Suzanne stood outside the SUV in the cool evening, her arm through Emily’s on one side and Kim’s on the other. “The tiny cabin is darling. I’d love to stay here tonight, if Travis doesn’t mind.”
Travis slid out of the vehicle, leaned on the door frame. “Sweetheart, if this is where you want to sleep tonight, I’m in. Must say though, if there’s a ladder to a sleeping loft like some I’ve seen on TV, you and I will be camping on the floor. I’m afraid for you to climb ladders. You know what a worrier I’ve become.”
Emily, holding her daughter, kissed his cheek. “Travis, you’re sweet. We have a couple of units that are handicap accessible, and this is one of them. The couch folds out to a bed, and it’s comfortable. I promise.”
Jon and Travis carried the couple’s luggage inside, and by the time they, David and Emily, and Kim were in there too, the place was full.
“Wow. I’m guessing you don’t plan to host a big party here,” Jon said.
Travis went into the miniature kitchen, smiled at the blue Mason jar containing a bouquet of daisies “Nope. Just sleep.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “As far as you know. Emily, please tell me that Jon’s cabin is on the far side of the farm and that he’ll have to climb a ladder.”
Emily beamed, proud of the neat cabin. “Well, actually, yes. We meant to have them somewhat near each other but had to rearrange another couple at the last minute. I’ll fold the bed out and get it made up after everyone else steps out.” She smiled at Jon. “David can take you to yours, Jon.”
That was a cue to make his exit. Jon said goodnight to Suzanne and Travis, and David walked out with him. In a few moments, when Kim had said her goodbyes, she joined them. Her eyes were suspiciously damp.
David grinned. “I am so happy to see my big SUV again. Kim, your tiny car is great on gas, but I don’t know where you put anything.”
Kim brushed a tear and grinned. “It’s not a storage facility, David. It’s transportation.”
“Yeah, well, different strokes.”
Jon handed him the Suburban keys. “Glad to return these, David, and happy for you to be reunited with your gas hog. We sure appreciated having it, though.”
David clapped his friend on the shoulder, then looked at Kim. “Do you mind riding along to Jon’s cabin? It’s not far. I’ll pick up Emily on the way back to our house, and you can get your car.”
She looked unhappy about the arrangement but agreed. The three of them piled into the vehicle, Kim choosing the backseat. Without Travis and Suzanne, the Suburban felt empty and unfamiliar.
They went back by way of another gravel road through a forest of Christmas trees and finally stopped at a cabin that was tucked into a small clearing. Jon was thinking furiously about how to make the most of the next few minutes, after which Kim would drive off and never look back.
Kim might dislike him, but he’d learned from her. She had gone through some horrible times but, for the most part, seemed to have a positive attitude. First thing he would do when he had cleared his emails and his desk was take a weekend to see his parents. It had been too long.
He wanted a new start with Kim. But once David dropped him off and drove away, the opportunity would be lost unless he could contrive some reason to appear on her doorstep as he had that night at the hotel with the wine and nibbles.
Possibly the least romantic man on the planet, Jon had to acknowledge that for the first time in his life, he was in love. Even if Kim didn’t want to hear it, he was going to tell her. The worst she could do was tell him she would never be able to love him back and he should go away.
At least, he thought that was the worst.
Before Jon was ready with an adequate speech, David stopped the SUV and switched off the engine. He opened his door and got out then glanced uncertainly at Jon. “Jonny-boy? You getting out here or what?”
Jon looked at Kim, whose face was impassive. She exited the vehicle too, probably in a hurry to get him on his way. They met David at the back of the vehicle to get his luggage. He wished David could be somewhere else for a little while so he could talk to Kim. But he’d had time to talk to her the last few days and had somehow botched everything.
Annoyed with his inadequacies, he jerked his bags out of the back. Had to jerk a couple of times because the side netting of his duffle had caught on something. Suddenly, an array of clutter spilled out of the square black organizer they hadn’t bothered removing when David turned over the car because they’d been in such a hurry to set off for the conference. A couple of tennis balls, a can of flat tire repair spray, and a wine bottle popped up. The tennis balls rolled into the underbrush, David snagged the spray can, and Jon rescued the bottle just before it hit the grass.
Jon’s breath caught in his throat. Not just any wine bottle—it was the bottle—the one he’d landed in a boot on their fishing trip.
“What? Oh man, David. You’re the one who made this disappear?”
David looked at the bottle. A slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. I thought we could have some taunting good fun with it on the next trip, so I stuck it back there and drove all the way home from Florida with it. I guess that bottle has a lot of miles on it.”
Jon heard what his friend was saying as if it was coming from far away, but he was watching Kim. Her expression was a combination of wonder and regret. “Kim? You okay?”
“I—well.” She licked her lips, staring at the bottle. “Where’d you get that? I know there must be thousands of wine bottles floating around in the ocean, but you know, just wondering. You haven’t opened it yet?”
For whatever reason, she was talking to him now, and he would make the most of the opening.
“This was the best thing I caught when the guys and I went fishing. You can imagine how much grief they gave me when I scored it wedged inside a big rubber boot. And, yes, I did read the note.” His voice softened. “It’s special. But I stupidly put it back in the bottle afterward. And when I went up on deck looking for it, the bottle was gone.” He scowled at David. “This weirdo had stolen it. Pretty low.”
Kim looked like she might pass out, so he sat on the tailgate, and she followed suit. David’s smile had slid into a confused frown. “It was just a joke.”
Kim nodded. “Yes, it was. But all the others were writing notes to their potential princes, you know. So I scribbled something, stuffed it in a bottle, and tossed it into the water.” She touched the bottle with a shaky finger. “This probably isn’t the same one.”
David looked as confused as Jon felt. “You wrote a message in a bottle?” the men asked in unison.
“Yes. Almost two years ago when I was on vacation with my book club.” She kept staring at the bottle and blinking rapidly. Jon could see tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “I never expected to see it again.”
The forest around them seemed to be holding its breath. “Guess I’d better open it and end the suspense, huh?” Jon prayed the note he’d read was Kim’s. It was too much to expect, enormously impossible that he, of all the people in the world, would have found the message she had written and had fallen a little bit in love with her that day on the fishing boat. He hoped very hard that something that amazing could happen to him.
Jon removed the cork. The sheet of paper, tightly bound with a red hair bungee, slid out of the bottle and into his hand.
Kim’s swift intake of breath left no question.
A message in a bottle had floated hundreds miles, been found by him, and driven back to Serendipity by David, then to Minnesota and back by the four of them. That wasn’t just fate, but fate with perseverance.
Jon unrolled the note and read it silently for the second time.
****
I’m writing this letter under protest, because a bunch of my friends are each writing one. And no, I don’t need to hear the old question, “If your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?”
Answer: No. But I would write this silly letter.
FYI—I don’t expect this bottle to be found by the man of my dreams. Though I’ve had some rocky times, I am not desperate for romance.
I have a great career, friends, and a life I enjoy. I’m considering adopting a pet. So, you can see, when you read this sometime in the future, I’ll probably be much too busy and happy to become involved with you.
This is just fair warning, because I am an extremely honest person. If you are married, please burn or shred this note. Or you can seal it back in the bottle and chuck it into the ocean again, if you’re the romantic type.
If you are not married or in a relationship and want to be my email pen pal, I might be open to that. But nothing more. I expect we have zero in common beyond a possible scientific curiosity, re: bottle floating from where I tossed it to wherever you found it.
Makes me think, for some reason, of Star Wars. Are you a fan of sci fi?
Do you believe people are fated to certain experiences?
And do you believe it’s important to stand by someone even when leaving is immeasurably easier? If your answer to this question is “no,” please forget this bottle came into your life.
Yours truly (because how else should I close this?)
P.S. The girls are watching to make sure I fill up the page. Otherwise I would have written less.
Like this:
Hi. I don’t believe you’re out there.
****
“Sounds just like you, Kim. Realistic, honest, and not expecting too much of the finder. WhitecapKR—cute email handle for a nurse.”
Her eyes were enormous, riveted on his.
David clapped his hands together. “Well! I think I’ll go get Emily and take her to the house. You send me a text, Kim, when you’re ready for me to pick you up. Tonight, or...” He cleared his throat. “I’m out of here. Let me say first, that even growing up in Serendipity, this is one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever heard.” He nodded. “Okay, going.”
Kim and Jon slid off the tailgate of David’s vehicle. He started it and drove away.
“I have to get to the hospital, Jon. But I think we need to talk, if you have a moment.”
Jon had a lifetime and he wanted to spend it with Kim, if she’d give him a chance. He opened the cabin door with the key Emily had given him, took his luggage in, and dumped it on the floor.
“Let me get us some water, okay?”
She followed him into a miniature kitchen where he found glasses and poured water from the filter pitcher just like the one in Travis and Suzanne’s cabin. Kim tried to help with the water and ice, but they were both nervous and fumbled. An ice cube skittered across the floor. Kim found it and dropped it into the sink. Finally, they were on the loveseat, holding their water glasses like lifelines, and staring at the traveling wine bottle.
Jon had the note in his shirt pocket next to his heart. “I know that when you wrote this, you didn’t expect anything to come of it. I know you never expected a Prince Charming or whatever kind of man you were looking for. And I don’t pretend to be that. I would, however, like to have a chance for a happily-ever-after with you, Kim. We were making some headway, getting to know each other. Then suddenly you were pushing me away.”
“I live in Serendipity, where unexpected things happen. Some are more unbelievable than others, but for me, this is the ultimate. If only—”
He nodded. “If only I’d kept the note when I first found it. I should have. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to give the guys too much ammunition to use on me in the future. Plus, I was engaged to Andrea at the time.”
She shook her head, her hair falling more than ever out of its clasp. “I’m not sorry for the time between when you found the bottle and this moment. I guess some things just happen the way they’re supposed to.”
The hair must have been tickling her neck too much, because she pulled the clasp out. The silky dark tresses cascaded over her shoulders, and she started gathering them again to put it back up.
“Please don’t. You don’t know how much I love seeing your hair down like that. Your hair is beautiful, Kim.”
Her smile was sad. “I’ve let it grow since taking my chemo. Now, maybe I’ll lose it again.”
His heart felt like it stopped in his chest. “What?”
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m feeling sorry for myself. One of the calls I got when we were at the conference was a friend letting me know my mammogram came back looking suspicious. I have to have another one. Might be nothing. I pray it’s nothing.”
Jon took her hand, set the clasp aside. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. I’ll be with you, Kim, if you’ll have me. The universe has been trying awfully hard to get us together, and I think we need to pay attention. Whatever happens with that test, I’m not going anywhere.”
His heart was beating like mad, and he hoped the right words would somehow come out of his mouth. “Kim, I know being a nurse you have a much better concept of the frailness of life than I do. This last few days I’ve felt more alive than ever, and more afraid than ever, too. Afraid of losing any chance I might have with you. But right now my biggest fear is that you’re going to tell me to leave.”
A single tear ran down her cheek, and she brushed it away. “Jon, I don’t know what I have to offer.”
“Kim, none of us knows from one minute to the next. I want to discover the future, as it unfolds, holding you next to me. Please give me that chance.” His throat constricted. He swallowed hard. “Please do me the honor of accepting my reply to your message in a bottle.”
He pulled out the note and read:
Do you believe people are fated to certain experiences?
“Yes, I do, as of the past week, and especially the past few minutes, since the bottle fell out of David’s SUV.”
And do you believe it’s important to stand by someone even when leaving is immeasurably easier?
“Absolutely. There’s no other way to live.”