Reese and Trent were married ten years ago. She was nineteen to his twenty-six, raised by parents a decade older than the parents of all her friends, she’d spent more evenings quietly at home with her close-knit family than out socialising.
She’d spent ten years trying to repress her feelings.
Leaving Trent had been one of the most difficult things Reese had ever done. After six months of Trent coming home long after she’d gone to bed, seven days a week, she’d realised that she wasn’t anywhere near the top of his priorities and that work came first, not even just second to his job, but seventh or eighth, after his workday, parties, office events, networking and whatever else might lead to his success.Sleep, when he could it in.
She said she didn’t recognise him anymore.
A wife barely made the list, especially one who never managed to find her footing in such a big city, no matter how hard she tried. Splitting up had seemed like the only way forward for either of them—he could single-mindedly pursue his career and she could return home to paint.
Right before he returned to New York, his mother had said something that still rang in his ears today. “When your heart is ready to commit, you’ll know. Until then, you just have to do the best you can to move on.”
Their relationship hadn’t gone bad. They hadn’t fought or said hateful things. She was lonely by the emotional and physical distance.
Trent at twenty-six, was full of fervour and invincibility to succeed. Ten years later he knows now that while other lawyers were living and breathing the business, he wasn’t working round-the-clock because he loved the law, he was simply trying to prove to everyone that he was worthy of the Rockwell name. Worthy of his position in their family.
He was not particularly attached to the city. As the eldest Rockwell, he felt compelled to succeed. He knew his father didn’t want him to end up working under his grandfather Chandler’s thumb the way he had his whole life. So even though New York was not a fit—especially without Reese—he remained there because he had something to prove.
‘If you love someone, set them free’. That was just what she’d done when she’d left ten years ago, tried to set them both free because she’d been certain there was no other way.
“Well, sweetie, if you ask me, love doesn’t get set free. Love lingers. Love haunts. Love consumes. Love isn’t easily dissuaded. It doesn’t go away when one of you dies, and it certainly doesn’t go away when one of you moves away. It’s like a boomerang. No matter how many times you toss it away, it always comes back.”
Reese’s parents were my favourite aspect of this book, paragons of virtue, a type of parent sorely lacking in books. Loving and nurturing.
A warm and loving family starts with the love invested. Her mum, Judith Nicholson was a doting mother always with a readily available hug.
Her father, David Nicholson was well-liked and respected. To Reese he was the epitome of the perfect husband and father. Retired now, when he’d worked, he’d eaten breakfast with Reese and her mum every morning before work, and he’d been home every evening in time for dinner. He’d never failed to enquire about both of their days, and he was genuinely interested—he really cared—about their answers. One of the most difficult things Reese faced about moving to New York had been leaving her parents behind. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that when she’d returned home, a part of her had felt as though she’d been tethered to them the whole time she’d been gone. She wasn’t a needy, clingy woman, but she loved them too much to just grow up and move away, to only visit on holidays.
Reese’s parents had always encouraged her to follow her heart. They’d been supportive of her artistic efforts, and they’d been just as eager for her to find happiness. When she’d come home six months after she’d married and moved away, with a shattered heart and broken dreams, they’d wrapped her in their loving arms and had never uttered a negative word about Trent.
They’d simply listened. For hours. Days. Weeks. Years.
They are sympathetic, understanding and unconditionally supportive.
They’d never made her feel like she’d made the wrong decision falling for Trent, or that she should have known better than to get married so young. Her father put his arms around her again, and she gladly leaned in to his solid warmth.
Reese unknowingly became co-dependent on Trent, in a way that was unhealthy. Thereby adding stress to an already challenging situation. She’d been frightened about venturing out into the big, bad city that she’d isolated herself in their flat, impeding their ability to prosper as a couple.
It had taken her time to recover following their divorce. Despite underlying hopes that she’d written off as first-love remnants, she’d never imagined that she and Trent might ever share the same space again. She’d certainly never conceived that he might possibly move back to the island.
Ten years ago, she’d felt selfish asking for more of him when she knew he was working to affirm his career. She’d grown up with parents who placed their relationship above all else, and that’s what she’d thought she’d found with Trent. She’d recognised that same commitment in his parents’ relationship, and she’d believed Trent when he’d reassured her that nothing could drive a wedge between them.
She sacrificed everything to be with him, but then she realised that she didn’t actually have him. She later realised that she relied on him far too much, she didn’t do a better job of being self-reliant. Thus, they’d failed and lost each other.
After spending a decade trying to forget Reese, Trent reflected that she’d always been on his mind. Work had been a panacea for losing her.
This spends a great deal of time on self-reflection. Maybe they weren’t able to navigate marriage because they weren’t ready nor did they have the tools as people grow, and they change.
They garner acceptance from his emotionally detached grandfather, Chandler, whom in turn bequeaths the resort to them. Reese completes the mural with a little help and Reese and Trent propose to each other!