12. Lovely

L ovely couldn’t remember the last time she’d walked through a tourist attraction holding a man’s hand, giddy with their banter and bathed in sunshine and good feelings. Maybe she’d never had the experience, other than in books and her imagination.

Which was all the more reason to cling tight to that hand and this memory-in-the-making. After a beautiful, laughter- and music-filled drive up to Grassy Key, they’d spent the morning meandering the Dolphin Research Center. They’d listened to a presentation, learned a bit about the protection and care of the special residents, and now wandered a warren of weathered docks that surrounded large salt-water lagoons.

As much as she wanted to give Eddie her full attention, it had to be divided between him and the remarkable gunmetal-gray creatures. A dozen or so dolphins zipped through the pools or bounded in the air, side by side, squawking at tourists in what they now knew was a language that no human had ever been able to decipher.

“Look, he’s waving!” Eddie exclaimed, nudging her closer to the water where a dolphin spun for them and flapped a fin, delighting a small crowd. The kids squealed in response, getting the dolphin to blow some bubbles, then offer his snout for a pet.

All of it was orchestrated by one of the many trainers both in and out of the water, blowing whistles, calling instructions, and supervising the dolphins.

Lovely adored every magical minute.

She and Eddie never ran out of things to talk about, with no awkward silences or even a moment of discomfort. This day felt so natural, like they’d done things like this all their lives, which made everything all the more wondrous.

And his stories were fascinating. He’d met so many famous people, been to exotic places, and lived a life chock full of more experiences than Lovely could even imagine.

Although, right now, stepping into the shade of a long thatched-roof overhang to watch some of the dolphins perform a duet dance, hers felt pretty darn fascinating—at least right now.

This experience might not last that long, but she honestly didn’t care. It was exquisite.

Laughing and clapping as Wendy and Muffin arced in synchronized perfection into the air, Lovely dropped her head back and sighed noisily.

“Ah, this is heavenly, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie said, giving her hand a squeeze. “You’re the one who’s been there.”

She peered at him from under her lashes. “Been…”

“To heaven.”

Oh, that . She managed a smile, not sure how to tell him she kind of hated the topic. Once she’d learned that Beck had told him of her near-death experience, she’d purposely avoided it—no small feat, considering this was the third day they’d spent in each other’s company, and he’d mentioned it more than once.

“I don’t want to prod,” he said quietly, his tone gentle, as if he understood her reluctance. She didn’t know how, but so far, he’d shown a tremendous ability to guess what she was thinking or feeling. “But it sounds quite remarkable.”

“It’s not that remarkable,” she said, even though having experienced something few humans do was that and much, much more.

The whole thing was so deeply and shockingly personal, Lovely was reluctant to drop her protective barrier and talk about what was probably the most pivotal event in her life—even with him. And that was ironic, because he was at the center of the other most pivotal event in her life—having Beck.

“But will you tell me about it?” he asked.

“Over lunch,” she said, not willing to change the lovely vibe of this day. Not yet, anyway. “It’s no big deal, really.”

“No big deal?” he scoffed. “You died and went to heaven, came back and have a new life. That’s a huge deal. I could write a song about that—heck, I could write a whole album about it.” He froze for a second, and then leaned in to whisper, “Can I?”

She regarded him for a moment, taking in the light on his skin, which had the same laugh lines and crow’s feet as hers had, but no scars from an unexpected run-in with a truck.

“Are you embarrassed?” he asked when the silence lasted a beat too long, his eyes as penetrating as his question, and just as dizzying. And again, she marveled at his ability to read her emotions, even when she didn’t quite know what they were.

“Yes,” she admitted. “But I will tell you everything…if you tell me about meeting Joni Mitchell.”

He laughed. “Deal. But she’s not as interesting as?—”

“Are you the Sylvester party?”

Relieved for the interruption, Lovely turned to a perky young woman wearing a navy-blue one-piece suit, a bright white visor, and a whistle hanging around her neck.

“We are,” Eddie confirmed.

“Awesome! It’s time for your Dolphin Encounter. I’m Gabrielle, your friendly dolphin trainer and your escort into a magical world. You ready to romp?”

They shared a look and laughed, the conversation about Lovely’s experience instantly forgotten. Those were dark days, facing her mortality and her sister, and she was always happy to leave that memory behind.

Especially to make one as perfect as this.

“Water’s chilly,” Gabrielle told them. “So I’m going to recommend you change into wetsuits over your bathing suits, which you can do right by that dock. My assistant, Billy, will size you up, lock your stuff, and bring you to me in Lagoon Number Four. The water is fifteen to twenty feet deep, so you better not have lied about being able to swim when you signed the waiver.”

“We can swim,” they both assured her, sharing a look when they answered in unison.

“Good. So meet me there to romp with three of our most playful dolphins, Nyx, Vesper, and Gilligan. See you in a bit!”

She bounced off with a wave, leaving them to find Billy and… Oh, dear. Lovely would have to take off her coverup right in front of Eddie. She slowed her step and let him lead the way to the hut where they would don wetsuits.

“Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester?” Billy said from behind the desk.

They both froze at that, shared a look, and Eddie shrugged. “It’s just easier,” he murmured, then turned to the man. “That’s right,” he said. “Suit us up, Billy.”

He gauged their sizes with a quick once-over, digging out two wetsuits and pointing to the corner of the structure. There was a bench, a railing, and nothing that looked like a ladies’ room.

“Suit up over there and bring me your stuff and I’ll get you a locker key.” He turned, leaving them facing each other with armfuls of rubber and mirth in their eyes.

“You just pull it on over your swimsuit, Lovely,” he told her. “And it’s not like I haven’t seen…some of you before.”

She felt a flush on her cheeks. “I was…barely eighteen then.” Truth was, she’d been seventeen, but he didn’t need to know that little detail.

“And now I’m barely eighty.” He leaned so close she thought he was going to kiss her for the first time. “This is fun!”

Yes, it was, so she laughed her way through the awkward process of pulling on a wetsuit, then they got their key, and made their way across the long decks to find Gabrielle.

She was tooting her whistle at one of the smallest of the dolphins and seemed to be talking to another one.

“Come, come,” she said as she waved them over. “Nyx is our baby girl and she’s in rare form today! Blow some bubbles, Nyxie!”

Without a second’s hesitation, the baby dolphin stuck her snout in the water and made a loud, hilarious noise.

“Sit here.” Gabrielle patted the floating deck, inviting them to sit down on the edge. “Nyx is a calf still, just two years old. And Vesper is her mother. And you are…”

“I’m Lovely and this is Eddie.”

“All right, Lovely and Eddie. Brace for a good time!” With a quick whistle, the other dolphin rushed over, leaping and then shoving her long bottlenose right into Lovely’s lap, gazing up with the deepest navy-blue eyes she’d ever seen.

“Do you know that dolphins never sleep?” Gabrielle asked. “They just rest one side of their brain. Oh, look, there’s Gilligan. He’s not Nyxie’s father, but he’d like to be her stepfather. Vesper isn’t so sure.”

Lovely let out a soft laugh, leaning in to stroke her hand over Vesper’s sleek skin. It was cool to her touch and slippery, like latex, and the dolphin responded with what had to be the biggest, brightest smile, showing all her teeth.

“Oh, she likes you!” Gabrielle said. “That means you’re good to go in and swim with her baby, Nyx. She’ll let you. And Eddie? You swim with Gilligan, but be warned—he’s a goofball.” She leaned in to whisper. “And a ladies’ man, so expect him to try very hard to impress Vesper.”

Slowly, they both slid into the water, laughing as their dolphin escorts sidled up next to them.

“This is unreal!” Eddie exclaimed, getting a happy wave from Gilligan’s fin.

“He wants to take you for a ride,” Gabrielle said. “Lock your arm around his dorsal fin on the top and off you go!”

He followed the instructions, and Gilligan took him zipping away, leaving Lovely right next to the little calf. In a moment, Vesper joined them, lifting her nose in the air and squawking more like a duck than a dolphin.

“She wants to play tag,” Gabrielle said. “Just swim and she’ll chase you. You’re it, then tag Nyx!”

Lovely took a few strokes away and, sure enough, Vesper shot over and poked her snout into Lovely’s arm, adding a squeal.

“You’re it,” Gabrielle called. “Tag Nyx!”

She did and pretty soon the three of them were playing a game of tag as real and competitive as if she were running on the beach with her great-grandchildren. Every time her legs got tired, one of the dolphins offered to hold her up, which was simply the most magnificent feeling.

Gilligan and Eddie came back and joined in, leaving them breathless with laughter and disbelief.

Every time Vesper was alone, Gilligan swam to her. After a few tries, he brought Eddie with him.

“I’m his wingman,” he joked. “Come on, Vesper. Give the guy a chance. He’s a goner for you.”

Vesper swam in a circle, then came back to Lovely, looking right in her eyes. Holding Nyx for support, Lovely stared right back at the mother dolphin. Under the wetsuit, chills rose as she realized they were communicating, loud and clear.

“This is amazing,” she called to Eddie, glancing over to see he was looking at her with the same expression Gilligan used on Vesper.

She turned back to Vesper, feeling so connected to the animal that she had to reach out and put both hands on the side of the dolphin’s head.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered.

Vesper replied by making a clicking sound, then dove into the water, disappeared, and suddenly popped up twenty feet away, cutting a perfect semicircle in the air.

The move got a noisy response from the crowd, but Lovely just stared at her, marveling at what just happened.

A second later, Gilligan came flying over with Eddie, both man and beast wearing insane smiles.

“All right, buddy,” Eddie said to the dolphin. “You know what to do!”

Lovely grinned at him, delighted by his playfulness, enchanted by his personality, and swamped by what Ava would call “the feels”—a jumble of euphoric emotions that could be the dolphins, the sunshine, the experience, or…the man.

Just as she was about to respond, Gilligan dove forward, straight into Lovely’s side, gently nudging her…right into Eddie’s arms.

“Oh!” She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from going under, face to face with the most attractive man.

“Maybe he’s my wingman,” Eddie joked, tightening his grip as they both kicked their legs to stay afloat.

“I’m sinking,” she said.

“Same. Falling so hard, so fast, I’m sure to drown.”

Just as they dipped under the surface, his lips brushed hers and Vesper came whipping back to offer her whole body to lift them back up for air.

Not that Lovely could breathe. Or think. Or do anything…but fall a little more in love with each passing minute.

The day slipped into evening and time passed in a blur for what had to be the best “date” of Lovely’s life.

As they drove back to Coconut Key, holding hands over the console and listening to Van Morrison croon Tupelo Honey , Lovely let her eyes shutter so she could, once again, cling to the moment and the memory.

“Can you tell me now?” Eddie asked, letting go of her hand to tap the volume on his phone and lower the music. “I politely didn’t ask again, even over lunch, but I’m dying to know. No pun intended.”

She shifted in her seat, seeing the sign announcing the entrance to Coconut Key. They’d be home in a few minutes, which might not be quite enough time to tell her story.

“Come in for some lemonade and we can walk the dogs and talk,” she said.

He nodded and shot her a smile. “Great day, huh?”

“Amazing,” she agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “Are you really going to go back to swim with Gilligan again with Melody and Jazz?”

“If they want to,” he said. “They’re both more about lounging on the beach than doing the touristy things. I’m shocked to see Jazz so…mellow. She never takes vacations.”

“It’s the magic of Coconut Key,” Lovely said. “And you don’t have to come over if you want to spend time with them. I’d understand if you’d prefer to go straight to Coquina House.”

“And miss a chance to walk three dogs with the most beautiful woman on this island? No way.”

She smiled, still enjoying the glow of his company but wondering, not for the first time, if all this attention was…genuine.

“Are you always so flirtatious?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t always mean it.” He shot her a grin. “I’m kidding. No, I’m not generally flirtatious and I’m not flirting with you. Not in the cheap and meaningless sense of the word, anyway. I just…like you.” He lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I’m probably not supposed to admit that so easily and openly, but, hey, I’m seventy-six. I don’t beat around bushes, dance around the truth, or pretend I have all the time in the world. We’re long past being coy, don’t you think?”

She couldn’t disagree with that. “Does age make you want to…rush a relationship?”

“There’s a difference between rushing things and not wasting time,” he said. “I have two weeks here, and I want to make them count.”

A few minutes later, they were barefoot on the beach, wearing sweatshirts because some chilly air had moved in during the day. Night had fallen but an almost full moon lit their way as they walked with the three dogs unleashed and trotting ahead of them.

Sugar stayed close. And Eddie stayed closer, putting his arm around Lovely as they strolled.

“Okay, don’t make me ask again. It’s starting to get weird.”

“I won’t,” she said. “I’m just gathering my thoughts.”

“And, full disclosure, I might hear something that makes it into a song.”

She slowed her step and blinked in surprise, looking up at him. “A song?”

“Too bad Stairway to Heaven is taken.”

“There were no stairs,” she said on a sigh. “Just wheels and metal and a terrible, terrible sound that I never want to relive.”

Instantly, he pulled her even closer. “I’m sorry for making light of it,” he said, the apology touching something deep inside her.

“It’s fine. I probably should be more ‘light’ about it.”

“The outcome was happy, after all.”

“Oh, so very happy,” she assured him. “But sometimes, it’s shocking to realize how close I came to…not coming back. It was hard in the ensuing days to face the fact that I am not, after all, immortal. And last year, I had a slight—turned out to be nothing but still terrifying—cancer scare.”

He groaned. “I hate not being immortal,” he said. “At least, I hate facing it.”

“Well, I did. Lying on the side of the road, on Christmas Eve, making a left turn on US 1, because of an impulsive decision to stop into Joshua Cross’s furniture store on the way home from one last shopping errand. For the record, I have not driven a car since that day.”

“Oh, Lovely.” He added some gentle pressure on her shoulders.

She took a long, slow breath, wondering which of the many details of the event she wanted to emphasize in this retelling.

Sometimes, she remembered that horrible split-second realization that the truck going at least fifty-five was coming directly at her. Sometimes, she got stuck on the moment she hovered over her own bloody, battered body, utterly without pain. Sometimes, she focused on the trip through the light—the yellow and lavender flowers, the familiar faces, the fact that she remembered her sister was wearing a blue dress that once belonged to Lovely.

“A truck hit my little Nissan so hard I was thrown…far,” she finally said. “I kind of remember the sound and the impact, but not really. Then I was dead.”

He slowed his step. “What did that feel like?”

“Really nice,” she said on a laugh. “Much better than I would have felt being alive, based on the way I looked.”

“You could see yourself?”

She nodded. “Classic out-of-body experience, looking down, floating off to…”

“The good place?” he guessed.

“Very good, if that’s measured in light and beauty. Lots of flowers in my heaven, and my sister. My parents, too, and many other people, but I just remember my sister.” She smiled. “Wearing one of my dresses, which is a weird detail, but it stuck with me.”

He resumed the walk. “Were you there long?”

“The emergency room report said I was dead for three and a half minutes, but it felt like scant seconds. Just as I hugged Olivia, I could feel myself being pulled back. It was like a physical yanking and as it happened…” She frowned, deep into the memory now. “I started to feel pain. I didn’t want to feel that pain. I…I would have been perfectly happy staying right there in the afterlife.”

He nodded. “Before that, what exactly did Olivia say?”

“She gave me permission to break the promise I made when I gave her Beck to raise. She said I could tell Beck the truth. Getting that permission was…well, it was like a key unlocking my soul. Honestly, there’s not that much more to tell about the heaven part. It was beautiful, and quite real. I have no real fear of dying now. But it wasn’t my time. I still had more to do here, even with pain and scars and paralysis.”

“You were paralyzed?”

“In so many ways,” she said, longing to bring some levity to the moment. “I knew I had a purpose, and I knew that purpose was to tell Beck the truth. But I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone and wreck her life. Of course, I had no idea her ex-husband was already doing that.”

Eddie nodded. “She told me he took up with his partner at his law firm.”

“The timing was right,” Lovely said. “I invited her here, and she came, with Peyton.”

“She told me a little bit about that,” he said.

“I didn’t tell her at first. I was so scared she’d be furious, but…” She shook her head, the long story not feeling like what she wanted to share this time. “It came out, eventually. She found the written contract I’d signed for my sister swearing to never tell a soul that Beck was my daughter. Yes, she probably told you she was upset that I’d kept the secret, but…” She smiled, remembering how Beck had come around after Lovely had taken a tumble.

“Beckie and I are destined for each other,” she said. “It might have taken fifty-some years to become mother and daughter, but we are connected at the soul and heart and spirit. She’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Have I thanked you enough for her?”

He chuckled. “I need to make time for her during these two weeks,” he said. “I got so wrapped up in you, I have put her on the back burner. Let’s plan to spend more time with her.”

“I think she’d like that, Eddie. And so would you. She’s such an extraordinary woman. Strong, loving, kind, smart, and her heart is just good.”

“Obviously, she takes after her mother.”

“And there he goes flirting again,” she teased.

He stopped and turned to her, putting tender hands on her shoulders to get her to face him.

“I’m not flirting,” he said simply. “I’m not rushing, either. I’m…taken with you. Completely and utterly besotted.”

“Oh.” She looked up at him. “Now, those are words I never dreamed I’d hear in my lifetime.”

“Why not?” he asked. “You’re amazing. You’re delightful. You’re?—”

She put her finger on his lips. “I get the point. But I’m also an old woman who never met…my one true love.”

“Yet.” He whispered the word so softly, she wasn’t sure she’d heard it. And he punctuated it with the sweetest, lightest, most caring kiss.

“Eddie…”

It was his turn to put his finger on her lips. “Shh. I’m writing lyrics in my head.”

She smiled at that, studying his serious expression as he looked right at her. She could practically see the wheels turning, rhyming words, spinning phrases, creating poetry.

After a moment, he stepped back. “I think I’ll call that song… Yet .’”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” she whispered.

“Then I better get writing,” he said. “We have, what? Ten days left?”

Ten days?

And right at that moment, she knew the truth. The awful, gut-wrenching, shocking truth. This wasn’t enough time with him. She wanted more. She wanted it all.

She wanted…forever.