He walked over and took my hand. “I’m sad Uncle Levi is leaving, too.”
I blinked a few times. “What?”
“When your allergies are bothering you, you sneeze all the time. I think you’re just sad like me that Uncle Levi is leaving. He’s fun to have around.”
I stroked my son’s cheek. He was such a perceptive little boy. “How about you and I take a ride to the beach tomorrow? Maybe we can get a hotel room for the night and spend two days surfing the waves in Myrtle Beach?”
My son fist pumped. “Can I get a new boogie board before we go?”
I smiled. “Of course.”
“Okay!” Alex squeezed my hand. He then started for the door, but stopped when he realized I wasn’t following. “Come on. Uncle Levi is packing the car. You need to say goodbye.”
“Ummm...” I couldn’t think of a way to avoid doing it, so I reluctantly nodded. “Okay.”
Out in the kitchen, Levi was putting his laptop into a backpack when we walked in. He looked up and, if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was in as much pain as I was.
He smiled sadly. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Tanner strolled into the room, swinging around a set of keys dangling from a lanyard. He smiled. “You ready to go, superstar?”
Levi’s eyes jumped to meet mine again before he looked down to zip his backpack. “Yep.”
“Let’s hit the road then.”
Again, Levi’s eyes met mine. Of course, my plan had been to avoid saying goodbye, but now it would seem weird if we didn’t at least hug or something. So I took a deep breath and walked over. “Goodbye, Levi. Good luck this season.” The hug was awkward, but when I went to pull away, Levi’s grip on me tightened.
He whispered in my ear, “Good luck with this place. My grandfather was a wise man.”
When he released me and I took a step back, there were tears in his eyes. Levi coughed and turned away. “Let’s go. I don’t want to miss my flight.”
I followed them to the door, completely numb. Levi never looked back as he got into Tanner’s SUV and buckled. Alex climbed into the back and the engine started, but at the last second, Tanner opened the driver’s side door and jogged up to the porch where I stood. He kissed my cheek and pulled me in for a hug.
“I forgot to say goodbye.”
Tanner and I had put a lot of the hard feelings behind us, and we were friendly these days, but we weren’t in a place where we hugged and kissed goodbye, so I thought it was odd. Until I looked up and saw Levi watching from the car. That had been Tanner’s point. Apparently my son wasn’t the only perceptive one in the house, and Tanner wanted to leave his brother with a lasting memory.
***
I allowed myself a solid hour of crying, and then I took a second shower. I’d considered calling Harper to talk through everything, but that would have inevitably led to more tears, and I didn’t want to be red faced and swollen when my son arrived back home. So instead, I put the kettle on and made a cup of chamomile tea. As I steeped the bag and stared into space, someone knocked at the front door. More and more people had been stopping by to inquire about renting a room lately. While that was a good thing, I was glad there was still another week until the grand opening, because I couldn’t imagine having to smile and welcome strangers right now.
But when I opened the door, it wasn’t a stranger on the other side at all.
Tanner’s mother took one look at my face and frowned. “Can I come in?”
The last thing I wanted was to discuss anything about either of her sons, but I also couldn’t turn her away. So I nodded and stepped aside for her to enter.
She walked into the kitchen and looked at my teacup sitting on the counter. “Mind if I join you?”
Yes. “No, of course not. I’ll make you a cup.”
We were both quiet as I prepped a second cup. Setting it down in front of her, I took the seat on the other side of the table.
Shelby wrapped her hands around the mug. “I know you’re hurting right now. But sometimes the hardest decisions we have to make end up being the right ones.”
I swallowed. “Nothing feels right at the moment.”
Shelby reached across the table and took my hand. “In life, there are so many different paths we can take. Often we feel compelled to cross one bridge over another to get to a new place. So we don’t really give the bridge to the place we’ve been any true consideration, unless the other bridge is burned, and we have no choice. Right now, you’re probably feeling like you lost your way. But I promise you, everything happens for a reason. Just because you’re forced to take a different bridge, doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness on the other side, Presley.”
I’d told myself I wasn’t going to cry anymore today, but a tear escaped and slid down my cheek. I wiped it away. “I’m not ready to talk about this, Shelby. But I appreciate you trying to make me feel better.”
She patted my hand. “It’s going to take time. But if you want to talk at any point, you know where to find me.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you like me to take Alex for a few days?”
I shook my head. “I think we’re actually going to go down to the beach for a day or two.”
Shelby smiled and nodded. “That’s a good idea. You know the old saying: Saltwater cures everything.”
She finished her tea and brought her cup to the sink before gathering her purse. Unzipping it, she took out an envelope and extended it to me. “I almost forgot. Levi asked me to give this to you.”
My heart, which had felt deflated, suddenly started to pump again. “What is it?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t open it, and he didn’t say.”
I took the envelope. “Okay, thank you.”
Shelby was barely out the door when I tore the envelope open. I don’t know what I’d been expecting; I guess I’d assumed it was a letter of some sort—the goodbye we didn’t get to have, or some attestation of his true feelings for me. But it wasn’t a letter at all. Inside was a stapled packet of legal documents, though I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at.
Quitclaim deed?
Grantor and Grantee?
I flipped through the pages, the last of which had Levi’s signature on it, then went back and started to read from the top. The meaning of the document didn’t become clear until the second full paragraph.
I, Levi Sanford Miller, hereby remise, release and forever quitclaim all of my interest in 638 Palm Court, The Palm Inn, City of Beaufort, State of South Carolina, to Presley Sullivan.
Oh my God.
Levi didn’t write me a love letter. He signed over his half of the inn to me.
And cut the last tie that binds us.
CHAPTER 27
* * *
Presley
The waves crashed as I sat on the sand, watching Alex dig for seashells. It was our first day in Myrtle Beach, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Look at this one!” Alex came running toward me and handed me an almost-symmetrical white shell with burnt orange spots.