Fisher's Light(95)

Bobby laughs even harder and shakes his head. “Good luck with that. Not going to happen.”

I roll my eyes and take a sip of my coffee. “I can’t let her lose this place, Bobby, especially to my f*cking father.”

“You also can’t just fork over money and expect her to be okay with that. She will cut off your balls and shove them down your throat.”

She didn’t react very well to my mother sending her money every month, especially thinking it was from me, and according to Trip, she was so pissed that I sent her a lump sum after the divorce that she refused to touch it.

“What the hell am I supposed to do, just sit back and watch her lose her dream? Her family’s business and the place that makes her happy?” I ask him.

“I don’t know, just don’t do anything stupid like go behind her back and pay off the mortgage. I can already see the wheels turning in your head and that will NOT end well for you, my friend,” Bobby informs me.

I don’t tell him that I was already thinking of doing just that and pretending like I had no idea when she found out. Last night, we broke down every wall left between us, though, and I’m not about to screw it up by lying to her right off the bat.

“She made enough money this summer to keep the place going through the winter, so I have some time to come up with a plan,” I let him know.

“You’ll think of something. You have to think of something. Ellie wants to have our wedding right here on the veranda. No pressure or anything,” he tells me with a smile.

“Speaking of weddings, when are you going to give Lucy those damn rings you’ve been holding onto for a year?” he asks.

I reach into my pocket and finger the diamond solitaire and plain gold band that I’ve carried around with me ever since she sent them back with the divorce papers.

“Soon. Definitely soon. I just want to make sure the timing is right and she actually WANTS them back,” I say with a shrug as I remove my hand from my pocket.

“She loves you, of course she’ll want them back.”

I shrug again. “She hasn’t said it yet, so who knows.”

I don’t tell him that it’s killing me not to hear those words from her. I know her actions have more than proven that she loves me, but I need the words. I need to hear her tell me she’s still in love with me so that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she wants this. That she wants everything. I can’t blame her for not trusting me completely, but I hope what happened last night goes a long way towards proving to her that she can put her faith in us again.

“Hey, do you remember that sign I made for Lucy as a wedding gift? The one that said The Fishers on it?”

Bobby nods, taking a sip of his coffee.

“When I stopped by the cottage, it wasn’t hanging next to the door. I went there a few weeks ago to look for it and couldn’t find it. I even looked all around the inn and it’s not here, either. I wanted to surprise Lucy by hanging it back up at the cottage and asking her to move back in there with me.”

Bobby sets his coffee cup down on the table between us and gives me a sheepish look. “You’re not going to find it anywhere.”

I look at him in confusion and he continues. “The day you sent Lucy the divorce papers, she sort of went a little nuts. Ellie got her drunk and drove her out to the cottage. Lucy pried the sign off of the wall and proceeded to beat the shit out of it with a hammer.”

“Yikes,” I reply.

“And then she lit the pieces on fire.”

“Oh, Jesus,” I mutter. “So much for THAT surprise.”

Bobby laughs and pats me on the shoulder before pushing himself up from the chair.

“You’re a romantic *, I’m sure you’ll think of something else. I need to get Ellie and head over to the mainland. She’s got an appointment for one of those fancy 3D ultrasounds in an hour. I guess the machine Doc Wilson has here on the island isn’t good enough for the first look at our little munchkin.”

We shake hands and I tell him to have Ellie call Lucy after their appointment to let us know how it went.

Bobby heads inside the house and I finish my coffee, wracking my brain for ways to convince Lucy that I truly love her, I’m not going anywhere and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.





Chapter 37




Lucy

Present Day


“I can’t believe it’s already the middle of September,” I grumble, burrowing myself closer to Fisher under the covers. “I miss summer.”