AFTER DINNER THEY made their way down to the shore so that Josephine could see the seals in the water. He was hoping they would still be there when they got down to the pier, and sure enough, they were.
They were barking and swimming in the water.
“This is amazing,” Josephine whispered.
“Aye. It is,” he admitted. He didn’t often take the time to admire the seals. It was just something he took for granted as a local. Josephine took a step but teetered on the uneven path. He reached out and steadied her.
“Thanks,” she said. “I keep forgetting how rocky some of these paths are here.”
Henrik held her close for a moment. She felt so small, so warm in his arms. He could catch the scent of vanilla in her hair.
And he remembered running his hands through her silken tresses.
Henrik took a step back quickly.
Josephine had a flush to her cheeks.
“You’re welcome. If you think this is bad, check out the fjords near Gros Morne on the main island.”
“I would like to see them one day,” she said, a nervous lilt to her voice.
“I think we can make that work.”
He hadn’t wanted to let her go, but what reason did he have to hold onto her? Josephine headed down the path in front of him so she could take some pictures of the seals.
Josephine snapped a couple, and they continued walking along the water until he spied a shed that was all lit up, with fiddle music wafting out. It was a public party that had just started up.
Shed parties were fun and full of island life and friendliness.
If he wanted to get Josephine to fall in love with Fogo, this was a great start.
“Come on,” he said, taking her delicate hand in his.
“Where are we going?” she asked, following him.
“To a shed party.”
She stopped. “Are we invited?”
Henrik chuckled. “It’s not like that. This is a public one. It’s put on for tourists, and even though you’re technically not one, you’re still not from here, and I think that everyone should experience a proper shed party once in their life.”
Josephine worried her bottom lip. “As long as I don’t have to kiss anything.”
“I promise, no kissing cod or anything else.” Although, in that moment, holding her hand along the shore he didn’t really want to make that promise to her. Not when kissing her was something he wanted to do badly. Even though he couldn’t. They’d both agreed to keep their relationship platonic and professional.
Thinking about kissing her was wrong. Remembering the softness of her lips was bad.
He shouldn’t think like that because he couldn’t have her. He couldn’t kiss her.
He wanted to.
He could still remember the way her lips had felt under his.
Vividly.
It made his blood heat, and it was taking all his willpower not to do that. If he was romancing a tourist, this would be a perfect moment.
Only, Josephine was not a regular hookup.
She was far more dangerous to his heart.
They climbed the rocky path up to the shed. The music was loud, and there was singing and laughter through the open windows.
The man at the entrance was selling tickets. “Yes, b’y, I can sell you two tickets. The money is going back into the township to fund grants for the arts.”
“Let me buy the tickets,” Josephine said, pulling out a ten-dollar bill. “You paid for dinner, Henrik. It’s the least I can do.”
The man smiled and handed over the ticket stubs. “There will be a raffle later on.”
Henrik nodded, and they walked into the crowded shed. The plywood walls were lined with pictures and postcards. There was a map drawn on the wall full of colored thumbtacks that marked where the come from aways were from.
“You have to mark your hometown,” Henrik said, fishing out a pink pin.
Josephine smiled and took the tack from him and marked Goderich, Ontario. The first pin in that location.
“Hey,” a voice that sounded vaguely familiar said behind them. “I worked for a spell in London, Ontario, and did some work in Goderich!”
Henrik and Jo turned around, and his eyes flew open wide as his gaze landed on someone he hadn’t seen in close to five years.
“George Aklavik!”
“Rik!” George opened his arms, and they embraced. “I knew you were from Fogo, but I honestly didn’t think I would run into you. This was a last-minute trip, and I thought you’d be out with the coast guard or too busy for me.”
Henrik grinned. “G’wan with cha, b’y. Never too busy for the likes of you.”
They hugged again, and then he turned to Josephine who was smiling but looked a bit stunned at their greeting.
“Dr. Josephine York, this is one of my oldest friends, George Aklavik, from Cape Recluse in Nunavut.”
Josephine’s eyes widened. “Cape Recluse? How did you two meet?”
George was grinning that big smile that endeared him to everyone who knew him. “Henrik did some training missions up there. Our doctor, Dr. James, insisted on it when I was starting out as an air paramedic, and he was just a brand-new coast guard and first responder doing ice rescues.”
“It was bloody cold,” Henrik recalled.
“It still is!” They all laughed at that.
“I never thought I would see you in Fogo,” Henrik said as they found a small corner to sit down together.
“I was flying bush planes in Northern Ontario for a few years with my wife, Samantha. Then we moved to Iqaluit to work and bring up our kids.”
“You’re married?” Henrik asked, surprised.
“Yep. For a few years now. She’s a pilot paramedic as well.”
“I’m happy for you,” Henrik said.
“What about you?” George asked.
“No, not married.”
George glanced at Josephine. “I’m sorry for hogging the conversation. So you’re from Goderich, Ontario? What brought you to Fogo?”
“Work,” Josephine said. “Covering for a friend. I’m a trauma surgeon in Toronto.”
George looked impressed. “A trauma surgeon. Impressive. If you’re looking for work after your time is up in Fogo, we’re always looking for surgeons in Iqaluit. My brother-in-law is a neonatal surgeon there.”
“Now I’m impressed,” Josephine said, with awe. “You have a neonatal surgeon up there?”
“My sister was too much of a pull for him,” George teased, winking.
“How long are you in Fogo for?” Henrik asked.
“For a couple of days, then I head back up north. My wife is due with our third child, and she’ll be very angry if I miss it.” George finished off his ale. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he said and made his way through the crowd.
“He seems friendly,” Josephine said. “It almost makes me want to check out Iqaluit to work, if I didn’t loathe winter so much.”
“You’re Canadian, ducky. You’re supposed to be used to winter,” Henrik teased.
“I’m used to it. Doesn’t mean I like it,” she murmured.
George came back with three pints of ale, which Henrik knew that Josephine couldn’t drink, but it was very generous of George.
“Sorry, if you don’t like the brew, I can get you something else,” George said.
“I like it,” Josephine said, quickly. “I just can’t drink it at the moment.”
There was a deep blush in her cheeks, and it took George about three seconds to put it all together.
“Oh! Would you like an iced tea or a pop instead?” George asked.
“I’ll get it,” Henrik said, clapping George on the back.
He disappeared into the crowd, looking back once to see that Josephine and George were leaning over the table to talk. The fiddle music was getting louder, and someone brought out a drum.
It was at that moment that a reel began. Henrik was stuck on one side of the shed and Josephine was on the other, but he wasn’t worried about George saying anything that he wouldn’t want Josephine to know. George didn’t know about Melissa.
The only people that knew were the original folks of Nubbin’s Harbor. The ones that knew he had been stood up when Melissa had left the island to go back to Vancouver. Even then, they kept that to themselves and didn’t trouble him with it.
There was a part of him that wanted to tell Josephine about Melissa, but he also didn’t want to burden her with problems that were private. Although, perhaps it would be best if he told her. She had told him about her late husband. Josephine understood grief. She understood pain and a broken heart.
If anyone was a safe person to talk to it would be her, but he just couldn’t at the moment.
“You’re too closed off, Henrik,” Melissa had said over the phone.
“What’re you talking about?” he’d said.
“You never tell me anything. You keep everything close to your chest. You don’t want to talk about our future, you just want to stay in one place and raise kids. That’s all I know. Do you even feel anything? You’re so stoic and serious.”
“I have laughs.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. What’re you afraid of, Henrik?”
He shook it away. He didn’t need those memories to invade his head. They should be gone, buried. Just like his heart.
Just like his parents.
Of course, they were just empty graves in the Nubbin’s Harbor cemetery. Only the sea knew where his parents really were. How many days had he waited out there on the beach, the last place he had seen them?
Yet they were still lost.
He took a deep breath and headed outside of the shed to get some fresh air. It was all suddenly a little stifling. He walked a few paces away from the party and the light and stared up at the clear sky. There was no moon, but the inky black of the sky was painted full of stars that reflected onto the rippling, churning waters of the Atlantic.
He could never leave this place.
This was the only thing that held his heart. However, he knew deep down that despite all his efforts to persuade her to stay, Josephine would leave with their baby. Fogo wasn’t her home.
She didn’t have ghosts or tragic memories holding her back.
Why let them hold you back, then?
“Hey,” Josephine said, coming up behind him. “You left.”
“I needed some air, and the dancing was a little much.” Henrik reached down, without thinking and took Josephine’s hand. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he wanted that moment of human contact. Even if only for a moment. It felt so right to hold her hand. It scared him. He swallowed down his emotions. “Come on. I promised you an iced tea.”
Jo had never been one to enjoy herself at parties. David had liked them, because he was definitely more social that she was. And even though she spent her time in very loud and crowded emergency rooms, it was the quiet of the operating room that calmed her.
She was an introvert at heart and didn’t mind sticking to David like glue when they were out, so this was a new experience, this shed party in Seldom. Another way to break out of her shell. When David died she’d isolated herself so much.
It was loud, and there was music and dancing, lots of laughing and a great mix of bayfolk, townies and come from aways, as the locals put it, but this was the first time in a long time that she was enjoying herself.
And she actually liked being a part of it all. It made her feel like she wasn’t completely alone.
She felt like she belonged.
Henrik’s friend George and some of the locals had made her so welcome. They were friendly, and she didn’t feel awkward or like she had to make a lot of banal small talk that would frustrate her to no end.
She wasn’t that square peg trying to fit in a round hole like she thought she’d be when she first came here.
It was like she fit in perfectly with the people of Fogo.
Henrik had been drafted to take over for the resident fiddler, and she had been shocked when he took the instrument and placed it under his chin and began to play a sea shanty with ease. She couldn’t help but tap her foot and clap her hands in time with the music.
He looked over the bow and fiddle and winked at her, his eyes lit up, and she could feel warmth flood her cheeks, her heart beating a bit faster as their gaze locked over the crowd of people.
You’re supposed to be keeping your distance with him. You’re supposed to be platonic.
She’d agreed to come to dinner tonight because she thought they were going to talk about the baby and their plans about coparenting, except they’d barely talked about that at all. They’d fallen into other conversations, and what was a bit unnerving was that it was so easy to do that with Henrik Nielsen.
So easy.
It was comfortable. Just like when he reached out and took her hand, and she didn’t pull away because it felt so good. It felt right.
It calmed her.
And the last time this had happened to her was when she’d met David. The fact that Henrik was making her feel like this made her nervous. She was trying to convince herself that she was falling into this trap too easily, because Henrik himself had admitted that he’d often sleep with women that were just passing through.
Only, she wasn’t passing through. She was living here.
For now, a little voice reminded her.
Suddenly, she didn’t feel as comfortable in this crowd of people, and she told George that she needed a breath of fresh air. Her stomach was churning. Maybe morning sickness was starting to kick in.
Right now she felt dizzy and out of sorts, and it felt like the walls of the shed were closing in on her. She found her way outside and stood there, taking in deep breaths of air. The music stopped, and there was cheering and some talking.
She turned as more people filtered outside, and she saw Henrik come outside, his hands in his pockets.
“You didn’t have to stop,” she said. “I just needed some fresh air. I was feeling a bit nauseous.”
“I hope it wasn’t my fiddle playing?” he teased.
She laughed. “No, it’s being crammed in with a lot of people, and it was getting a bit stuffy in there.”
Plus she was worried about her end date on Fogo. She was worried about the baby and Henrik being separated for long periods of time. The only thing she was certain of was that the baby wasn’t a mistake.
They could make it work for the baby.
Couldn’t they?
“The shed party is ending. I said goodnight to George. I’ll see him tomorrow before he flies off in the evening,” Henrik said. “How about I get you back home?”
“Yes. I think I’ve had enough excitement tonight. Lobster, swiles and a shed party.”
“And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!”
Jo rolled her eyes. “That’s such a bad pun.”
Henrik grinned and took her hand. Though she should pull away, she didn’t. The path was rocky back to where his truck was parked, and she really didn’t want to trip in the darkness.
“Sorry we didn’t get to talking about the baby much,” he said, reading her mind. “That was my original intention, I swear.”
“Mine too. We still have to talk about that. We have to make plans other than our agreement to be professional.”
“I know. And I mean what I say. I want to be involved with the baby and your pregnancy. I’ll do whatever I can.” He reached down and touched her face, his knuckles brushing gently against her cheeks.
It made her week in the knees, his touch sending a rush through her, making it harder to breathe.
She looked up at him. “I really appreciate that.”
“I care about you.”
“You only just met me,” she said, softly.
“There are some people you meet and you just know. It’s easy.”
She understood that too well. She had felt that way with David, and she felt that way with Henrik too. It was usually so hard for her to be intimate or close to anyone unless she felt some kind of connection that was difficult to put into words.
Her skin heated, and she was glad that it was dark and he couldn’t see her blushing, but she shivered and Henrik pulled her closer.
“I understand that,” she whispered, her voice breaking as she leaned in to the warmth of his body.
“I think... I think I’m going to make a big mistake,” he murmured against her ear.
“Oh?”
“Aye.” He leaned down and kissed her. The moment his lips touched her, all those internal arguments she was having with herself seemed to melt away into a big puddle of goo. Jo became lost in the sensation of his lips, the touch of his hands cupping her face and the heat of his body pressed against hers.
Henrik made her feel alive.
He made her feel safe too, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
This was bad.
This was not what she wanted, even though there was a part of her that really did and was enjoying it. It was what she had been thinking about for the last month. His mouth on her again. She wanted to be in his arms, melting into him. But wasn’t that what had got her into her current predicament?
Pregnant.
She broke off the kiss, even though she didn’t want to do that. It was for the best, for her heart’s sake. “I can’t.”
Henrik swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I wanted it too, but...we agreed on a professional relationship.”
“I know.” He cleared his throat and took a step back from her. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
Jo nodded.
They headed back to his truck. Not saying much, and the awkward tension was more than she could bear. What she needed was a couple of days away from him to process what was happening, and then maybe they could talk about the baby and set some boundaries.
Boundaries were very important.
There was a time frame to her life here on Fogo Island, and because of that, there could be nothing between them.
Except their child.