Page 53 of Lovestruck in Fortune's Bay
Chapter 24
Dylan sat at the communal table, tracing the rim of his coffee cup, the same spot he’d been in ever since he opened the doors to Destiny’s Brew, an hour before.
The Early Brew Crew sat around him, quietude consuming them all before Mitch patted Dylan on the back and said, “She’ll be back, you’ll see.”
They all did that bobblehead-nod-in-agreement thing.
“I’m not so sure, you guys.”
“Oh, I saw the way she set her eyes on you, all awestruck-like. It was easy to tell she was falling for you.” Marge smiled, rubbed Dylan’s shoulder. “Mitch is right, sweetie. She’s coming back. So you better figure out what it is you’re gonna do when she does.”
“What do you mean?”
Dan shot him a look. “She means, what’s your plan, son? You gonna make an honest woman outta her? Or what is it you young people say?”
Hillary chirped out, “Put a ring on it.”
“Yep, that’s it,” Dan said.
“I’d love to, but do you think it’s too soon?” Dylan drummed his fingertips along the hard surface of the table.
Every single one of them laughed.
“Are you asking us?” Mitch said. “The ones who fell in love during a Spring Break mishap and ended up knots tied.”
“You’re in Fortune’s Bay, dear,” Marge chimed in. “The place where love just…happens. Destiny always makes sure we end up with our true loves. So, of course it’s not too soon to pop the question. Not if you love her, anyway.” She brought her cup of coffee to her mouth, thinly shaped eyebrows raised. “I think you do.”
Indeed he was head-over-heels, captivated, unable to imagine how it would feel to breathe without Chloe. Sure he was prepared to get down on one knee, put a ring on it. But he was also prepared for the worst—for Chloe not to come back to Fortune’s Bay, leaving him a broken heart and an unfinished manuscript based on their would-be love story.
Perhaps it had to end in heartache. That’s how love, as he knew it, ended anyway. Someone always gets hurt.
Later that night,as time seemed to drag on and on, Dylan stood back and surveyed the photos on the wall in the room upstairs. Over the last few days, to occupy his time, he’d finished the room he kept closed off. Painted the walls a bright white, arranged the furniture, hung up every photo, including the ones he shot with Chloe—his muse. He missed her smile, her laugh, her kisses, her ability to make him open up about things he often held in, and he missed the chance to make love to her. If anything, maybe their meeting was Destiny’s way of bringing him a sense of healing. An old-fashioned dose of, love heals all wounds.Yeah, right. Only in movies…or romance novels.
He showered, ate the leftover lasagna he prepared the night before, sipped on wine, considering in all seriousness, wine, not love, is what healed all wounds.
As he turned off the lights, ready to take his pity party upstairs, he heard atap, tap, tap, at the door, so faint, he thought it could be the wine he’d consumed playing tricks on him. Shrugging it off, he took two steps up the stairs when he heard it again, only this time he was sure someone was at the door. He paused, head cocked to the side, lips curved up. There was only one person who tapped like that…
Whoosh went the door, the force of him opening it so fast, and when he saw Chloe Davenport standing there, a smile dancing on her lips, he pulled her inside, swung her around in his arms, kissed her, then said, “So, this is it, huh? You coming back here, to me. Our happy ending?”
“Yep. I admit I was a little scared. However you—and your fabulous abs—are worth all the risks.” She threw her head back and giggled.
“Well, Miss Davenport, there is one thing I have to ask. Did you shave your legs?”
He did, after all, give her fair warning he may ask her this in the future.
“Nope. I actually had them waxed.”
To that, they both laughed, kissed some more.
“I love you, Chloe.”
“I love you, too.”
And as the saying goes, they livedandloved happily ever after because once upon a time, two people met in Fortune’s Bay and fell in love…
The end.
