Sea Glass Island (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,52

smart,” he said eventually. “She made me laugh. I was a pretty serious guy back then. I was working hard, first in med school, then through my internship and residency. She made me lighten up.”

“Those sound like good things,” Samantha suggested.

“Seemed that way to me, too,” he said. “But there wasn’t a lot to laugh about when I got back from Afghanistan. And it made me realize that the things she’d loved about me were, ironically, the way I looked in a tux and the future she’d envisioned as the wife of a well-respected, big-city trauma surgeon.”

“And then you decided to open a clinic in Sand Castle Bay,” Samantha concluded.

“Sure. I think that was one of the deal-breakers for her, but not the only one.”

“What else?”

“Last time she saw me, I was not exactly looking like a model for Armani. I’d let my hair and beard grow, because I couldn’t be bothered. I could barely walk down the hall, much less hit the dance floor at the country club. And I was treating everyone as if I were a bear with a thorn stuck in its paw, lashing out at the most innocent remarks.”

“All understandable,” Samantha insisted. “Couldn’t she see that?”

“She tolerated my lousy mood surprisingly well, even coaxed me into laughing a time or two. But she clearly couldn’t envision a future with a man who couldn’t keep up with her or take her to the places she wanted to go.”

“And yet you kept going,” Samantha said. “You didn’t let any of it defeat you. Do you know how remarkable that makes you?”

“Not remarkable. In an ironic twist, I have her to thank for my recovery. When she took off, it made me more determined than ever not to let my life be over because I’d lost my lower leg.”

“Then don’t let it be over,” Samantha said. “Unless you open your heart, you’ll be living a half-life, Ethan. Take a chance. If not with me, with someone.”

Ethan sighed as she once again disconnected the call. He wanted to do as she asked, wanted to take that kind of emotional risk. More and more, though, he realized that if he dared to do that, then it would have to be with her. And none of the issues he’d just mentioned to her were going away. Nor would they be easily resolved.

Maybe that’s why love was best left to the very young, he thought with a touch of well-honed cynicism. The older people were, the more their lives had been shaped exactly as they wanted them to be. Compromise came less easily.

And yet he couldn’t help thinking that maybe the reward would be worth it.

11

After speaking to Ethan, Samantha stood at the top of the steps listening to see if she could still hear Boone and Emily. She wanted to go out on the porch and think about her conversation with Ethan, but she didn’t want to interrupt the couple if they were working things out.

There wasn’t a sound from the living room, though. She tiptoed down until she could peek into the room. She saw her sister wrapped securely in Boone’s arms, her head on his shoulder. Both of them were asleep, or so it seemed.

She tried to ease her way past them, but Boone’s eyes immediately snapped open.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “Everything okay?”

“Getting there, I think,” he said. “You going out?”

“Just to the porch,” she said. “I’m not ready for bed yet. Close your eyes. I’ll just grab the afghan from the back of the sofa and sleep outside tonight. I won’t be wandering back through.”

Boone frowned. “No need to do that.”

She grinned. “You never know. Emily could wake up and things could take a turn toward interesting.”

Boone chuckled. “Not likely. She’s still working on forgiving me. Interesting’s a ways down the road.”

“Well, good luck with that,” Samantha told him, and left them alone. At least this time, they were working at communicating, rather than going to their separate corners to let wounds fester and destroy them. Maybe maturity would save them yet.

On the porch, Samantha settled on the chaise longue, the afghan wrapped securely around her, and let her mind wander. She couldn’t seem to help dissecting her call with Ethan. Would he ever get past the way Lisa had hurt him and allow himself to love someone again? Committing fully to a relationship was scary enough under the best of circumstances. She was cautious enough, and she’d never been seriously burned. Maybe when someone loved deeply and lost,