and knew she needed to get going to make her flight. And yet, she wasn't quite ready to go. Not when she still felt so churned up inside. “Grams?”
“Mmm?”
“I—” A thousand thoughts jumbled into her brain, but the only one that came out was, “I'm nervous.”
“About what?”
“About making the wrong choice.”
Morgan expected her grandmother to tell her everything would be okay and that she would support her no matter what choice she made. Instead, Ava patted the bed and gestured for them to sit down side by side.
“Back when I was a professional dancer, I knew all about putting on a face for a show. But one of the things I loved most about transforming into someone else while on stage was getting to take it off afterward and become
me
again.” She reached for Morgan's hand. “The worst nights were when it felt like I needed to leave it on. Not just the makeup, but the mask.” Grams brushed a lock of hair away from Morgan's face, and for a moment she felt more like a fifteen-year-old girl than a full grown woman. “Sometimes when I look at you, I see a beautiful young woman who doesn’t
know
how beautiful she is. How beautiful she has
always
been.”
“Are you sure you don’t have me mixed up with Paige, Grams?” Morgan tried to tease to lighten the moment. One that felt truly overwhelming. “She’s the one who never lets me make her over.”
“Whereas you’ve made over your whole life. Even though you have always been perfect just as you are.”
The kitchen clock chimed downstairs. “Grams”—Morgan was horribly choked up—“I have to go or I’ll miss my flight.”
Downstairs, she hugged Emily, Rachel, Paige and Charlotte good-bye—her heart in her throat the entire time—then drove down to the docks and returned her rental car before boarding the ferry. Brian hadn’t come to say good-bye, and she knew why. If he'd been there, she never would have gotten on the ferry...and he loved her too much to do anything that could destroy her career. But, God, she missed him
so badly
that even as she stood at the rail of the ferry in the fresh air, she could barely get any oxygen into her constricted lungs.
In the airport lounge, she had just enough time to scroll through the links Juliet had emailed her for the stories the reporters had written about her garden. It seemed that the idea of her all-natural makeup line and its ties to home had struck a chord with them. Even better, the readers’ initial responses to her having her own makeover show indicated that it could be a big hit. Digesting the details, Morgan could already feel herself starting to slip back into the world of ratings and opinions, executives and urgent meetings. A world away from the island, her family, and the garden.
And, most of all, a world away from Brian.
“Excuse me?”
Morgan looked up at a girl in her late teens. “Are you Morgan Walker? I’ve seen your segments on the morning news, and I was wondering...can anyone apply to have a makeover on your show or are there special rules?”
Morgan considered the girl for a moment or two. She was already very pretty, although perhaps she could do with a couple of tips on how to apply eye shadow so that it didn’t dominate everything else.
“How about if we try a mini-makeover right here?” She didn't have much makeup with her, but the girl had a fairly full bag of products. A short while later, Morgan asked, “How's that?”
The girl, who’d said her name was Vicky, looked in a mirror and frowned. “I don't look any different.”
“That's because you are
already
beautiful, Vicky,” Morgan said to the clearly disappointed girl. “Trust me, this is a very good look for you.”
“But I still look like
me.
Well, me with less makeup than usual, anyway.”
“Yes, you do,” Morgan said with a smile. “And I, for one, am really proud to have helped make you over into the wonderful, beautiful person you already are.”
Finally, the girl smiled back. “Thanks, Morgan. I didn't know you could do that, but now that you've put it that way, I guess this
is
a really good makeover.”
It really was, Morgan thought as the call for her flight came and she hugged her new friend good-bye. All the while she was thinking back to being seventeen and wanting the same kind of massive makeover that Vicky had asked for. Not just her hair or makeup, but her
entire life.
And it was exactly what she'd done by transforming herself from a small-town island girl into someone who could confidently walk into any boardroom in New York City or Hollywood and feel at home.
And yet, now that she was leaving again, she wasn't sure that her real home had ever really been anyplace other than Walker Island...
* * *
Emily ran into Michael as she came around the corner into the kitchen. He caught her firmly in his arms, and she was about to snap at him when she stopped herself. “Sorry.” She made herself step out of his warm—and incredibly strong—arms. “I was just heading out to yank some weeds in the garden. They've been growing so fast, and every time I look out the window into the backyard, it drives me crazy to see how they're crowding out all the flowers.”
“I miss Morgan, too,” he said gently, letting go of everything except her hand, which he held for a beat longer than he needed to.
“She’s only just gone,” Emily said. “I shouldn’t be missing her already.”
“I always start missing her even before she's gone,” Paige admitted as she moved down the hall past them in her dance gear. She didn't have to open up the studio for an hour, but when she was upset she always turned to dancing to try to make herself feel better. “But somehow that doesn't make it hurt any less once she actually leaves.”
Just then Rachel came down the stairs with Charlotte in her arms, saying, “I'm not going to go anywhere, honey. I promise.”
“But Aunt Morgan did,” Charlotte insisted.
“Morgan has to go to work in New York.”
“But I want her here. Why can't she stay on the island with the rest of us?”
How could Rachel begin to explain to her young daughter why her aunt needed to go all the way to New York to find what she needed? Especially when there was so much love for her here?
“Charlotte,” Emily said, “how would you like to come help me make cupcakes?” But Charlotte shook her head as she remained in her mother's arms, clearly too bummed out for cupcakes. Nonetheless, Emily decided to forgo the weeds for the time being and make the cupcakes anyway. They would all be in need of comfort food tonight.
“I really thought we had her back this time,” Emily said as she started to pull together the ingredients.
“Would you want to spend your time here if you got to spend it elbow to elbow with celebrities instead?” Michael asked.
“This is home.” And it really was that simple to Emily. “Why would I want to be somewhere else?”
Grams came in with her computer, but put it down to coax Charlotte out of Rachel’s arms. “Would you like to help me sort through my fan mail, sweetheart? You can help me type.”
Of all of them, only Grams seemed happy. She was smiling as she went through her email with Charlotte on her lap, humming away to herself as she coached Charlotte to type words for her, one letter at a time.
“Grams,” Emily said, “is everything all right?”
“Oh yes, everything’s fine. Boy, setting up this Facebook page sure has increased the number of people who are contacting me every day. Joannie mentioned that she thought I should set up a Pinterest page, too, to post pictures of the island throughout the seasons.”
“Maybe you should, Grams, but”—Rachel shot Emily a look—“are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m quite sure, girls. Why would you think that I’m not?”
“Well,” Emily said, “you don’t seem to be taking Morgan’s leaving very hard.”
“You’re worrying that I might finally have gone cuckoo in my old age?” Ava asked. She lifted Charlotte down off her knee so the girl could run back to Rachel.
“No, it isn’t that,” Rachel assured her.
“Listen to me, girls. You don’t need to worry about me. And you don’t need to worry about your sister, either. These things work out.”
“That’s easy to say, but—” Emily stopped when she saw her grandmother shaking her head.
“I’m not just saying it to try to make myself, or you girls, feel better. I’m confident that things will work out exactly the way they should.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Ava smiled at her granddaughters. “Because if there's one thing I believe in, it's true love.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Morgan was just settling into her seat on the airplane when her phone went off. “I know you're about to take off,” Juliet said when she picked up, “but even though you saw the links I sent you to the amazing articles about your garden and upcoming makeup line, what I hadn't yet sent you was the
huge
amount of interest they've already generated in your social media streams. It’s just
exploded
. People love the pictures you posted of the garden. They love the story of you going back home to grow some of the ingredients. If even a quarter of the readers tune in for the first episode or try one of the products…this could be
huge
, Morgan.”
“That’s great, Juliet.”
“Great? That's all you have to say when we’ve got national media coverage and we’ve just gone
viral
? I mean, pretty soon you aren’t going to be able to walk down the street without people recognizing you.”
Juliet said that as though it was the most incredible thing in the world. But Morgan didn’t see how it changed much. After all, for the last few weeks practically everyone had known who she was. Of course, that had just been on the island, but it was still more than enough.
Morgan found herself thinking about her sisters, about what they would be doing right now. Paige would be at the dance studio working with the students. Rachel would be playing with Charlotte. Hanna would probably be on the deck of one of Joel's boats filming something beautiful. Emily would be bustling around the house, baking and throwing sparks with Michael. Grams would be chatting online with all the fans she'd gotten after starring in Hanna’s documentary.
And Brian? Well, he might be out on the football field with his players. Or maybe he would be walking over to her garden to keep an eye on it. Or maybe, just maybe, he was missing her so badly that he'd still be trying to take a full breath, the way she still was.