Sweet Distraction ✔︎

[28] 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒔

Isabelle’s plane landed at SJC shortly after noon. A month had passed since she’d left Rainsville, but it felt as if it had been much longer. She rented a car and drove the hour and a half to Indigo Bay. An electric, nervous excitement simmered through her.

As she navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, the ocean stretched out beyond the sand dunes like a bucket of spilled blue paint. Sunlight glittered on the water, and people walked along the beaches clad in windbreakers and jeans.

She had always thought of the world as big. It was filled with widespread seas, golden deserts, mountains stretching toward the sky. There were always new places to go, countries to visit, things to see. She could travel her whole life and not see it all. She’d gotten lost in the world countless times.

But not until Evan King loved her had Isabelle ever been found.

Close to Indigo Bay, she turned east toward Rainsville. The landscape changed to stretches of farmland and low rolling hills, the charm of the seaside fading into the background. The Rainbow Palace had closed for the day, and Isabelle parked in the alley behind the bakery. She let herself into Jupiter's old apartment, where she showered and changed into the blue dress she’d worn on her and Evan’s boardwalk date.

At five minutes to six, she drove downtown and parked on Main Street. Her nerves jumped and danced. She looped her satchel over her shoulder and walked to Rainsville Park. A few children played on the playground, their parents standing watch nearby. An older man walked his dog on the path.

Everything was the same as Isabelle remembered it, but brighter, clearer, as if she were viewing it all through a prism that enhanced all the good.

The Shingle Mill Bridge arched over the narrow creek, the wood worn and cracked from the sun. She crossed the bridge and stopped in the middle. Water splashed over smooth rocks below, wandering south to join the watershed.

A glint of silver caught her eye. A padlock was attached to the railing of the bridge. Her heart did a crazy kind of twirl she’d first felt two months ago—the moment when Evan’s lips had first touched hers.

She took the padlock in her hand. It was smooth silver, engraved with a heart and the initials I and E. A key was still inserted into the lock. She twisted it, securing the lock to the bridge.

“You still owe me $8.56, Lockhart.”

Isabelle turned at the sound of Evan’s voice. Her soul filled with more colors and light than existed in the world. He approached from the other side of the bridge, still thinner but no less beautiful in jeans and a navy blue, button-down shirt that made his eyes look like the ocean.

“I’ll write you a check,” she said.

“Or you could kiss me.”

Isabelle smiled, her hand tightening on the railing as she restrained herself from running to meet him. She wanted to look at him, reacquainting herself with the lines of his body, the strong planes of his face, his well-shaped mouth and thick eyelashes.

“You figured it out.” He stopped a few feet from her.

“Your use of the Julian calendar threw me off for a while,” she admitted. “But the rest of it was easy.”

“It was supposed to be. I don’t…” He paused and cleared his throat. “I don’t want this to be difficult. Other things are difficult. We need to be easy.”

“Oh, you’re easy, Heartbreaker,” Isabelle murmured.

A smile tugged at his mouth. She took a wooden object out of her satchel and held it out to him.

He ran his fingers over the coarse wooden spoon, engraved with a rough design of a heart, a lock, and an anchor.

“You carved this?” he asked.

“Carved is a rather subjective term, I suspect,” Isabelle said. “But yes. Welsh sailors used to carve lovespoons during their long journeys, which is why anchors were often part of the design. And since being away from you was a very long journey…”

He slipped the spoon into his breast pocket, right next to his heart, and extended both his arms. Tears stung Isabelle’s eyes as she moved forward.

And then his arms closed around her in a strong, secure circle. She had come home. She breathed in the cedar scent of him and pressed her face to his shirtfront, hearing and feeling the beat of his everlasting heart.

“It’s lonely in the world without you,” she said, her voice muffled against his shirt. “I don’t want to be lonely anymore. I don’t want to be without you anymore either.”

“I love you.” He pressed his lips to the top of her head, tightening his hold on her. “And I don’t want you to give up the things you love because of me.”

“You are the thing I love.”

A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “I mean travel, writing, and photography. Your need for adventure and experiences.”

“None of that matters anymore, Evan. I just want you.”

“I want you too. But it all matters to me because it’s part of what makes you who you are.” He pulled away to look at her, his warm gaze tracking over her face. “And I’m crazy about every part of who you are.”

Isabelle wiped her eyes. “So what are we going to do? I don’t want to go, but you won’t let me stay…”

“I’m hoping we can do both.” Uncertainty flickered in his expression as he held both her hands. “We’ll go and we’ll stay.”

“How?”

“I need to live in Indigo Bay,” Evan said. “My family is here, and I worked out an arrangement with Josh and Adam to do exactly what I want to at Candy King. I have a ton of ideas I want to implement, and I know it’s going to take the company in a new direction. But I also have my doctor’s okay to travel occasionally, with certain conditions. I can’t do everything you can, and I can’t spend weeks away from home, but we can start with Europe and see where it leads us. If you’ll come back here with me.”

“Evan, I’ll go anywhere with you.” Isabelle tightened her hands on his. “I’ll stay anywhere with you.”

“You know it’s…” His throat worked with a swallow. “It’s a risk being with me. I’ll do everything in my power to live a long, healthy life, but there are no guarantees.”

“There are no guarantees with anyone or anything.”

“If you need to travel for your blog or any other reason, and I can’t go with you, then I still want you to go. For a week or two, however long you need to. And when you come home, I’ll be here waiting for you. I don’t want you to miss any adventures.”

“Evan.” Isabelle untangled her fingers from his and put her hand on his cheek. “You are my adventure.”

The faint tension in his shoulders eased. He turned his head to press his lips against the center of her palm.

“I love you, Lockhart.”

“I love you, Heartbreaker.” She brushed her thumb across his jaw, thrilling in the knowledge that she now had the right to touch him as much as she wanted. “Though I’m really glad I bid fifty thousand dollars on you, you’re worth so much more. You’re my gold at the end of the treasure hunt.”

Evan smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “This treasure hunt doesn’t end with gold.”

“What does it end with?”

“I told you there’s always a kiss at the end.”

And so there was. A perfect kiss.