Finally Ours (Harborview #2)

14. Carter

14

CARTER

For the rest of the hike back to town, the only thing I can think about is the kiss.

And I’m damn lucky we’re on a trail now because there’s no way I could navigate us in this state. Not when my brain is filled with the following in rapid succession:

Angela’s lips. How soft they were. How they looked pink and wet after I finished kissing her. How they opened for me. Angela’s hair, my hand brushing through it to cradle her head and grip her neck.

Her hips—Christ, her hips . My hands on them. Her body pressing into mine.

And on and on.

But after an hour of walking in silence, I start to worry about why she hasn’t said anything to me. I turn to look at her, to reassure myself that she’s still behind me, and I see that she’s staring at my back with a determined glint in her eyes. She doesn’t acknowledge that I’m looking at her, and hell, maybe she doesn’t even notice, lost in her thoughts as she is.

She’s rebuilding the walls between us. Shoring up her defenses, I’m sure of it. She may have let me in for a moment earlier, and last night her guard was down as well because of the whiskey. But I’m not there yet. And maybe I shouldn’t have kissed her. After all, she thinks this is about forgiveness. She doesn’t know that I’m actually hoping this will lead to us being together, for good this time.

I can barely even let myself think it. It doesn’t seem like a plausible reality—one in which she forgives me and wants me and we actually make it work.

But I couldn’t help but kiss her. It wasn’t planned or calculated, but it may well have scared her off. Fuck I think. I have less than an hour until we’re back in town, and then who knows. Captain Jones could be waiting for us, if Jamie was able to get in touch with him.

“Should we stop and rest again?” I call out to her, turning back.

“No,” she says. “I want to get back, and I’m finally warm enough to take this off.” She peels it off, revealing her long-sleeved shirt underneath, and giving me a glimpse of the glorious swell of her breasts and the curve of her hip.

I swallow, and force myself to keep my eyes on her face.

“Eyes up here,” she chides softly, and I know she’s caught me.

“Easy enough, Angel,” I say, and I mean it. Focusing on Angela’s sparkling blue eyes and the delicate curve of her cheekbone has never been a hardship, so I just continue to stare.

“Come on,” she says, and takes the lead up the trail.

I can do nothing but follow her through the trees, and watch my fate slip away by the minute.

In another half an hour, the roofs of the small buildings that make up Isle North’s only village come into view. It looks just as peaceful as when we left it two days ago.

“Yeeeeees!” Angela cries out when she spots the town. “Let’s hurry.”

We wind our way down the rest of the trail, hiking downhill slightly, and heading towards the sea. The village is nestled at the base of some cliffs near the water. Angela has a definite pep in her step but all I can feel is anxiety.

This is it. The storm didn’t last long enough for me to get her to forgive me. The last two hours of silence between us proves that.

When we make it to the trailhead, and then back onto Main Street, the village is pretty quiet. It’s only a collection of shops and a few houses, though more are dotted around the island.

“I thought someone would be here to, I don’t know, greet us. But I guess it’s not like we just won the Tour de France or something,” Angela says, her tone deflated.

“It does feel anticlimactic,” I agree. “Let’s head to the General Store. It’s open every day and we can get something to eat.”

“And you can see what Jamie has said? About Captain Jones?”

“Right.” I pull my phone out and turn it on. Next to me, Angela does the same.

I hear her send a voice message to her moms, telling them she’s okay. My heart aches a bit at that—at how much they care. By all accounts my parents are loving, but…they would never worry about me.

About my younger sister? Sure. But not me. I haven’t even told them we’re stranded on this island.

I focus my attention on what Jamie has sent, and decide it’s better to call him. When he answers, he tells me he’s with Cat and I put him on speaker so Angela can also hear.

“Hi!” Cat calls through the phone. “Are you okay? Have you both been mauled by a bear? Did you have to hunt for your food? Did Carter have to construct a snare?”

Angela just laughs at that.

“I can, by the way. Construct a snare, that is.” It seems important that everyone knows that. Especially Angela. “But we were fine. There was food in the cabin.”

“And whiskey,” Angela adds.

“Ohhh, tell me more. Did you?—

“They didn’t do anything, Cat,” Jamie cuts in. I can hear in his voice that he’s trying to protect me from her prying. From putting me in a situation where I have to admit that I wanted something to happen that never will.

“We got drunk,” Angela supplies. “And now we’re back in town and we want to go home.”

“About that,” Jamie says.

“James Hart, if you tell me we can’t get home, I swear to God,” Angela mutters.

“You can!” Cat chirps. “But just not today. Captain Jones can’t come back and get you until, um, Thursday.”

“Fine, we’ll find another person to come and get us. We’ll use the mailboat,” Angela says.

“That only goes to Moose Island. And you’ll have to take another ferry after that, and then rent a car,” Cat says.

“When did you learn so much about the islands,” Jamie asks in a suspicious tone.

“I want Angela to get back. I miss her. And chartering a boat is the best option,” Cat says.

“Look,” I cut in, “we’ll see if someone can take us from here, okay? I’m sure some people have their boats in the water for the season already.”

Jamie and Cat are both quiet for a beat. “See, that’s the problem we’re running into,” Jamie starts, sounding sheepish. “The weather has been so wet and cold this year that we haven’t found many charter companies who are ready to go yet. Their seasons are starting May first.”

“I guess the day we hiked out was the first nice day we had,” Angela mentions. “But I’m sure Carter and I will find someone. I’m sure everyone who lives here owns a boat of some sort. And you guys can keep asking around in Harborview for someone.”

“Yes, we definitely will,” Cat says, but something is off about her voice, almost like she’s lying.

But that makes no sense. Cat has no reason to want Angela and I stranded here any longer than necessary. She has no idea anything is afoot between us. I know for a fact that neither Angela nor I ever shared what happened between us with our friends.

“Thanks Cat,” Angela says. “Please try hard. I don’t want to miss any more work. Speaking of which, I really need to call my boss.”

“We’ll get it figured out, don’t worry Ange,” Cat says.

We say goodbye to them and hang up. Angela immediately gets her phone out, and calls her boss. I spend a few minutes looking up charter companies that operate around Isle North but they’re all the same: May first opening date. The same day Captain Jones can come get us.

I hear Angela sigh, and I look over to see her hanging up angrily.

“Problem with your boss?” I ask gently.

“Not really.”

“Okay.” I don’t say anything else, because I’ve learned by now that Angela is more likely to open up if she is allowed to on her own.

“The charge nurse took a bit of convincing to believe that I’m actually stranded on this island.”

“Of course you’re not lying. He shouldn’t need any proof. And the storm would have hit Harborview as well.”

“Thanks, Carter.” She gives me a brittle smile. “But even after I convinced him, he still chewed me out about letting the team down and how they need to be able to rely on me.” She all but hisses the last part. “As if I,” she starts to say.

“Let it out, Angel,” I say quietly. Angela deserves to vent and there’s nothing I’d rather do than stand here and listen to her for the rest of the damn day if she needs it.

“As if I’m not the person carrying the entire damn team every day of the fucking week. As if I don’t put in one hundred and ten percent every day I show up. As if I’m not the only reliable person they have.” The words come out soft at first and then gather steam as she goes, spewing from her mouth like she’s finally been unleashed.

“I cover for my fucking manager sometimes,” she continues. “And I know I’m the only person he would ever ask to do that. He always tells me I’m the only person he’d trust to run the ship without him.”

“Sounds like you should be managing him,” I mutter.

“I should be,” she says. “But he’s been there so much longer than I have.”

“I know there aren’t a lot of hospitals around, but maybe you could switch jobs,” I offer.

“Maybe. Sure.”

But we both know that Bar Harbor Hospital where she works is the only one close enough to Harborview to not make commuting an issue.

“Angela, why did you come back to Harborview after so?—

“Let’s go to the general store, okay? I’m hungry.” She smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

Another line in the sand. For whatever reason, she doesn’t want to tell me why she came back. But I’m going to figure it out, just like I’m going to figure everything else out. She can’t hide from me. Not any longer.