“Really. Still there. That’s good. That’s perfect. Is he planning on making dirigibles next? Maybe a nice big zeppelin?”
“I have no idea,” she replied, glad she could be honest. She looked around the room, at the white curtains, her perfume bottles on the mahogany dresser, at Luna sleeping again curled up beside her hip.
“I have some good news and some bad news,” Gordon said.
“Oh?”
“Which should I tell you first?”
She always hated being asked this question. Really, what did it matter? She was going to hear both anyway. “Surprise me.”
Gordon scratched behind his ear with a curious smile on his face, like he knew she was deliberately giving him a hard time. “Okay. The good news first. My research project in South Carolina is arranging for me to continue my work on a limited basis, providing, of course, I follow strict protocols.”
“Oh, Gordon, that’s wonderful! That means you’re coming back?”
He smiled and it lit up his face. “I only just learned today. I couldn’t wait to get off that floating nausea machine and call you.”
“When do you arrive?”
“That’s the bad news.”
“Oh no.”
His face was somber. “Maybe as soon as two weeks.”
“What?” Her face brightened. “You’re wicked. That’s amazing. Wonderful! However did you manage it?”
“Well, it seems there’s this amazing loophole. It’s called the fiancé visa.”
Linnea froze, a lump in her throat.
Gordon laughed and put up his hand in mock surrender. “I’m joking.” He laughed again. “I guess that joke fell flat. In fact, looking deeper into it, I found it would take six to nine months to even get that visa.”
Linnea feigned a laugh, but inside she was in shock. What? He really looked into it?
“I found a workaround for the visa,” Gordon continued. “I could fly to another country like Costa Rica for fourteen days. They haven’t been hit with the virus yet and the US is still allowing travel from there. So, I’ve made a plan to meet with Leatherback Trust. I have some business I can do there. That means I can be in Charleston in maybe less than two weeks, give or take a day and praying no cancellations.”
“Genius,” she said, impressed.
“Not really. I travel a lot. You learn the ins and outs. And I’m desperate to see you—I can’t wait to get there.” He paused. “I’m guessing there should be a whole slew of paper airplanes by the time I get there. Probably a fleet.”
“You’ll have to quarantine when you arrive here, of course. Cooper is in quarantine now, at my parents’ house.”
“Oh, so he made it home. Good for him.”
“Yes,” she replied, relieved to be talking about her brother. “He got out pretty quickly.”
“So…” He paused and looked off. She saw the sharp contours of his cheekbones, then suddenly there was his face again, looking at her while he took a bracing swallow of his drink. “A bit more bad news,” he said, looking down at his drink.
She waited.
He looked up. He had this way of keeping his head down, then raising his eyes that was so disarming. She felt her heart skip. She knew that look so well. Missed it. He often looked at her that way, or tilted his head sleepily, when they were talking after they’d made love.
“What?”
“Now that I have the formal approval to get into the country, I’ve been searching for a place to rent.”
“What about the house you rented last summer? It was perfect.”
“It was. I tried. But it’s already rented. In fact, most places are rented. It’s crazy. I can’t find a decent place on either Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island.”
“It’s the pandemic. People are fleeing the cities. Everywhere is rented—for the whole summer. And the real estate market is just as wild. A house doesn’t stay on the market long at all. My friend who’s an agent told me that it used to be someone would fly in and take several days to look at several houses. Now they come in and look at two or three houses and buy one of them immediately. That is, if they don’t buy it online, sight unseen.”
“That explains it.”
“Did you look in Mount Pleasant?”
“Off the island?”
“Yes, but it’s not far. Just over the bridge.”
Gordon looked down at his drink. “Actually, I was wondering… hoping, rather, that there was room in the inn.” His smile was quick, almost shy.
Her mind froze and she didn’t reply.
“We could live together,” he explained.
Linnea sucked in her breath, exhaling slowly while her mind whirred.
The plan had been for him to come to the islands and continue his research project. He’d find a place to live. They’d see each other, some nights she’d sleep over. It would be like the summer before. She was excited to see him again and continue their relationship. She thought she might be in love with him—but she’d never said she was moving in with him. That was a big step in their relationship. And she’d had a bad experience with that. Linnea wasn’t mentally prepared.
“Here?”
He laughed. “Yes. Since there is really no place else.”
“I… oh, gosh, Gordon…” she stammered. “This is sudden. I didn’t plan for this.”
“Neither did I. But here we are.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “We were going to be together anyway. It’s just geography.”
“Oh, Gordon,” she said. “It’s so much more than geography.”
He hesitated, considering. “Is that a no?”
“I can’t,” she blurted. “For a lot of reasons. Things have changed here. I have a roommate.”
“A roommate? Since when?”
“Anna. You remember her.” His face was blank. “Annabelle.”
“Yes, of course,” he replied. “The redhead. Rotten surfer.”
She laughed. “Yes, that’s her. We both were furloughed from the aquarium, so we are pooling our resources. The guest room is taken.”
“Oh. I see. Fair enough.” He paused. “But, Linnea,” he said, his voice lowering, “I was rather hoping that we would share a room.”
“Oh, of course,” she said, feeling tongue-tied. Of course he’d want to stay with her. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. He was traveling across an ocean to be with her. “I want to be with you,” she hurried to say. “But what about the pandemic? When you arrive, you’ll have to be in quarantine. Like Cooper. You can’t do that here.” She put her hand to her heated cheek. “Gordon, we have to think this through.”
“I have. I could stay at a hotel for two weeks. Quarantine myself per requirements. And then I thought, I rather hoped, we could be together. Isn’t that what you’d like?”
“Actually, Gordon…” She took a breath. “I’d have to get permission from Cara. And what about Anna? I can’t kick her out. She has nowhere to go.”
He released a quick smile that quickly fell again. “Have you changed your mind? You don’t want me to come?”