“AVERY, you remember that table of tourists from last year? The mom had a sunburn.” Max leaned on the doorframe of my office.
I looked up from my desk and squinted. “Two kids?”
He nodded. “They want to speak to the manager.”
A grin crept onto my face. “Well, I guess you better get out there.”
He rolled his eyes but I could see he was pleased. “They want to speak to you. Don’t worry, they just want to say hi.”
About six months after the sale of the restaurant went through last year, I had promoted Max to manager of The Arbutus. The whole getting married and falling head over heels in love and nearly losing everything sequence of events had shifted my life in a few ways. Now I had crossed my lifelong goal of owning a successful restaurant off the list, taking a day off occasionally didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Especially when it was to spend time with the people I loved. Emmett. My mom, who had moved to town a couple months ago. Elizabeth and Sam. Hannah. My brothers-in-law, Holden, Wyatt, and Finn. Miri and Scott. Keiko, who I mostly chatted with via FaceTime now that she was living full-time in Vancouver.
I glanced at the photos on my desk. Keiko and the world’s cutest chubby-cheeked baby girl, both smiling with bright eyes into the camera. Emmett and me, holding hands on the beach on our wedding day, me giving him a private little smile and him watching me like I was everything to him. One of Emmett and Kara at the beach, all tanned cheeks and freckles. And my favorite: the picture from Miri’s turtle rehab, with Emmett and me holding the turtles up to our kissy faces, with Emmett’s look of pure horror and mine of elated amusement.
Max looked over my shoulder at the picture. “That photo brings me joy. What time is the grand opening?”
“One o’clock. I should get going.” I stood and grabbed my bag. “I’ll say hi to the tourists on my way out.”
In the restaurant, I grinned at my mom and Elizabeth as I passed their table. When they arrived earlier, I sat and chatted with them for a few minutes. Every Thursday, they had lunch together. It usually lasted a couple hours and was accompanied by several glasses of wine and laughter that had tears rolling down their faces.
Between lunches with Elizabeth, volunteering at the school with Miri, and the wine-making course she was taking, my mom had a full calendar. She seemed happy here, and that made me happy.
When I approached the table of tourists from last year, the parents’ faces lit up. “We couldn’t wait to come back all year,” the mom said, beaming at me. “I follow The Arbutus on Instagram!”
My stomach fluttered with pride and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “We’re thrilled to have you back.” I meant it. “I’m stocked up on aloe, too.”
The parents laughed.
On my way out of the restaurant, something caught my eye. The framed picture of my mom and me in front of her restaurant years ago, the one that used to sit on my desk, hung in the foyer.
The Arbutus was Keiko’s family’s legacy, but now it was my family’s legacy, too. Everything that had happened in my life had ushered me to this point: watching my mom’s restaurant fail, experiencing the disappointment that was my dad, moving to Queen’s Cove on a whim, and saying yes to Emmett’s ridiculous plan. Some parts had been hard, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
I smiled to myself as I walked the few blocks over, saying hello to people from town and enjoying the cool, sunny weather that was so typical for May in Queen’s Cove. About thirty people gathered in front of the two-story building when I arrived for the grand opening of Miri’s new turtle rehabilitation center. They had outgrown the previous center and this space was double the size. A banner reading GRAND OPENING! hung on the building and there was a small stage set up.
I spotted Emmett speaking to Miri at the side of the stage. Even after a year of being married, my heart flip-flopped at how handsome the guy was. His broad shoulders filled out that gray dress shirt and my fingers itched to rake through his thick hair. He nodded at something Miri said before he glanced up, caught my eye, and winked.
I bit back a grin. This man. It had occurred to me many, many times over the last year that Emmett and I were inevitable. I had always been affected by him, one way or another, even when it was just him teasing me in the restaurant, when we barely knew each other. I winked back at him, and a flicker of heat rose in his gaze.
“Hi, sweetheart.” He pulled me under his arm.
I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, inhaling his warm, masculine scent. “Hi, honey.”
Miri clapped once. “Avery, good, you’re here.” She gestured at the turtle rehab employee rolling out a cart with a black cloth covering the contents. “You can hand Sarabeth to Mr. Mayor here when I give you the signal.”
Emmett’s grin dropped. “Who’s Sarabeth?” His throat worked, and I tried not to laugh. “Miri. We talked about this. Who is Sarabeth.”
Miri gave him a look like duh. “One of our newest guests. We need to make her feel welcome.” She pulled up the black cloth to reveal a googly-eyed turtle with its face pressed up against the glass.
Emmett gagged, his torso heaving. “Miri, no.”
“Hi, folks, sorry I’m late.” Don, the Queen’s Cove Daily blogger, appeared at our side with his camera strung around his neck.
“Oh god, not again.” Emmett pinched the bridge of his nose.
I rubbed his back. “It’ll be okay, honey.”
Miri’s attention was caught by something and her face lit up. “Oh, perfect. And here’s Carter.”
I saw where she was looking and choked.
Carter, the early twenties stoner who lived in the basement of my old place, wandered up wearing a full turtle mascot costume, carrying the giant turtle head in his arms.
“Laser! Didn’t know you’d be here. Hey, bro.” His eyes widened when he caught Emmett’s glare. “You don’t look so good. Are you seasick or something?”
At least Emmett didn’t look like he was going to puke anymore. He glowered at Carter and tensed up beside me. I squeezed his waist tighter to distract him.
He glanced down at me. “I don’t like this part of being mayor,” he muttered while Miri, Don, and Carter were in conversation about which way Carter would walk across the stage.
“It can’t all be fixing the electrical grid and filing criminal charges against the last guy.”
“Shhh.” He looked around to make sure I wasn’t heard before shooting me a grin. “You’re not supposed to know about that.”
Soon after Emmett was elected mayor by a landslide, Isaac relocated his family to Vancouver, and Chuck put his businesses up for sale. Emmett was looking for infrastructure development records and found some disappearing paper trails. Complaints against Chuck’s businesses seemed to disappear once they were filed. The town infrastructure budget was used up every year by charges that didn’t make sense. And there were a lot of expenses filed twice that somehow made it past the accounting department. Emmett suspected someone who had an interest in keeping the town’s electric grid in the Dark Ages had been slipping Isaac cash under the table. A generator company or repair person, perhaps.
But I wasn’t supposed to know any of this, because Emmett and the town council were still dealing with lawyers, and nothing had been formally filed yet.
Miri gestured at Emmett that they were ready to start and he leaned down to give me a quick kiss. His lips brushed mine and electricity zipped down to my toes.
“Love you, honey.” His voice was low in my ear.
“Love you, too.” I smiled at him.
“I hope you know I’m going to make you wear that thing later.” He made sure no one was looking before giving me a quick smack on the ass. I laughed and he stepped on stage and up to the microphone.
“Good afternoon, Queen’s Cove!” He beamed and the small crowd applauded and cheered. “Welcome to the grand opening of the new location of Miri’s House of Turtle Horrors.”
The crowd was silent and Miri’s mouth fell open. Emmett’s eyes went wide when he realized what he’d said. I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laughter.
“I mean, Miri’s Turtle Heaven.” He coughed. “Let’s give Miri a big round of applause!”
The crowd applauded as Miri stepped on stage, gesturing for Carter to join her. The second he stepped up with his turtle costume, the crowd went nuts. He was wearing the turtle head so I couldn’t see his expression but based on the way he was doing the robot and moonwalking around the stage, I knew he had a huge grin on his face. He danced over to Emmett and put his arm around Emmett’s shoulders.
“Get off me,” Emmett said, and I snorted. Into the mic, he continued. “Miri’s organization has a long history of rescuing and rehabilitating turtles in the area.”
Beside me, an employee unlatched the tank holding the turtles. Emmett’s professional smile faltered and his eyes darted to the tank.
“And, um—” His throat worked. “And with the new facility, they’ll be able to accept twice the guests.”
The employee reached in and picked up the turtle, Sarabeth, whose arms and legs were splayed in the air. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I scooped up the turtle and glanced at Miri, who nodded and gestured for me to step on stage.
A look of nausea came over Emmett’s face and his nostrils flared. His gaze darted between me and the turtle. “Miri’s organization is mostly run off donations, and um, she would like to thank the residents of Queen’s Cove for their generosity.” He swallowed, staring at the turtle in my hands as I approached.
He looked up at me and gave a slight shake of his head. No, his eyes pleaded.
I grinned wider at him. Yes, I nodded.
“On behalf of the Queen’s Cove town council—” Emmett gagged. “—I would like to present Miri’s Turtle Heaven with a grant of twenty thousand dollars.”
“Quick,” Miri said in my ear. “Now.”
I shoved the turtle into Emmett’s hands and his face morphed into an expression of horror. Don readied his camera, Miri stepped up to Emmett’s side and smiled, and on Emmett’s other side, Carter began to twerk against him. Don snapped the picture and gave us the thumbs-up while the crowd cheered.
“Stop that,” Emmett barked at Carter before almost tossing the turtle back to Miri. “Miri will be leading tours of the new facility all afternoon,” he said into the microphone. “Congratulations, Miri. I need to leave now before I throw up.”
Miri gazed into the eyes of her turtle with an adoring smile. “Okay.”
Emmett pulled me off stage and slathered his hands in sanitizer. “I hope you enjoyed that. I need to go boil my hands.”
I snorted as he grabbed my hands and smeared sanitizer on them too. “You did great up there.”
He shuddered. “If Miri wants to open another turtle rescue place, I’m saying no.”
I smiled at him. “No, you won’t.”
He sighed. “No, I won’t.” He pulled out his phone to glance at the time. “What does your day look like? I had booked off the entire afternoon for this. Want to play hooky with me?”
A sly smile grew on my face. “Mr. Mayor, you’re a terrible influence on me. Always roping me into your grand plans.”
He stopped and leaned down so his mouth was just above my ear. “Just wait until you see what we’re going to do tonight.”
A shiver rolled through me and my stomach fluttered. “I sure like being married to you.”
His eyebrows went up. “Good. Get used to being my wife because I’m not going back.”
We spent the afternoon at Castle Beach, sitting on a blanket we kept in the car for this very reason, watching the waves and the sparkling water, listening to the birds chirp at each other. The sun gently warmed our skin and Emmett’s arm held me at his side while I leaned my head on his shoulder.
I glanced down the empty beach, then to the sea and the forest across the water. “This must be what heaven is like.”
“Anywhere with you, Adams.” His throat worked when he looked down at me. “Anywhere with you.”
A familiar figure appeared out in the surf. “It’s Wyatt,” I said, squinting and pointing.
Emmett watched for a moment. “Who’s with him? He’s usually solo.”
A second figure appeared, floating beside Wyatt. Their back was to me but I’d recognize that bright blonde hair anywhere.
“Is that Hannah?” I blinked. Hannah didn’t surf. Hannah didn’t leave her bookstore. Hannah could barely make eye contact with Wyatt.
Emmett made a thoughtful noise like huh and we watched them paddle off to another beach. I smiled to myself. Whatever was going on, Hannah would tell me when she was ready.
Finally, we headed home with plans to make pasta and sit out on the patio with our dinner and a glass of wine like we did most summer evenings. The second we stepped in the front door, though, Emmett ran up the stairs.
I was in the kitchen, pulling ingredients out of the fridge, when he reappeared with it in his hands and a huge grin on his face.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “No way.”
“Adams.” His voice was teasing and cajoling. “You promised.”
I took a step back but was blocked by the counter. “I did no such thing.”
He shook out the mushroom hat, plumping it up to its original size. It had been squashed in the back of my closet. Emmett wouldn’t let me throw it out or incinerate it in a campfire the way I wanted to.
He put on an innocent expression. “I held that gross little turtle today, baby. I didn’t want to do it but I did it for the greater good.” He stepped closer with the puffy hat. “Now, your turn.”
I made to bolt but he caught me and laughter tumbled out of me. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp but his arm was locked around my waist. I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Marriage is about compromise.” With one hand, he tried to shove the hat on my head.
My arms were pinned to my side. “Marriage is about trust,” I wheezed, giggling and thrashing. “I don’t trust you not to post a picture of me in this hat.”
Emmett pulled the hat over my head, backwards at first so the head-hole was at the back. I sighed in defeat, straightened up, and he spun the hat around.
I tried to glare at him. He beamed back at me. “There she is. My beautiful wife.”
“I hate you.” I smiled, despite this fucking dumb hat.
The skin around his eyes creased and his eyes twinkled. “No, you don’t. You love me.”
My hands came to his chest. “Despite my best efforts, I have fallen deeply and madly in love with you, and we are destined to be together until the end of time.”
A look of utter contentment passed over Emmett’s face. “All I ever wanted, Adams.”
