III.

I always thought I was seeing a great love story when I looked at Joey. There's a part of her that is very earthy as well as mysterious, real and yet slightly out of reach. Above all, and at all times, sensual. I think she felt it but never believed it…until she fell in love with Pacey.

Did it surprise me that she and Pacey were inextricably drawn to each other? No. I know, I'm supposed to be rooting for my son here, right? So let me be clear about this: First, I have considered this after the fact of what happened not during the turmoil of the actual event. Second, once again, I have to own up to being significantly distracted at the time; Mitch and I had fallen back in together. Was it a reconciliation or just a post-divorce fling? Neither one of us was sure—so, yes, I was caught up in my own sexual melodrama at the time.

Throughout his junior year in school, Dawson didn't seem to know what he wanted. First, there was Eve…then there was film—he made two short documentaries in the first few months of school…then he got slammed down by the audience reaction at the Boston Film Festival and decided to put the camera away…then he started falling for a fellow film student, Principal Green's daughter, Nikki. I always wondered if she hadn't been black if he would've asked her out; I think he wanted to. But then she moved away and he was left with: Joey.

There is no doubt that his feelings about her were territorial as well. Not being able to make up his mind about how she fit in his life made him irritable and moody, especially when she didn't adhere to his script. As spring break approached and he planned a weekend trip to my sister Gwen's cabin in the mountains, I was happy because it seemed to be the perfect opportunity for my son to work on his relationship with his best friend/former girlfriend/eternal (in his mind, at least) soulmate.

I hate to say it, but I was glad Pacey wasn't going. Unfortunately, I knew something Dawson didn't and I was having a hard time living with it. A few days earlier, Pacey had come in to the restaurant looking for Dawson. They were supposed to meet there on their way out of town on an overnight expedition to the scene of many of their childhood adventures: a fort made out of old lumber Mitch gave them after tearing down an old shed.

Pacey, normally full of good-humored jokes and ready to offer a hand, if needed, was uncharacteristically jumpy. I finally pulled him into a secluded work area to ask what was wrong. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong, Mrs. Leery." And then an almost indecipherable mumble to himself, "Something's right…I think." Silence. Lots of looking down at the ground…contemplation of navel type of thing. A reconsideration. "I have to tell Dawson…something, and honestly?…I don't know how to do it. In my head, whatever I say it always comes out wrong; it ends badly. Dawson's my best friend and…"

"Pacey, what could you possibly say to Dawson that would threaten your friendship? Come on," I said, giving him a little shoulder to shoulder hug. I glanced back toward the entry and saw Mitch come into the restaurant; my mind began to drift. Pacey continued to hem and haw as he looked most intently at his hands this time.

"Shit!" he muttered, again under his breath. I turned to look at him in concern. "Pacey, what?" I don't know why, but in a split second I came to the realization of what he was going to say before he did. "I kissed her," he said very quietly and apologetically. "Who?" I responded before the reflex kicked in. "Joey. You kissed Joey?" His eyes were questioning, pleading. "Okay. So…" I wasn't thinking about Mitch anymore. "Is this something that is reciprocated?" "No," he stated adamantly. "Are you sure?" "She got angry and pushed me away."

Joey Potter body vocab - To push away in reflex anger. v. To deny one's innermost feelings. n. Denial in equal proportion to need.

"So you tell Dawson you kissed her and that's the end of it. You guys are friends, Pacey. Dawson and Joey are friends—they're not dating each other. He has no claim on her. He might be surprised, but I don't think he'll be that upset. He's accepted that she's seeing other people."

"I'm not so sure about that," Pacey said. "I once asked for his permission to kiss her, he said yes and later changed his mind. They weren't a couple then—do you think things are any different now?"

There was a first time? So this wasn't something new, it was something rediscovered.

"And the thing is…No, this is stupid. I'm sorry, Mrs. Leery, I shouldn't be telling you all this," he said, clearly frustrated. My curiosity got the better of me. "Why not?" I asked.

"I am so totally screwed. I don't know what to do," he said with a slight catch in his voice. All of a sudden, I felt very sorry for him. "I think I love her," he blurted out just as Dawson walked in. "Pace! Ready to go?" Pacey picked up his backpack and then turned back to me as if to say, What'll I do now? "Go," I encouraged him. "It'll be okay." My smile lacked conviction. "Have fun you guys!"

zzzzzzzzzz

Nothing happened, and there was no fallout—which made me doubly curious. Why not? Dawson, in fact, seemed to have cheered up, having reconnected with something. Whatever resolution that overnight wrought, in Dawson's mind at least, it's what gave him the idea to take Gwen up on her invitation and bring Joey and friends along for a holiday in the mountains—the kind of trip we used to take with them as kids, and obviously for Dawson another reconnection. He was actually disappointed when he told me that Pacey, who had been elusive all week, couldn't make it.

It was only later that I learned that his second best friend, once the third wheel in his life scenario, had shown up with another boyhood friend that Spring morning and did indeed go to Gwen's cabin with the group. You see, there was a great love story in Pacey as well.

zzzzzzzzzz

"When did you know that Dad was the one?" he asked as we drove to the restaurant. Spring break had left Leery's Fresh Fish dangerously short on staff and yet as busy as ever and Dawson, my angel, was doubling up on shifts to help cover. "The one what?" I asked nervously. Did he know that his father and I had been seeing each other on the sly?

"The person you were meant to be with—no matter what obstacles life throws in your way."

Did he know about Pacey? Did Joey say something?

"I don't know, honey. It was a lot of little things that had quietly accumulated. I gave him a hard time about his sweaters, he told me he thought I was a snob…but there was always a certain tenderness behind the verbal jousting. We planned a romantic weekend…" "Mom!" "…but it was raining so heavily that we ended up staying in my room at the dorm. We talked straight through the night well into the next day. I remember one moment, groggy from lack of sleep, looking at your father and realizing that I could imagine starting a family with this guy. And I guess that was it."

Dawson seemed lost in thought. "Why do you ask, sweetie?" "I think I'm ready," he said very determinedly. "I think we're ready. We had to wade through a lot of crap this year, but I think Joey and I are finally back on the same path. We had a couple of great talks at Aunt Gwen's. She's changed, Mom, she's not so angry anymore. I can see us going the distance this time."

Uh oh.

"The night before last, she came to me and I could see that she wanted to say something. I think she's feeling the same thing I am. She broke up with A.J., did you know that?"

No…

"I want her back. I can finally say without fear of recrimination. I love Joey and I want her back."

"That's a very romantic notion, honey. Just make sure that you and Joey are indeed on the same page."

"We are, I know it."

A phone call from Gwen the next day convinced me otherwise. I love my baby sister dearly but you have to understand that neither one of us are slaves to routine. Weekly updates are not part of our pattern and we rarely call to socialize. Using the telephone generally means there's a plan in motion.

So when Gwen called that Wednesday afternoon "just to talk," I was immediately suspicious. "Okay, Gwen, what's up?" "Nothing. I just wanted to make sure the kids got home safely and all. Is everything OK?" "Yes, and thank you for inquiring two days later." "You know moi," she said rather half-heartedly. "You're starting to worry me now, Gwen. I repeat, what's up?"

"Sorry, Gale, I didn't mean to…I mean, I felt…this weird feeling kinda washing over me and…" She finally got to the point. "I was just afraid Dawson might be having a hard time of it." There was a huge silence on the other end of the phone. I matched her pause, listening intently to the clock keeping time on my fireplace mantel. "I walked in on them making out," she said reluctantly as if it were a secret I had pried from her cold, dead hands. My heart fluttered. Maybe Dawson was right after all.

"So you walked in on Dawson & Joey kissing…" "No, not Dawson and Joey, Pacey and Joey." "He was there? Since when?" "Since he showed up with his friend, Will. You didn't know?" "No. The last I heard, he wasn't going to go." "Interesting…"

"Okay, so spill. Tell me the whole thing."

"I knew something was up the moment they arrived. Joey seemed on edge a lot—like she didn't know what to do with herself. She kept asking me about Richard: if I ever regretted the way things went down, how I knew he was the one. And when Dawson wasn't around, Pacey hovered around her like an anxious puppy dog. She let something slip earlier, but any doubt I had was erased when I saw the way he looked at her…and the way she kept avoiding looking at him."

Lesson 2: Joey Potter body vocab – Eyes averted from prying eyes. v. To need but not to believe. n. Avoidance; attraction.

"We had a karaoke night and Pacey left while Dawson & Joey were singing. Two minutes later, Joey slipped out the door after him. Dawson and I were arguing over the next song, which I threatened would be his solo piece, so I'm sure she didn't think anyone had noticed. I gave them a few minutes alone and then decided to reel them back in. Unfortunately, I broke up what appeared to be a very intense kiss on the side porch."

I couldn't restrain the heavy sigh that escaped my lips.

"Pacey went back inside and Joey and I spoke for a few minutes. I felt bad being the spoiler. She seemed very confused, shrugging the kiss off at first as 'a mistake' but eventually admitting it meant something more to her than that. And this is where I made my big mistake of the day."

"What?"

"I told her to talk to Dawson."

"What was wrong with that?"

"Nothing. Except I followed that up with a silly attempt to reconcile Dawson with his most cherished friend. I wanted him to see his childhood as a wellspring that could fuel his dreams. That, no matter what happened, it would always be there for him—and that, no matter how and when they moved on, Joey would always be a special part of that time."

"Gwen, that was a beautiful thing…"

"No, Gale, you don't get it. I made things worse. Joey was there in the room with him, obviously trying to find the words to tell him what was going on and I blew it. I walked in without thinking, interrupting her from finding her voice. She got shy and retreated. She never finished the talk."

Damn. And the worst of it was that Dawson now believed the complete opposite. He thought she was coming back to him. Then I remembered the gift that he'd brought home from Gwen's. "Why did you give him that painting?" I asked, a bit miffed as well as mystified.

"Nothing like compounding an error with an even larger, equally ill-advised gesture fraught with unintended symbolism."

"Oh, Gwen."

zzzzzzzzzz

It was now Thursday and I still hadn't seen or heard from Joey. I decided to send Dawson on an errand out of town, dispatching him to pick up some produce at the Southport farmer's market. I wanted to keep him busy and give Joey some more time to figure out what she wanted to do; she was obviously having a tough time negotiating another heart to heart—at least with my son.

Back at the restaurant, Bodi was in a foul mood. It seems he and Bessie had a rare, nearly cataclysmic fight. He'd just learned that she had taken out a mortgage on her house to cover the start-up costs on the B&B—something, apparently, she had neglected to tell him. Oh, those Potter women and their secrets (even those kept out of pride)!

Bodi was supposed to have the morning off but wandered into work instead. Two hours later, he came to me asking if I would mind him taking a couple of hours off so he could run some errands for Bess. "I promised her I'd pick up the new linen order today," he explained. "Of course not," I said. We were approaching the mid-afternoon lull. "Go ahead." But he returned five minutes later. He had phoned Bessie and she tersely informed him that Joey had already picked everything up. It was the first time she had driven the truck more than the few miles around town; he was so proud of her. "Where did she go?" I asked for no reason in particular.

"Southport."

zzzzzzzzzz

"I'm afraid we're going to have to cancel our little sleepover," Mitch whispered into the phone. In the background, I could hear two, maybe three voices volleying back and forth. "What, hon? Mitch, turn the TV down, I can't hear you." "That's not the TV. That's our son with Joey and Pacey." A door slammed, and a few seconds later I heard two pairs of feet stomping chaotically up the stairs. "Dawson!" Joey cried out. "Dawson, I didn't mean…" Another door closed.

"I'll call you later," Mitch promised. Was he kidding? "I'm coming over as soon as I close up," I announced. I had to know what had happened.

But closing was nearly three hours away and the events of the past few days kept running through my head. It turned out that Dawson did think he'd seen Joey sans Pacey in Southport. Once, peeking her head out of a photo booth, and the second time walking quickly down a sidestreet. When he turned the corner, however, he said she had mysteriously disappeared. So he chalked it up to wishful thinking, an elusive daydream. He tried calling her at the B&B, but the phone went straight to the answering machine; that was strange. He didn't leave a message.

The next day, Friday, he called again and Bessie told him she and Pacey had gone out to get the boat ready for the christening. He ran out the door before I could stop him, but again his search was in vain—they weren't there. Even as he told me this at the restaurant, I could sense a pang of jealousy, which he denied. But it went without saying that Joey formerly spent much of her spare time with Dawson, and now—very suddenly, to him—he couldn't even get her on the phone.

He had been very hopeful about Saturday, expecting to lure her away for a quiet day together. To that end, he had pulled out a whole stack of movies from his shelves, deliberating on which ones might strike the proper chords. "Why The Last Picture Show?" I asked when I saw the videos tossed on his bed. I recalled the film as being about friendship and betrayal set during the last dying gasp of small Texas town. "It's the movie Joey and I went to on our first date," he said with surprising innocence, "but we never got to see the end."

I should've urged him to rethink that one, but in doing so I would have to admit knowing more than I was supposed to know, and how could I do that? His selections of The Princess Bride, one of Joey's favorites, and Close Encounters the Third Kind—the special edition, of course—seemed more in line with the traditional D&J movie night…IF there was going to be one. Using his remote control to resurrect their relationship didn't seem like the best of ideas.

It wasn't. "Mitch, what happened?" I asked as I discreetly entered our home (well, it was my home once) through the kitchen door. "Wait a minute," I stopped him. "Is it okay to talk?" "Yes," he responded. "He's been up there watching one of his videos on continuous replay. I think I have the dialogue pretty well memorized." I didn't have to ask which video that was; I knew. The Last Picture Show. Dawson was wallowing, and I certainly taught him how to do that!

"One thing I can say for sure: it's over between Dawson & Joey." Ah, foolish Mitch. It would never be over between them. They had hell-mates written all over them. "I didn't even know she was here until I caught a glimpse of her going down the ladder. Less than a minute later, Dawson was creeping down the stairs. He stood at the front door, opening it a crack to listen to the hushed conversation going on outside. Gale, I've never seen our son like that. It was as if he were getting ready to pounce, and finally he did—on the couple outside. I couldn't hear everything that was said at first, before voices were raised, but apparently Joey & Pacey have been seeing each other. It sounded like they'd had a disagreement over telling Dawson…but this is where I got confused." "Why?" "Because he already knew."

"What do you mean he knew?"

"He found out about Joey & Pacey earlier in the day. He'd been over at Jen's and came home very upset. He was so angry, he was shaking. He had been naïve, he told me. He had laid his heart out and his best friends had betrayed him. He was tossing around heated accusations about duplicity and mendacity…" Where did he get that one from? Too many screenings of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, no doubt. "He wanted revenge."

"Revenge. Dawson wanted revenge? How did he plan to extract that?" I asked, incredulous. "I think he meant to humiliate them. He wanted to catch Joey & Pacey in a lie." "But if they were coming to tell him, how was that a lie?" I wondered out loud. "Unless…"

"He thought there was something else…something sexual going on between them," Mitch added, finishing my thought. "He said they'd slept together at Gwen's. He thought Pacey had taken advantage of Joey." Or maybe he hoped that was the case. Because the alternative was that she didn't love him anymore, that she needed someone else. What a bitter end to his romantic fantasy of soulmates: Dawson's worst fears realized in the two people he considered his best friends.

"After you hung up, I could hear him accusing her of punishing him—which she fervently denied. She told him that the way she felt about Pacey was "completely separate" from the way she felt about her friendship with Dawson. That struck a wrong chord. His retort was that, as far as he was concerned, they didn't have a friendship anymore. 'You can't have him as your boyfriend and me as your consolation prize,' he declared. 'You're going to have to make a choice.' That seemed to take the wind out of her." Well, of course it did. Dawson knew how important their friendship was to her. Even when she walked away from him last year, it was to punish herself as well—perhaps even more than him. Dawson had turned the tables and was denying her the thing she valued most in her young life.

"I think that's when she started crying, making a plea with him to reconsider. But Dawson walked out of the room and Joey disappeared down the ladder a couple of minutes later. Her boat's still here, by the way…" "No, it's not. It's gone." So she came back at some point, and now is lost again.

"She's probably with Pacey," Dawson said. "So I see you've gotten the full update," he seethed, walking to the fridge to grab a Snapple tea.

"Dawson, honey, I'm so sorry." "So am I," he said. "I've been such a dupe." "You were open and trusting and feel they've let you down. But, honey, if they really do have feelings for each other, you are wise to step out of the way."

"I don't want to hear about it, Mom! He can't have her. I won't let her go." "She's not a possession, son," Mitch said, sensibly.

"She's certainly not his! She can't be," he mumbled. "Jen told me to fight for her, if that's what I wanted." That didn't sound like Jen. But none of this sounded like Dawson, either.

zzzzzzzzzz

Now Joey wasn't with either boy, an unhappy circumstance which gave rise to a bitter, albeit undeclared, struggle between two former best friends to win the affections of their fair maiden. Dawson's choice of "weapons" was sailboats. He planned to "duel" with Pacey at the Spring Regatta—to show Joey in actions rather than words how much he cared for her.

At least, that was the thought. In truth, he wasn't thinking much about Joey or her feelings in the matter, he was simply thinking about winning. He wanted to beat Pacey and show in one bold action that he was the better suitor.

Mitch wasn't helping much; he had actually signed on as crew. (Though his intentions were honorable: he wanted to keep Dawson and Jack safe.) I found most of this out through Joey, who was desperately trying to negotiate a truce. Pacey had agreed to step aside if Dawson would. Denying her request—actually mine, since I was the one trying to broker that side of the bargain—he only seemed to be motivated further. I felt responsible. If only I hadn't let him take the Leery banner to Pacey that day. We were trying to honor a commitment and Dawson had turned it into full-fledged combat.

I observed Joey at the race and she was beside herself with worry as Dawson and Pacey battled for the front spot. Both of them ended up losing, sending her deeper into despair. Dawson deserved to lose; he had cheated and was rightfully called on it. But Pacey felt he had lost as well—self-respect, most likely…the hard-earned right to call something his own. Joey told both of them off, convinced she was unworthy of such a life-defining struggle. Pacey walked back to his boat, and Dawson chased after her. One boy unwilling to admit defeat, the other cognizant of the painful fact that the decision wasn't his to make. "Mitch," I said then, "we need to have a talk with Dawson."

Two days later, Joey showed up at our house and offered another olive branch, which Dawson gratefully accepted. Surprisingly, soon after they were back to hanging out together—almost as if nothing had happened, but of course something had. Dawson was as optimistic as ever, but you could sense a certain sadness in Joey, a poignant resignation to life as she was expected to live it. The courage that had propelled her to academic heights seemed to have fled her when it came to claiming more personal ones.

I loved her, I really did—but if she wasn't happy she needed to tell Dawson. Soon.

Just like Mitch and I managed to be frank with him. We blew that one, didn't we? Got caught by Joey & Dawson on the front porch of the Leery homestead… an eerie harkening back to certain tables being turned in a certain teenage boy's bedroom where we stumbled upon him making out with a certain gal friend.

This time, it was Joey's turn to get flustered and she exited the scene as quickly as her runner's feet would take her, though I am sure her awkwardness had little to do with us. Flight gave her time to rethink the commitment she had just made: to attend Junior Prom with Dawson.

Dawson was ecstatic, choosing to revel in his recent success rather than the confusing life scenario Mitch and I had just presented him with as sexually involved exes.

Interestingly, Joey almost found a way to bow out gracefully. Jack McPhee, her former boyfriend now out of the closet gay friend, had been illegally denied prom tickets by an uninformed, puritanical classmate. Joey and Andie, his sister and Pacey's ex—Ah, the webs they had woven!—had vowed not to attend if Jack couldn't go. Eager to seize the day and save that dance with Joey, Dawson offered an alternative plan: a so-called Anti-Prom held at our restaurant. He was so convincingly heartfelt in his proposal that Mitch and I said yes, and so did they.

Joey came in one of her mother's old dresses that Bessie had modified for her. She looked stunningly beautiful. But, dressed in black as she was, she also looked heartbreakingly sad, even mournful. As a chaperone to the event, I watched as she danced with Dawson, trying on a cheerful face whenever they were face to face, but immediately dropping that application as soon as her face was shielded from his view. Her inner conflict was visibly, and physically, apparent. After some tearful words with Dawson, she walked out for some fresh air while Dawson busied himself with meeting and greeting his classmates.

He didn't notice when Joey walked up to Pacey and asked him to dance. He didn't notice as she took his hand and led him to the dance floor and then shyly turned to face him. He didn't notice the relaxed, happy face that greeted Pacey when she looked at him and remained in place even when away from his gaze. He didn't notice the tender manner in which Pacey examined the pair of diamond earrings—my earrings—that Dawson had given her "on loan". He didn't notice the beautiful way Pacey held her hand as he looked at the bracelet she was wearing or the intense, soulful look she gifted him in return. He didn't notice the unbearably sexy way she placed the flat of her hands on his chest as he lightly caressed her bare shoulder.

He did notice the smile she gave him before he drew her closer and she was seemingly swept into another world, burying her now tortured face against his shoulder. He did notice how her breath hitched as she fell deeper into the embrace…only to look up in sorrowed anguish as she saw him standing there, disapproving, unbelieving.

Lesson 3: Joey Potter body vocab – Too many heartbreaking and significant signs to dismiss, ending in one all-important word. n. Love.

She ran after him to explain that her motives had been simply to restore the triumvirate and get things back to the way they were. She jumped back as he turned on her. "You can't go back to the way they were, Joey. Don't you get it? You can't dance with him at the prom I organized and expect me not to be hurt."

No, she didn't get it. She obviously had believed the boy who rushed in to save the day for Jack and their gang of misfits. "You said tonight was about you, me and our friendship," she countered, "and if that was really the case, it wouldn't matter whom I danced with." "I said tonight was about moving forward, Joey. What did you think that meant?" he asked. Perhaps pleaded is more accurate. "You can't have thought that that's all I wanted."

And now the good stuff (he was getting good at these little manipulations): "The whole reason I suggested this whole stupid alternative prom wasn't about Jack, it was about you." A jab straight at the heartstrings. But at least he was being honest now—a bit late, but still effective. And he did get his end of the evening kiss.

He still didn't get the girl.

zzzzzzzzzz

A week later, Joey and I went shopping for bridesmaid dresses. After our roughest year on record—rough because we were apart from each other for far too long—Mitch and I had decided to remarry, and I asked Joey if she would be my maid of honor. She was surprised, but when I saw her lips curl into that famous crooked smile of hers, I knew I had done the right thing, and I smiled back.

Best of all, the accelerated schedule (due to our haste to "do the deed" as soon as possible) gave me an excuse to spend more time with her. It had been years since we did anything as simple as going clothes shopping. Joey was quiet when I first picked her up. I could see her trying to manage her discomfort by not fidgeting too much, but it only drew my attention to her more.

"Lovely weather," I said in an attempt to break the ice. "Yeah," she said. "It's been a nice Spring." "Thanks for doing this Joey. I really appreciate it." "Thank you for asking me," she said. "I didn't think…I…um." She looked away. "Are you disappointed in me?"

"Honey, why would I be disappointed in you? You've done nothing wrong. I know Dawson was hoping you two would get together again, but your feelings are your feelings. You can't help that. And I don't think either you or Pacey meant to hurt anyone. Least of all, Dawson."

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and I was compelled to pull her into a hug. "We didn't," she said simply. I could feel her struggle to keep herself from crying, a slight tremble followed by a series of measured breaths. "I feel…so bad. No matter what I do, I end up hurting someone."

"There are no easy answers," I told her. "All I can say is give yourself some time and listen to your heart. Ultimately, this decision is about you…and no one else." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "It's about you, Joey. Be selfish here. Don't be afraid to be loved."

She sat back and I took that as a cue. "Okay," I said. "We've got something old and something new. How about something borrowed?" "I was going to give you something of my mom's." "That would be lovely, honey."

zzzzzzzzzz

It was a beautiful wedding, if I do say so myself. A little breezy, but that felt oddly comforting. I was surprised to see Pacey there. I think Joey was, too. We had invited him, of course, but I didn't think he would come. But I was glad he was there. Why not? He had been part of our lives for so long, and something told me that he would be again.

He left before the wedding toasts, however. Dawson gave a touching speech about the true meaning of love and for the first time in weeks, I saw Joey smile. As we got ready to leave, Mitch and I saw Dawson & Joey talking on the dock and we hoped that it might be the beginning of an honest reconciliation. I was too wrapped up in my own bliss to really dissect the body language, the distance between them, the lack of tender intimacy.

We got in the car to launch off on that much-anticipated second honeymoon …and suddenly Joey was running by, hurriedly throwing herself between well-wishers and our car. She was crying, but there was a trace of a smile on her lips as well. Those aren't tears of sorrow, I thought, they're tears of relief. She's not running away, she's running to something. Through the rear-view mirror, I could see Dawson collapsed on the dock. He had released her. He finally realized that if he loved her, he needed to let her go, and he was definitely feeling the pain.

"Should we stay?" Mitch asked as he stopped the car. "Maybe we should talk to him." "No, go ahead," Jen Lindley insisted, popping her head in the driver's window. "Go on your honeymoon," she said. "Don't worry, folks, we'll take care of him."

Have I ever said how much I loved that girl?