Jenny took a deep breath, summoning the calm and the courage she needed to get through this. “I want to tell you about Toby.”

He stared at her, not a muscle in his body moving for a long moment. “Okay.”

“It’s important that you hear it from me, and enough people on the island know my story that I was worried about someone else telling you. I feel bad about interrupting your workday, but I couldn’t wait until later to get this off my chest.”

“You haven’t interrupted anything, and I want to hear anything you want to tell me. But I don’t like seeing you so nervous about talking to me.”

“It’s kind of a big deal.”

“I figured it had to be, or you wouldn’t have been dreaming about him and asking him not to go.”

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in through her nose. “I rarely have the dream anymore, and I’ve had it twice recently. I’m trying to figure out what that means.”

His hand on her knee was warm, heavy and comforting. “Start at the beginning. Take all the time you need.”

Jenny forced herself to say words she’d prefer to never say again. “Toby was killed on 9/11. He was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center, above where the plane hit.”

Alex blew out a long deep breath. “Oh God. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Just listen, if you would, and then I’d like to tell you how to successfully navigate this situation, if that’s okay.”

“I’d love to hear that.”

Jenny focused on a cluster of pink rose bushes. “We’d been together three years, from almost the beginning of grad school at Wharton, through the first year of new jobs in New York. We were due to be married just over a month after the attacks.” Jenny rolled a cold bottle of water between her hands. “I’ve been on a very difficult journey since then, to say the least. I’ve been better, much better since I moved here more than a year ago now. The island has given me the fresh start that I desperately needed.”

“Could I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“The other night, with me. Was that the first time?”

“No, but it was the first time in a long time and the first time it’s mattered, and that’s why I wanted to tell you about this.”

“I’m glad you told me, but I hate that you had to go through such an awful thing.”