I Left Him at the Altar, So the Best Man Took Me Off the Island novel · Chapter 7 of 40

Chapter 7: The Fish Pier

The fish pier at ten on a Tuesday smelled of diesel, bait and wet rope.

I came down the ramp in my father's old jeans and a gray sweatshirt, with my hair under a cap.

Fern had said to be seen, so I let myself be.

A dozen lobstermen were hauling crates off the boats, and they went quiet as I passed.

One of them, a huge man with a gray beard, took off his hat.

"Gen Ouellette," he said. "Armand's girl."

"That's right."

"We heard about Saturday." He cleared his throat. "Good for you."

"Thank you."

"Anybody tries to lock your door, you tell us," said a younger man beside him.

"I will," I said, and something in my chest loosened.

I had been alone in Portland for ten years, and I hadn't known how much of it I had carried.

Then I heard it, the easy laugh, from behind me on the wharf.

"Babe!"

Bryce came down the pier carrying a bouquet of white roses wrapped in tissue.

He wore a navy polo and a smile, as if it were any Tuesday, and he walked with his arms a little out.

Half the lobstermen stopped working.

"Babe, I've been trying to reach you for three days," he said. "I just want five minutes."

"No."

"I brought you flowers," he said.

"I can see that."

He stopped an arm's length from me and held them out, still smiling for the audience.

In his other hand was a thick folded sheet of cream paper.

I knew it.

It was another copy of page two.

"Okay," he said, turning so the men could hear. "I know I made a mess. I'm a guy. I get nervous, and I do dumb stuff. But Mom and I really did think this would be a gift."

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