But Mandy was already introducing herself. Seth shook her hand and said it was a pleasure. Addison wavered, feeling woozy.
“Do you want a beer?” Seth asked them both.
“I’d love one,” Mandy said.
Addison’s heart sank. But the three of them sat on the porch, watching the sunset and drinking a beer for the better part of an hour. Mandy was especially chatty, talking about her work and their childhood growing up on the island. She also mentioned that Addison had just gotten divorced, a fact that made Addison’s blood boil.
Seth turned to look at Addison. His eyes echoed a mix of surprise and empathy. “Divorce is no easy thing. I didn’t know. I’m very sorry to hear.”
Mandy looked caught off guard, as though she hadn’t expected him to be so tender toward Addison at that moment. Addison lowered her gaze and thanked him.
The conversation stalled after that. Seth said he had to get to bed soon, and Mandy finished her beer and said good night. But after Mandy rounded the corner, Seth asked Addison if she wanted to grab another beer and walk along the sand. Addison knew that, technically, you weren’t supposed to do things like that, but this was mostly her parents’ beach, so nobody cared.
Together, they walked slowly, barefoot, letting the last of the light glow on their arms, faces, and shoulders. When he asked, Addison told him the truth: that her husband had been cheating on her, that she didn’t know if she would ever get over it. “I thought he was the love of my life,” she said timidly.
Seth sat on the sand and patted the space beside him. She joined him, careful to keep a few inches between their bodies. But she could sense how warm he was. She could smell his salty, musky scent. All she wanted in the world was to lean over and kiss him. She wondered what he’d say if she told him that she’d never kissed anyone save for Chris—that Chris had been her only everything. She guessed that Seth wouldn’t make her feel bad about it.
Why did she feel so safe with him?
“It’s not easy to start over,” Seth said, his eyes to the horizon. “I’ve had to do it a few times, now. And it’s always a bit like being burned alive.”
Addison’s eyes smarted with tears. But she had no plans to cry outright, not in front of Seth. “Is that why you came to Hawaii?”
He nodded. “Partly. I needed to get as far away from things that happened as I could. I needed to get away from myself, too.”
Addison couldn’t imagine how anyone could dislike Seth Green. She couldn’t imagine anyone letting him go, either. Shesuddenly felt speechless, overwhelmed with what she knew her life was about to be. She couldn’t explain it. All she kept thinking was,When you know, you know. It was just as it had been for Gigi.
They shared their first kiss that night: a soul-affirming, gorgeous kiss that made Addison’s soul briefly leave her body. By the end of the year, Seth had rented a little house about a half mile down the beach from her parents’ hotel, and they moved in together, deciding that they didn’t want to waste another second. Seth was then a full-time handyman not only at the Golden Sunset Hotel but also at numerous other hotels on the island. Hugh had fallen fully in love with him, as had Beth.
“You can have that family you always dreamed of,” Beth said softly to Addison as she gathered her things to move out. “Seth Green is the man of your life. He’s the man of your future.”
Addison knew her mother was right.
Chapter Five
Present Day
It didn’t surprise Jack that the Mexico City International Airport was so empty at six o’clock on the morning after Thanksgiving. After five minutes in security, he hurried to a corner coffee shop to drink far too many espressos, so many that he thought he might have a panic attack, and watched his phone for updates. His flight to Boston was scheduled to depart at 7:15. The duration—a duration that brought him all the way home to a family he hadn’t seen since he was seventeen—was to be five hours and twenty minutes. Due to the time difference, it would be approximately one thirty when he arrived. He screenshotted the details and sent them off to Charlotte, who was already awake, maybe sipping coffee and watching the chilly Nantucket waves roll up along the beach at Madequecham. He could picture her, and he could picture himself beside her, but in his mind’s eye, they were still in their twenties, and he’d never even met Addison, and he hadn’t had kids. It was bizarre to think that so much time had passed.
Jack felt jittery. He shoved his phone in his pocket, slung his backpack on his shoulders, and walked the halls of the airport, averting his eyes from anyone’s gaze. He couldn’t believe how long he’d been in Mexico. He couldn’t believe how long he’d been hiding out—hiding out from yet another version of his life. He missed Addison and the kids with a raw, awful ache.
When he’d exhausted himself, he crashed in another seat near his gate and checked his phone to find a text.
Charlotte: Make sure that when you run to us, you don’t leave anyone else behind.
Jack felt crushed with secrecy. He knew that Charlotte didn’t know anything about his life in Hawaii, nor about Addison and the kids. But it was true that Charlotte knew him better than almost anyone, that she knew he was the kind of person to panic and run when the time came.
Jack still remembered his last few days in Hawaii. He remembered the alarm bells going off in his head, telling him to run, run as fast as he could.
It had been a gorgeous day, the last full day before he fled. Gorgeousness wasn’t such a rare thing in Hawaii, but Jack had spent so much of his life in cold places that he never forgot to thank his lucky stars for the warm sun and the warm waves and the warm sand under his feet.
But that particular day, the day when everything had changed, Jack had felt sort of dreary and off. He and Addison had gotten into a fight the night before. It was nothing major—something to do with Kennedy’s soccer jersey. He was supposed to wash it in time for her game, but he’d forgotten. Addison had had a really rough day at work, and she’d burst into tears. They’d had a few words, but they’d made up almost immediately afterward, telling each other how sorry they were. She’d said,“Seth, you know I get so in my head sometimes.” And by then, Jack was so accustomed to being called “Seth” that he’d really felt he was Seth Green, that he’d been born as Seth Green and would die as Seth Green. It hadn’t ever been weird to be called Seth, especially not by Addison, who loved Seth Green the most.
By that time, Jack had been managing his own repair business for the better part of ten years. His office was located near the pier, where he had access to the boats that pulled up, requiring all kinds of repairs: engines, sail mechanics, and even architectural work. It was true that Jack had always been handy, even back at the White Oak Lodge. But living in Hawaii, Jack had rebranded himself as a literal jack-of-all-trades, the sort of man who could fix anything and wouldn’t overcharge you for it. Of course, none of his clients knew him as Jack.
That morning, Jack was needed at a woman named Ashley Tullson’s place, where he did some plumbing work, followed by an electrical touch-up. Ashley was a little bit older than he was, a divorcée who frequently teased him about how handsome he was and how she wanted to steal him from his wife. Jack didn’t exactly like these jokes, but he smiled and faintly laughed along with Ashley, mostly because he figured that her jokes came from a dark place of hurt and abandonment. She paid him more than he asked for, and he gave her a few tips to ensure she didn’t need him back too soon. “You’re the best, Seth,” Ashley said. “Thanks for keeping my lights on.”
Jack returned to his office near the pier to eat lunch. He sat on the dock with his legs dangling over the water, eating a sandwich and watching a kite surfer far out on the water. The kite was bright pink and cheerful, and the surfer was powerful, whipping around. Jack crunched through a bag of chips and considered what else he needed to do today. Maybe he could take a peek at Hampton’s boat motor before the kids got out ofschool. Kennedy had a soccer game today, so perhaps he could catch that.