On the Island (On the Island, #1)

by Tracey Garvis Graves

I waited for her to open her eyes. They were amazing, big and dark grayish blue. They were the first thing I noticed when I met her.

Come on, Anna, let me see your eyes.

“Yes. She told me to ask myself if my life was better with him or without him.” Sarah and I were lucky. Our mother had perfected the art of giving simple, yet practical, advice. She stayed neutral, and she never judged. A parental anomaly, according to many of our girlfriends.

It would always be summer on the island.

I didn’t give two shits about my high school diploma right then, but it seemed important to her.

“Don’t worry, Anna. They’ll find us someday and you’ll have that baby.” “I hope so.” Tick tock, you know.

“You don’t need music, do you?” “No,” T.J. said. “But I do need you.”

The selfish part of me, however, couldn’t fathom not falling asleep in his arms or being with him every day. I needed T.J., and the thought of being away from him bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

“I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me, too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.”

I held her, I said, “I love you.” “I love you, too.” “What did you say?” “I said ‘I love you, too.’” She snuggled closer and laughed. “You heard me the first time.”

I thought of T.J., and I smiled through my tears. You like Pink Floyd? I was trying to reach those little green coconuts you like. You know what, Anna? You’re all right.

I’ll never leave you alone, Anna. Not if I can help it. I think you love me, too, Anna.

I only left you alone, Anna, because I couldn’t help it.

I pictured Anna’s face. How many people can say they’ve been loved the way she loved me?

“T.J. is young, Stefani. When people look at him, they don’t see what I see. They see a kid.” “What do you see?” Stefani asked. “I just see T.J.”

She looked classy. Beautiful. Like a woman who had her shit together.

She wasn’t anyone’s to own—I knew that—but right then she was mine.

“I love you, Anna. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” His words carried an unspoken meaning. I’ll marry you. We’ll have a family together.

“No. It’s because I would never marry a man who only asked me because he felt he had to.”

“But there’s no way I could ever hold a baby in my arms that had his eyes, or his smile, if I couldn’t have him, too.”

“I’ve thought about you all day,” he said. “On the island, I promised that if you just held on we would spend this Christmas together, in Chicago. I will always keep my promises to you, Anna.”

“You were right. I did need to be on my own. But some of the things you wanted me to experience already passed me by, and I can’t go back. I know what I want and it’s you, Anna. I love you, and I miss you. So much.” “I don’t fit in your world.” “Neither do I,” he said, his expression tender yet resolute. “So let’s make our own. We’ve done it before.”

Is your life better with him, Anna, or without him? I decided, right then, standing on that sidewalk, to stop worrying about things that might never go wrong.

“I never wanted anyone else, T.J. I just wanted what was best for you.” “You are what’s best for me,” he said, cradling my head in his arms, his legs intertwined with mine. “I’m not going anywhere, Anna. This is right where I want to be.”

“When I would take long drives, I’d pass this place and one day I pulled in and looked around. I knew right then I wanted to buy it, to have land of my own. I want to build a new house here, Anna. For us. What do you think about that?” She turned around and smiled. “I’d love to live in a house you built, T.J. Bo would love it out here, too. It’s beautiful. Peaceful.”

“I want you to be my wife. There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. We can live out here, you, me, our kids, and Bo. But I get it now, Anna. My decisions affect you, too. So now you have one of your own to make. Will you marry me?”

The judge said, “By the power vested in me in Cook County, I hereby pronounce Thomas James Callahan and Anna Lynn Emerson legally wed. Congratulations.”

T.J. leaned in, and it was a good kiss. “I love you, Mrs. Callahan.” “I love you, too.”