again. I’ve missed you.” She placed her hands over her heart. “I’d like to be friends again.”
“I can’t wait to catch up. I want to know everything.” He pulled her into his arms.
She rested her head on his shoulder, smiling toward the heavens.
When I asked for help, I never expected this.
17
Paul walked with Maeve back down to her house. “I can’t believe you know Amanda,” he said.
“I could say the same thing.” Maeve nodded, her eyes twinkling. “Incredibly tiny world we live in. Everything is so connected if you look close enough.”
Thoughts were bumping through his mind. Amanda was here. He thought any hope of ever seeing her again was gone. “How’d you meet her?”
“Met her on the beach, through Hailey and Jesse a few weeks ago. Such sweet children.”
“I was with Jack when I met her.” Paul looked out toward the water. “I remember it as clear as if it were today.”
“How long ago was that?” Maeve asked.
“Gosh, eleven years ago. They would’ve been married seven years now. You know her husband died about two years ago, right?”
“I do.”
“We were best friends, Jack and I.” He slowed his long stride for Maeve. “We were together when we met Amanda. One of my favorite Skynyrd songs was playing. I asked her to dance. She was just so lighthearted and happy. Not like anyone I’d ever met.”
“What was the song? Do you remember?” Maeve asked.
“I do. It was ‘What’s Your Name,’ and we were singing along as it played. She reached up and whispered her name in my ear.” He inhaled, remembering the zing that had rolled him that night. “Then I spun her around.” Paul remembered every move, even the way she lowered her lashes when she politely laughed at his cornball jokes. “The three of us were together all the time after that.”
“Kindred spirits.” Maeve smiled gently. “She’s a delight.”
“I’d never met anyone so truly happy to just breathe the air.” They turned up the beach toward Maeve’s house. “You seriously walk this every day?”
“Sure do.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Well, I am impressed with you too, Paul. Amanda doesn’t know about Paws Town Square?”
“No. She assumed I’m working with the MP dogs in the same capacity as when she last saw me, and I didn’t correct her. I’m not sure how to tell her. I’m afraid she’ll be disappointed in me for leaving the Marines.”
“Why would she be? You’re doing quite well.”
“Her husband…he gave his life for this country. We were Marines together. It should have been me. He had a family. He had her.” Paul took in a long breath. “After Jack died, and Amanda pushed me away, my whole life changed. It wasn’t good for a while.”
“Tell her.” Her jaw set. “Don’t leave a thing out. She’ll understand.”
He walked Maeve to the gate at the bottom of her stairs. “Thanks for inviting me to use your beach access. I had no idea it was about to change my life. I thought I’d never see Amanda again.”
She nodded, making him feel like he needed to explain.
“Before Jack died…I’d promised her that I wouldn’t let anything ever happen to him. I was the best man at their wedding. I’ll never forgive myself for taking the new assignment that separated us. If I’d been there—”
“It wouldn’t have done diddly.” She pressed her finger against his chest. “You are not responsible for what happens in this world. There’s only one Man who has that power.” She pointed straight into the sky. “He knows what He’s doing.”
“But I—”
“No. No buts.” The words were stern, but she lowered her hand, her expression softening. “You were in love with her, weren’t you?”
He looked away.
“You can’t deny it. It was in every tiny detail you described.”
“It sounds so corny, but it was truly love at first sight, and it grew every day.”
“Then how is it she married Jack?”
“I never told her. I’ve asked myself a million times why I didn’t say something to her. It was timing. Bad timing on my part. I left to take care of my parents’ estate when they died in a car accident. When I came back, I thought we’d just pick right back up, but the two of them had become more than friends.”
“You never said anything? Not to either of them?”
“Of course not. I was Jack’s best friend. One of us would be devastated if I said anything. I didn’t want any of us to get hurt.”