Cape May (25 page)

She said, “You know, the Tea & Scones is everything I’ve ever wanted. I’ve worked harder on it than all the other things in my life combined. I tried to separate the parts of me. Closed off you, and my failed marriage, and my poor choices, and just concentrate on my dream. But when I found out I’d booked my first reservations…”

“Congratulations! That’s wonderful, Joanna.”

“…all I wanted to do was tell you.”

“Really?”

“That was what mattered. You. I realized if I want all this and you, I have to fight for you.”

“How you think you’re gonna do?”

“Well, it’s really a matter of self-preservation: I either have to fight, or die without you. Because I simply can’t live without you any longer.”

“Really?”

“Michael, I want to spend the rest of my life with you in the Tea & Scones, making up for how much I hurt you. I want to make you happy. I…want you. I love you.”

He excitedly reached out for her hand and knocked over the glass of icy lemonade into her lap. She yelped and leapt up. He grabbed his napkin and blotted her pants. “Oh, Joanna, I’m sorry!”

She shivered out, “I deserve this.”

“No. You deserve nothing but happiness,” he said, grabbing napkins from the set table behind him, and wiping her wet hands.

“Well, that’s in your hands, now. And I think,
think
that I might finally be good enough for you.”

“You always were good enough. More than good enough. You’re perfect for me.”

“Don’t make me cry.”

“And was it wishful hearing or did you say you love me?”

“Only more than anyone I’ve ever known. Only for the rest of my life.”

He beamed. “I love you, too.” They held each other, so tightly that he realized first-hand that “Oh, that really is cold. How can I help?”

“Walk me back to the Tea & Scones, so I can get out of these pants?”

“I’ll walk you back to the Tea & Scones, I’ll help you off with your pants, I’ll go into the shower with you, and I’ll never leave your side again…if that’s what you want.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” she said.

“Then let’s go home.” Michael threw a $20 bill on the table, took Joanna’s hand and they walked out of Henry’s into the Cape May sunshine.

THE END

© DARRYL FOSSA

HOLLY CASTER writes an entertainment column for
The Nyack Villager
, has written dozens of articles for employee assistance websites, and is the Editor of two journals devoted to pain management education. She is hard at work on her next novel
Anne/Island/Whales
. Ms. Caster lives in the lower Hudson Valley Region
with her playwright husband Tom Dudzick
and their two cats Alfie and Bill. 

Dedication

I’d like to thank, in order of appearance: my sister Wendy, who, among so many other things (enough to fill another book), gave
me her front row seat for the final performance of
The Light in the Piazza
; Tom, my husband of 26 years—we were engaged
after knowing each other three months and I don’t know why we
waited so long; and my children Charles and Emma, without
whom my life, and the entire world, would be far inferior.