“It’s a double chocolate peanut butter swirl kind of day,” I tell him with a shrug as we work together to slide the sign out of the back.

He laughs and then pauses. “This thing is really heavy. You’re going to hurt yourself if you try to help me lift it.”

I glare at him before going back to work, pulling the sign out on my own before he quickly gets back to work helping.

“I’ve lifted things much heavier than this all on my own for years, thank you very much.”

We continue moving the sign without saying another word and I immediately feel bad for snapping at him. In one second, I managed to remind him of all the times he left me alone to do things by myself and that’s not what I intended.

Holding the long, rectangular sign between us, Fisher at one end and me at the other, we walk it up onto the sidewalk and a customer leaving Ruby’s holds the door open for us so we can tip it upright and get it through the door.

“Fisher! Oh, my goodness, what have you done?!”

Ruby’s excited shout fills the small fudge shop as she comes running out from behind the display case and over to us. Ruby is in her late sixties and she and her husband Butch opened the store when they moved to the island after he returned from Vietnam. Ruby and I talked often while Fisher was on one of his many deployments and she gave me some good advice during that time, but we haven’t spoken much other than in passing since everything happened last year. I was ashamed that she was able to make it work with her husband after he came home from the war and I wasn’t.

We set the sign down on the floor in front of the display case and Ruby wraps Fisher in a big hug.

“It’s so good to see you back home,” she tells him softly before moving back and patting both of his cheeks.

He smiles down at her and I watch him blush as he talks about the gift he made for her.

“I just wanted to do something to make up for what happened last year. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to fix the front window. I know the sign doesn’t erase what I did, but it was the only thing I could think of.”

Ruby takes a moment to study the sign and I watch from the side as tears fill her eyes. It really is quite beautiful. Made out of an old piece of oak, Fisher painted it in the pale yellow and pink colors of the shop and carved Ruby’s Fudge Shop in the middle in flowing, curly script and added wood-burned drawings of fudge, candy and other confections that are staples here in her store.

“Oh, Fisher, this is just beautiful.”

She runs her hands lovingly over the sign before turning back to face him.

“The only thing we really needed was for you to get better and come back to us, but I understand why you needed to do this and I thank you. It’s going to look just wonderful hanging in the front of the store.”

She turns her head and shouts to the back room. “BUTCH! GET OUT HERE AND SEE WHAT FISHER’S DONE!”

A few seconds later, Butch comes through the back doors and joins us, nodding at the sign in approval. Ruby grabs my hand and pulls me around the display case, putting together a box of all my favorite flavors of fudge while Fisher and Butch begin discussing the best way to hang the sign.

Ruby prattles on about this season’s vacationers and how business is going, but I tune her out after a few minutes when I hear Butch ask Fisher how he’s doing.

“War changes everyone, son, there’s no shame in that. If it doesn’t change you, you were already too fucked up to begin with. What’s important is that you did the right thing and you found your way home.”

Fisher nods, sliding his hands in the front pockets of his shorts. “I got a little lost for a while, but it helped to have something back here, guiding me back home.

I swallow thickly and blink back tears, wondering if he’s talking about me or Trip or any other number of things that could have pulled him back to the island.

Butch pats him on the shoulder and nods. “Don’t lose sight of that. No one understands your need to do your duty to your country more than me, but sometimes you have to figure out on your own that there are more important things than fighting a battle we might never win. Sometimes there are more important things to fight for right here at home.”

Butch and Fisher both glance over at me and I look away guiltily, grabbing a piece of wax paper and helping Ruby fill the box she’s started for me.

The two men talk for a few more minutes and I stop eavesdropping. Ruby sends me on my way with my box of fudge and she and Butch both give Fisher a hug before we walk out the door. Fisher tells them to give him a call when they’re ready to hang the sign and he’ll stop by to help as we step onto the sidewalk and into the sunshine.

“Well, I guess I should be getting back to the inn,” I tell him with an awkward smile as I start to turn away.

“Lucy, wait,” he says, wrapping his hand around my upper arm and gently turning me back to face him. “Since you’re already here in town, how about lunch? There’s no point eating dessert when you haven’t had lunch, right?”

He eyes my box of fudge and I can practically see him start to drool. Ruby’s fudge has always been a weakness for Fisher and whenever I brought it home, I had to hide it from him or he’d eat all of it before I could get one piece.

“You just want me to share my fudge with you,” I laugh.

He shrugs. “Guilty. So, how about lunch?”

I pause, contemplating all the reasons why this is a really bad idea. I’m supposed to be avoiding Fisher, not spending more time with him to further muddle my already confused head and heart.