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It took her a few hours to pack. She couldn’t believe how much stuff she had accumulated in just six months. When she had crammed all her belongings into the trunk and backseat, and set Daisy and Nick in front, she left the keys on the kitchen table and walked out. She resisted the urge to look around and say her goodbyes. She didn’t trust herself not to have a complete meltdown.
She drove to James’s house and knocked on the door. He answered in a ratty T-shirt and pajama pants. His hair was tousled and he needed a shave. His appearance cheered her up immensely.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve just been fired,” she said, her voice cracking on that last syllable.
“Oh, you’re kidding. Come in,” he said and stepped back.
“Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, seriously. Get in here. Let me take your coat.”
She gave it to him and then glanced around the small home, which was neat as a pin.
“Have a seat.”
She sat on the couch.
“What happened?”
“I don’t even know. Mr. Hogan said it was because I prayed with the girls in Augusta—”
“What?”
“But I know that’s not it. Maybe it’s all the Milton stuff, though Chloe said he’s confessed?”
“He did. Saw it on my phone.”
“How do you have cell service when no one else does?”
“I don’t. I have Wi-Fi.” He tried to smooth out the legs of his pajama pants as if he was wearing slacks and then leaned back in his chair. “They offered him some kind of deal. It’s not official yet, but apparently he’s going to do about ten years.”
“Ten years?” She couldn’t believe it, but she actually felt sympathy for Milton.
“Yeah, well, you can’t have sex with fourteen-year-olds you’re supposed to be educating. Now, back to you, what do you want to do?”
“There’s not much I can do—”
“There’s the union?”
“Yeah, but what are they going to do? I don’t even have a real contract.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Do you want to fight it?”
“Kind of, but I don’t want to waste my time and energy either. I don’t think I can win. I don’t even really know what or whom I’m fighting.”
“Well, you’re fighting PeeWee Hopkins, school board member, Milton’s second cousin. And you’re fighting the more than a hundred other Milton relatives on this island.”
“So you don't think it’s about the praying?”
“I don’t think it’s about the praying. I don’t think the girls would have said anything, and no one else was there. Besides, you didn’t tell them they had to pray.” He paused, and then nudged her foot with his. “Hey, you’re still the assistant basketball coach. I know it doesn’t pay much, but ...”
She started crying again, and she didn’t even know why. “I don’t know, James. I don’t know if I can go back in that gym.”
“You mean the cafeteria?”
She laughed through her tears. Then she leveled a gaze at him. “I don’t want to leave the island, James. I don’t want to leave you.”
He took a deep breath, looked around the room, and then returned her gaze. “I didn’t really want to have this conversation in my pajamas, Em, but here goes. I don’t want you to leave the island either. In fact, I’m asking you not to. I don’t have a ring and I’m not going to propose in my pajamas, but you ride this out, and I will propose marriage properly. I make enough money fishing to support us. You won’t have to teach. You could still work with the kids through the church.
This struck her as both good and bad news. James wanted to marry her: the best news ever. She didn’t need to teach: not so great news. She wanted to teach. She had always wanted to teach.
James apparently couldn’t read her reaction. “Or if you don’t want a proposal, we can do that too.”
She gasped. “No, of course I want to marry you, James. I’m madly in love with you. I’m just surprised is all. I wasn’t expecting you to say all that.”
James leaned forward and reached a hand out toward Emily. She reached out and took it. They sat like that for several seconds, four feet apart, holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes. “I owe you an apology,” he said, letting go of her hand. “I was hesitant to let myself fall for you. I mean, I was crazy about you from day one, but I tried not to be.”
She frowned.
“What I mean is, I didn’t think you’d last. Teachers don’t last here. I figured you’d be gone by Christmas—”
“You were almost right.”
“Well, I figured you’d leave of your own accord. And I didn’t want to have to choose between you and the island. I didn’t want to have to make that choice. I didn’t think I could make that choice.” He looked at the wall for several seconds.
She resisted the urge to say something just to fill the pause.
Still looking at the wall, he said, “I cared about another woman once. Her name was Naomi. She came for a summer. I fell for her. And when summer was over, she left. She left like it wasn’t any big deal, like she expected me to come with her. I didn’t even have my own boat yet, but I still couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to do it. I mean, I really cared about her, but I just couldn’t leave.”
He finally looked at her again. “I know that’s weird. But that’s how you found me. Alone at thirty-two, living on an almost-deserted island.” He forced a chuckle.
“It’s not weird.”
He looked grateful. “Emily, I’d like to think that if you had to leave this island that I could go with you. I would even try. I just don’t know if I could. My traps are here. My boat is here. My life is here. I don’t know how to exist anywhere else.”
“James, I’m not going to ask you to leave. I love it here. I’d love it a lot more if I still had a job, but still, I love you, and I will stay here.”
James looked at her thoughtfully. Then he softly said, “I love you too. And I’m sorry it took me so long to say it.” He slapped his knees. “But right now, let’s get you home. We’ve been in here alone too long.” He stood.
“Uh, James? I can’t go home.”
“Why?”
“They kicked me out.”
“Already?”
She shrugged, trying to look cool and nonchalant. “The perils of free rent?”
He looked around thoughtfully. “Well, you can’t stay here.”
Obviously.
“Let’s go see Abe,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, they’ve got a guest room.”
