He nodded, reluctantly letting me go, before turning back to Bailey and Tom.

I hurried over, slipping my arm around George’s shoulders. “How you doing?”

“Oh, thank God,” he said. “Rescue.”

“George!” Iris huffed.

“Sorry, Iris, this pretty lady needs a drink.” He guided me quickly away from Iris and over to the buffet. “That woman has always terrified me,” he confessed.

I laughed. “She is a force of nature.”

He grunted at that, picking up a pig in a blanket.

I studied him, feeling a little melancholy all of a sudden. Not only had I grown fond of him in such a short time, but he and Sarah were the reason I was there.

Maybe Bailey and the rest of the town were right about this place and fate.

It felt like fate had brought me there in the guise of Sarah’s letters.

And I’d fallen in love on the boardwalk.

It was nice to think that maybe the legend was real after all.

“I’m sorry you’re leaving.”

George gave me a kind smile. “Did I thank you yet for bringing Sarah’s letters to me? Because thank you, Jessica. You’ll never know how much it matters.”

I looked over at Cooper and he seemed to sense my gaze, his turning toward me, so soft, so blue, so warm, so loving. “I think I do,” I said.

“Maybe it wasn’t all for nothing after all,” George muttered.

His words pulled my gaze from Cooper to him, only to find George was looking between Cooper and me. “What?”

He smiled. “Maybe it wasn’t all for nothing after all. Sarah and I.”

Still confused, I shook my head.

That made him smile bigger. “The bigger picture, Jessica. The bigger picture. Sometimes a story is only an important part of a bigger story.”

Finally, I understood, and it brought tears to my eyes.

He saw and nodded to the wine. “Drink?”

“I can’t,” I said regretfully. “Dr. Duggan is showing me the ropes tomorrow for work.”

“Oh!” a voice said behind me, and I turned to see Sadie Thomas pushing past a guy to get to me. “I heard you were going to be the new doctor.”

I blinked in surprise at her, considering that twice now I’d caught her flirting with my man. “Yes.”

“Doc,” Sadie said, “I’ve got a bit of a problem. I was wondering if you’d take a look at it when you have a moment.”

“Problem?” I frowned.

“Well, you see . . .” She slipped off her sandal. “Do you see my big toe? Does that look swollen to you? Because it hurts like a bitch. I think I broke it, Doc. What do you think?”

Suddenly I remembered what Bailey had said.

“I think you should put your sandal back on and make an appointment to see me in my office.”

She frowned at me. “Is this because of Cooper? Because I’ve backed off.”

I fought hard to hide my smile. “No, Sadie. It’s because I’m at a party, not at work.”

“Oh. Okay. Just thought I’d ask.” She shrugged and sauntered off, not limping, I might add.

George chuckled beside me. “Get used to that, Dr. Huntington.”

“Yes. Bailey warned me.”

“Think you can cope with it? Small-town life?”

I gazed around at everyone who had turned up to say good-bye to George, and then my eyes fell on Cooper, who was surrounded by his sister, Joey, and my friends. The only people missing were Vaughn and Emery, but I hoped that would change over the coming months.

Antonio’s was noisy, rambunctious, full of energy.

It was nothing like the soothing sound of the surf crashing against the shore.

And yet as I stood there, my eyes locked with Cooper Lawson’s, surrounded by the people of Hartwell, that feeling I’d gotten the first time I stood on the balcony at Bailey’s inn washed over me.

Peace.

At last.

“Yeah,” I said, “I can definitely cope with it.”