I Chose a New Life novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: What Cliff Saw

Cliff sat up.

He pulled the blanket over his lap and rubbed his face with one hand.

I waited, naked under the wool, and I knew the answer before he gave it.

"I was on the dock," he said.

"At seven."

"At seven. I was checking lines on the first boat."

"And?"

"And Bennett came down the ramp with a coffee in each hand, and Roxana came out of the trees from the lodge.

"He gave her a coffee.

"Then he kissed her.

"Not a friend kiss."

My stomach dropped through the mattress.

"You saw it," I said.

"Yes."

"You saw my fiancé kiss another woman, five hours before my wedding."

"I saw it from forty feet away."

"And you didn't say anything."

"No."

"Not to me when you saw me on the lawn, and not on the boat that night?"

"No."

I sat up and pulled the blanket around me.

My hands were shaking, but not from the cold.

"Why?"

"I thought it was none of my business," Cliff said. "I run a ferry. People come to the island and do things I don't ask about.

"I've watched a groom throw up on my deck and a bride cry in my cabin and two people sneak off to the lighthouse at midnight.

"I figure out how to keep the boat running and keep my mouth shut."

"This wasn't a groom throwing up."

"I know."

"This was my life."

"I didn't know it was your life. I hadn't met you."

"You met me at noon, when you handed me a towel."

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