Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
In just an hour, that expectation becomes a reality.
Someone’s Bluetooth speaker is popping music in the living room. Smoke hovers in the air off the side porch, the sizzling of burgers being the culprit. Nothing much else can be heard over the overlapping chatter of the island. I’ve apparently forgotten how quickly our parties can spiral out of control, leaving my own house feeling like something I barely recognize.
River and I squeeze through the crowds laughing and chatting and blowing off steam from another long weekend of Dreamwood Isle serving its weekly share of tourists and vacationers, the number of which seems to have grown considerably this fall. River doesn’t want to take the credit, insisting it has nothing to do with his semi-permanent presence here, but rather because Brooke’s social media skills are receiving the spotlight they deserve at last. I’ve noticed myself that Dad and Heather have started trusting Brooke more and handing off more responsibility to her—as well as listening when she has something to say.
And speaking of Brooke’s wild ideas: “No, I did not find myself a boyfriend,” says Chase when he arrives to the party, sleeves rolled up and shirt sweated through. “Kissing booth idea was the worst. Don’t tell your sister,” he adds, “or she’ll sweet-talk me into doing it again. I can’t. My lips are closed for business. Officially and totally closed.”
A minute later, I catch Heather in the foyer, and she has her own thoughts: “Chase is worse than Cinderella. His lips aren’t a glass slipper he needs to fit into some perfect set of other lips. Why is that man so damned picky?”
River and I run into Brooke in the upstairs game room, and she sees it differently: “Don’t shame Chase for being picky! The heart knows the instant lips meet. Chase is just waiting for his instant.”
River and I glance at each other after she’s roped into a game of foosball with some Fair employees. “So?” he asks with a playful smirk. “Do you believe our hearts knew they belonged together when we first kissed?”
I give our bungalow a glance out the window. “I think it was long before they touched, the moment I ran after you that first night … right down there on that rocky shore.” I let out a chuckle, remembering it vividly—how my heart pounded in my ears, battling the rage of the crashing water, and then the moment I slipped and River was there to catch me. “It was my heart running to you.”
River’s hand is in mine before I know it, squeezing. As I gaze back into his eyes, I find the laughter in the room all around us fading to nothing—even the silly dance Brooke is doing after scoring another point in her foosball game—until the only face that exists is River’s right before me.
“I love you, Finn,” he tells me.
My breath catches.
We’ve danced around that word. A lot. Maybe he was giving me emotional space between him and Theo. Or just allowing me as much time as I need before I’m ready to truly commit to something long-term and serious, to see if I can cope with the insane schedule River may at times have in his line of work. That word hovered over our heads like a gull over the salty rocks, circling and circling, never once seeming to land, never touching the ground, always up in the air like an idea, like a faraway dream, untouchable.
Until this moment. When it flees his lips. Washes over my ears. Arrests my heart like it always belonged there.
Then panic sets in his eyes. “Too soon? I … just felt it. It felt right. The look in your eyes. This magical day … and night. I-I just thought—”
“I love you, too,” I cut him off. River’s eyes shimmer, stunned to hear it. “Of course I do. I have all along. Why’s it so surprising? Weren’t you the one who taught me the Acting 101 lesson? Look into my eyes.” I point at them, coming close. “Do you see the truth in them, Mr. Peters?”
River’s mouth curls into a happy smile that spills over his whole face like a wave of light. “I’m gonna make you my husband someday,” he promises me. “Then it’ll be you and me down on that beach renewing our vows. You and me, Finn, ‘til the end.”
If anyone else had said those words after knowing me for just a handful of months, I’d freak out and bolt.
Hearing them from River is like a gift.
An anchor in the storm of my life.
Locking down my boat on the shore of our own island.
Exactly what I wanted to hear.
Later, after the crowds thin and the very last burger is flipped and eaten, River and I make our goodbyes and head down the calm, quiet road back to our bungalow. It’s never a true goodbye; River is going to get to enjoy these parties and the locals on the island for as long as he wants, again and again, until he’s just another boring, ordinary, expected face to everyone in Dreamwood Isle—which, for River, I would imagine is just as close to paradise as one can come.