Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
The last thing I wanted was to discuss anything about either of her sons, but I also couldn’t turn her away. So I nodded and stepped aside for her to enter.
She walked into the kitchen and looked at my teacup sitting on the counter. “Mind if I join you?”
Yes. “No, of course not. I’ll make you a cup.”
We were both quiet as I prepped a second cup. Setting it down in front of her, I took the seat on the other side of the table.
Shelby wrapped her hands around the mug. “I know you’re hurting right now. But sometimes the hardest decisions we have to make end up being the right ones.”
I swallowed. “Nothing feels right at the moment.”
Shelby reached across the table and took my hand. “In life, there are so many different paths we can take. Often we feel compelled to cross one bridge over another to get to a new place. So we don’t really give the bridge to the place we’ve been any true consideration, unless the other bridge is burned, and we have no choice. Right now, you’re probably feeling like you lost your way. But I promise you, everything happens for a reason. Just because you’re forced to take a different bridge, doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness on the other side, Presley.”
I’d told myself I wasn’t going to cry anymore today, but a tear escaped and slid down my cheek. I wiped it away. “I’m not ready to talk about this, Shelby. But I appreciate you trying to make me feel better.”
She patted my hand. “It’s going to take time. But if you want to talk at any point, you know where to find me.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you like me to take Alex for a few days?”
I shook my head. “I think we’re actually going to go down to the beach for a day or two.”
Shelby smiled and nodded. “That’s a good idea. You know the old saying: Saltwater cures everything.”
She finished her tea and brought her cup to the sink before gathering her purse. Unzipping it, she took out an envelope and extended it to me. “I almost forgot. Levi asked me to give this to you.”
My heart, which had felt deflated, suddenly started to pump again. “What is it?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t open it, and he didn’t say.”
I took the envelope. “Okay, thank you.”
Shelby was barely out the door when I tore the envelope open. I don’t know what I’d been expecting; I guess I’d assumed it was a letter of some sort—the goodbye we didn’t get to have, or some attestation of his true feelings for me. But it wasn’t a letter at all. Inside was a stapled packet of legal documents, though I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at.
Quitclaim deed?
Grantor and Grantee?
I flipped through the pages, the last of which had Levi’s signature on it, then went back and started to read from the top. The meaning of the document didn’t become clear until the second full paragraph.
I, Levi Sanford Miller, hereby remise, release and forever quitclaim all of my interest in 638 Palm Court, The Palm Inn, City of Beaufort, State of South Carolina, to Presley Sullivan.
Oh my God.
Levi didn’t write me a love letter. He signed over his half of the inn to me.
And cut the last tie that binds us.
CHAPTER 27
* * *
Presley
The waves crashed as I sat on the sand, watching Alex dig for seashells. It was our first day in Myrtle Beach, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Look at this one!” Alex came running toward me and handed me an almost-symmetrical white shell with burnt orange spots.
I rubbed my finger along its lines. “This is definitely one for the jar.”
We’d brought a large jar from the kitchen with us and promised to fill the entire thing with only the most worthy of seashells to take back home.
When Alex ran back toward the shore, my phone rang. I smiled as I answered. “Hey, Harp.”
“I got your text with that breathtaking photo of the ocean. How’s Myrtle Beach?”
Breathing in the salty air, I said, “It was definitely a good decision to get away for a couple of days.”
“Is Tanner with you guys?”
“No. He wanted to come, but I told him I preferred to have some alone time here with Alex. I honestly needed a breather from him. Levi just left, so I’m still processing everything.”
“How did you leave things with him?”
Where do I even begin? I filled Harper in on the days leading up to Levi’s departure and ended with the fact that he’d given me his half of the inn.
“Wow. That was amazingly generous of him,” she said.
“I wish I could see it that way. I mean, it’s obviously generous. But it also felt like a slap in the face—like he didn’t want to have anything else to do with me, and that was a way of ensuring he didn’t have to. I feel like a fool for ever believing he could love me enough not to run away.”