She shook her head. “You understand it with your head. What about your heart?”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I told you it wouldn’t be easy. In fact, it might be the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but as long as you are hanging on to that idea anywhere, in either your head or your heart, you’ll never be able to put your soul into something new.” She paused to let out a sharp laugh. “It’s like trying to commit to a new relationship when you’re still texting your ex. You’ve got one foot in the past.”
That hit him right in the chest. “Damn,” he breathed.
“I know.”
“I mean…damn.”
“Yeah. I know.”
They sat in silence for another few moments. He wondered fleetingly if the view was part of what made the space so conducive to big, important, emotional conversations. It was a natural place to focus your attention when the words weren’t flowing. It acted as a buffer so the silence wasn’t quite so awkward.
That was important, he realized, because the time you took to process the words someone said to you was almost as important as the words themselves. That was what gave them meaning.
Maybe that’s what his time here in Valentine Bay was like. One giant pause to process where the “conversation” of his life went after this– well, that was entirely up to him.
“Speaking of new relationships,” Ginny said after the silence had stretched on a bit, “Dax entering my life was another thing that was invaluable to me during my biggest crossroad. When choosing what branch of the path to take next, it became very clear to me that any road I wasn’t walking with him was leading me to the wrong place.”
Of course, Abby popped into his mind. How could she not? His heart beat harder. He knew, now, that this was so much more than a fleeting attraction, or working out his feelings about “the one that got away.” She was, in fact, the one that he wanted to make sure he never let get away.
The silence stretched out before them again, long and comfortable, until finally Ginny said, “She seems like a real good woman.”
Jet didn’t have to ask which woman she meant. As far as he was concerned, there was only one worth talking about.