Page 183 of Perfect Liar

“I’ve never been more sure about anything. Will’s everything to me. We’re connected on a level I’m not sure others can see, and there are really no words to describe it.”

“It hasn’t been long.”

“I know, Jess, but for us it feels like a whole lifetime.”

“I guess because you’ve been through so much together already. I knew you would never marry Josh.”

“I belong with Will.”

She nodded but kept her eyes focused on the street.

My heart twisted.

I hated how she breathlessly waited for the perfect connection when she dated someone new. She deserved more. I wanted her to find the same obsessive happiness I had. I wanted her to see how it could be instant and totally unexpected.

She turned the car and circled back to Water Street.

“You’re staring at me, Ells.”

“Sorry. I’ve just missed you so much.”

We made one last pass down the main boulevard and then headed for the town dock.

“Lissie misses you too. She misses watching your superhero movies with you.”

“I miss it too. Do you think I’ll see her again?”

“You will if you come back with me,” I blurted.

“What?”

“You would get used to the UK. Lissie loves it. England is home for us now. You wouldn’t believe how she’s picking up the accent from her uncles.”

“Wait, uncles? It’s true…you’ve confirmed it?”

“It’s confirmed. I read the test results myself.”

“Sucks that Ethan’s gone. I mean, obviously. But it would’ve been nice for her to finally know her father.”

“You’re right, but she has Will now. You should see how she loves him, how she loves them all. And they all adore her. It was the right call, taking her over there. She has so much more than I could have given her on my own.”

“What would Will say about it...if I do want to come back with you?” she asked.

“Actual words, probably not too many. He’ll make it happen. I know he gets it, that other than him and Lissie, you’re all I have left.”

“Sounds like he totally loves you.”

I looked at my ring and nodded.

Jess then pulled into the first lit area in the empty visitors’ lot at the pier. We stood by the car for a minute, searching for movement and listening.

Stonington’s pier ran along a peninsula of land before extending out into the sea. The locals often lumped together the land and the pier and referred to it as the town dock. Boats and cold storage units and seafood processing warehouses lined up along the peninsula.

Seeing it now made me long to walk down the pier just one more time.

“There are lights on out there. Do you see them, Jess? Maybe it’s McFarland’s crew. Maybe they’ve seen him again.”

“We can walk out there and ask, but are you okay with the exposure?”