Bright sunshine cascaded through the small cabin of True Love, waking Pacey Witter from a deep sleep.  Turning over on the AirMattress, he noticed immediately that he was alone in the room.  The single bed was empty, and the pillow was missing.  Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was around eight. 

Quietly, he went up the few stairs to the deck of the boat and stood there, watching her. 

She sat sideways on the bench, her body curled around the pillow in her arms.  She faced away from him, toward the sunrise, dressed in the clothes she’d worn to bed:  his favorite t-shirt and a kiped pair of boxers. 

He watched her for a few more moments, and then said, “Goodmorning.”

Joey Potter jumped slightly, and turned to face him, her smile more dazzling than the sun.  Her thick, chestnut hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and his t-shirt was huge on her small frame, and for the millionth, billionth time, her beauty amazed him.

“Hey, sleepyhead.  I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” she said.   “We’re supposed to dock soon.”

“I’m sorry I’m not quite the morning person you are, Potter,” he grumped playfully.  “I don’t shine at eight a.m., unlike some.”

“You and I both know that I’m not a shiny person first thing in the morning, either,  Pacey, but I’m nervous.  Worried,” she continued.   Her older sister, Bessie, was going to meet them later for lunch.  Partly to check on Joey, partly to bring her the clothes and the money she hadn‘t brought with her when she‘d left Capeside the way she had.  “I mean, Bessie sounded like she wasn’t going to be mad at me for the rest of her life, but still.”

He nodded, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one hand, scratching his stomach with the other.  When he opened them,  she was staring at him, a smile on her face.

“What?”

“You,” she said simply, getting up and walking the few steps it took to get to him.

“What about me?”  he asked, smiling, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“You look . . . really good,” she said, her hands resting on his shoulders.  She blushed, which only made him grin. 

And he did look good.  His bare feet were peeking out from the loose pantlegs of grey sweats and a white wife-beater clung to his torso.  He sported three-day beard growth and sleepy hazel eyes, hair spiked out in every direction. Looking at him made her belly quiver. 

“Oh, yeah?” he questioned, chuckling, his voice still rough from sleep.  “How good?”

Over the past few weeks, they’d been tentative with one another, getting used to being together.  She’d never been bold sexually,  and that was part of her appeal.  The fact that she was becoming comfortable enough with him to tell him when she thought he looked good made his heart nearly burst with happiness.

“When you first wake up, you look so sleepy and scruffy and I just want to grab you and kiss you over and over again,” she said, her broad smile at odds with the blush staining her cheeks.

He seemed to consider her statement for a moment, stroking his stubbly chin before deciding, “That’s pretty damn good.”

She laughed bashfully, reaching up on her tip toes and kissing him.  She ran her fingers through his hair while she opened her mouth wider, deepening the kiss.

His hands had just slid to her backside when she pulled back, saying, “You need a haircut.”

Pacey released a short burst of laughter, squeezing her ass before letting her go.  “Didn’t you just get through telling me how my unkempt appearance turns you on?”

“I didn’t exactly phrase it that way, Pacey,”  she said, sticking her tongue out at him.  “And there’s a fine line between “sexy” and “shaggy” when it comes to male hairstyles.  You’re about to cross it.”

“See, had I renewed my subscription to GQ, I would know that.  But this past year, I’ve been a little busy with other things and unfortunately, my attention to new trends in personal grooming has been somewhat lacking,” he said, sighing dramatically.  “You’re just gonna have to cut it for me.”

“What?  Surely we could afford the fifteen bucks it takes to have it done in a barber shop,” she said,  her mouth curving into a lopsided smile.

“See, that’s where you’d be wrong, Potter,” he told her, walking over to adjust some settings on the boat.  “We have enough money to either eat today, or have my hair cut.”

“But Bessie is bringing me some money,” she pointed out, her tone a little desparate.

“Yes, but we don’t know how much, and besides, it’s cheaper this way.  Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks, Potter.”

She was silent for a moment, and he glanced over his shoulder at her from where he was adjusting the sail.  She was staring out over the ocean, the look on her face telling him that she wished she’d never brought it up.

Turning back to the sail, he grinned.

“Bodie, I just don’t know.  Should I haul her ass back home?  Let her keep going? I still can’t believe she just . . .”

“Followed her heart?” Bodie asked his girlfriend and the mother of his child, Bessie Potter.

Bessie made a face, acknowledging his point.  “I was going to say ‘I still can’t believe she abandoned us‘, but yeah, that works, too.”

Bodie chuckled as he stood in the doorway of Joey’s bedroom, leaning on the jam.  Bessie was busy folding clothes into a suitcase. 

“How much money do you think we should give her?”

“I was looking over the books last night, and because of the big boost over the holiday weekend, and the hearty tip from Mrs. Leonowens, we could probably swing around four, five hundred bucks,” Bodie said, waiting for the reaction.

Bessie dropped the t-shirt she‘d been folding.  “Five hundred dollars?!  Are you crazy?  There are so many things that money could be used for, Bodie.  The still unfinished room?  New curtains for the Nautical Room?  The extra bathroom we were talking about?”

“Those things are important, yes I know, but Bessie.  Honey . . .  we have no idea how much money Pacey has left to live on, we don’t know if they’re going to need the money for repairs, or even if they’re going to need it to get back home if something happens to the boat,”  Bodie told her patiently.

“God,” she muttered, picking up the shirt she’d tossed.  “I hate it when you do that.”

“Do what, honey?”

“Use logic to win an argument.”

Bodie laughed, walking over and sitting on Joey’s bed.  “I know it’s a lot of money, and I know she’s young and I know she’s on a small boat with a teenage boy.  But Bessie, you’ve seen the way he looks at her.  He’s taking good care of her.  And Joey’s got a good head on her shoulders.  After all she’s been through, all the responsibilities thrust upon her, she needs this.”

Bessie remained silent for a few more moments, packing Joey’s suitcase.  Finally, she let out a sigh and said, “There is at least one really good thing about this, you know.”

“What’s that?”

Bessie smiled, and had Pacey seen that smile, a shiver would have run up and down his spine.

“The B&B always needs work done,” she said, quite reasonably.  “And I own that boy now.”

“Are you sure you want me to do this?”

Pacey sat on a small stool on the docks of Perry, Maryland, dressed in shorts and sneakers, his torso bare but for the towel around his neck.  Joey stood beside him, a small pair of scissors in hand and a nervous expression on her face.

“Jo.  Listen to me,” he said, smiling.  “If you screw up, I’ll only blame you for the rest of your life, because, as you know, it’s impossible to grow hair after it’s cut badly.”

She made a face at him, and tapped him on the top of his head with the flat of the blades.  “Alright, fine. Okay.  Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, grinning.

She used a fine-tooth comb through his hair first, and then, using her fingers as a guide, began to cautiously snip away at his hair.

She was concentrating intently on what she was doing, and after a few minutes, she was beginning to have more confidence.  Part of her was absolutely amazed that he was sitting so still.

Her mind began to wander as she worked, and soon she was caught up in the same thoughts that had been creeping into her dreams lately.  She’d been up for hours that morning before Pacey had woken, thinking.

She worked quietly, finishing with the back part of his head and moving around to the front.  Concentrating, she stood strandling his thighs, her breasts inches from his face as she combed then cut the top part of his hair.

“I‘m gonna go insane if you don‘t distract me,” he said.  “Talk to me, Potter.”

Joey smiled.  “What about?”

“Tell me about what’s waking you up in the middle of the night.”

She’d known that he’d noticed her tossing and turning, and she’d been wondering when he was going to ask.  She remained silent for a moment.  “I’ve been feeling guilty,” she said finally.  “It gnaws at me whenever I’m not busy, and it’s horrible at night.”

Pacey sighed.  “He’ll forgive you, Joey.”

“What?” 

He brought his head up and looked at her, his eyes a stormy gray-green.  “Dawson will forgive you.”

Joey looked confused for a moment, and then an obvious bulb lit above her head.

A little hurt, he asked, “Is it really that important, what the all-mighty Dawson thinks of you?”

“No! You idiot!”

"Huh?"

“I’m not especially worried about what Dawson thinks of me right now.  Ask me again when we dock in Capeside.”

“Then why are you feeling so guilty?”

“Because of you!” she exclaimed, looking at him like he was thicker than a brick.

“Me? Why?”

“I treated you like shit, Pacey!”  she yelled, frustrated. 

They stared at each other for a moment before Joey broke the gaze, looking away. 

“What if you decide I’m not worth it, after all?” she asked quietly.

She felt him grab her hips a moment before he pulled her down on him, wrapping his arms around her waist.  “Jo...”

She clung to him, holding him tightly, the scissors falling from her fingers.  “I’m so sorry, Pacey.”

He stroked her hair, telling her, “You have nothing to be sorry about, Joey.”

“Are you kidding?  I hurt you, over and over, because I was too afraid of losing both of you to risk loving one.  I was so stupid,”  she said, pulling back to look into his eyes.  “I was so stupid, Pacey.”

Pacey took her face in his large, calloused palms.  Joey held onto his wrists, tears in her eyes.  “Listen to me, Joey.  It was a crappy situation, all the way around, and I put you in it.  Me.”

“No, it was my fault.  I should never have let myself be manipulated by his ultimatum, Pacey.   I nearly let him ruin us,” she said, catching her full lower lip between her teeth.

“But you didn’t, Jo.  I don’t know what happened at the wedding after I left, but whatever it was, you came through in the end,“he told her. 

“I was dancing with Dawson, and we were talking about all the fun things we were going to do over the summer,” Joey said.  “And I . . . I couldn’t catch my breath.”

“So what happened?”

“During his best-man speech, he spoke about forgiveness and love beginning again.  I went up to him later and asked if he meant what he said, and he said yes, and that’s why I should turn around and go to you.  He said that even he could see that I love you like he loves me, that I want you like he wants me, and that he wasn’t going to stand in the way of this year’s Paris.”

She was speaking quickly, her words partially choked by tears, but he understood what she meant.  Dawson had been the reason she decided not to study in Paris when it was offered to her. 

“So I turned and I ran away,” she said, sniffling.  “I ran home and changed out of my bridesmaid’s dress, and went to the docks to find you.  I saw Doug, who told me you had probably already set sail.  Thank God I found you in time.”

Using the pads of his thumbs, he brushed away her tears, his voice hoarse as he told her not to cry.    “Please, Jo.  I can’t stand it.”

“The look in your eyes when I told you goodbye . . .” she said, sniffling.  “I never meant to hurt you.”

He brought her face close to his.  “I’d go through it again, every day, if in the end you said you loved me.”

“Pacey, oh . . . Pacey,” she cried.  “I love you."

She kissed him then, in a way no woman had ever kissed him before.  It was sloppy, and wet, and so packed with raw emotion that it nearly overwhelmed him.  It was a passionate kiss that spoke the volumes of her love, and it banished every doubting thought in his head.  He was scared by her, awed by her, and so in love with her he couldn’t see straight.

When she lifted her head, her lips were swollen and her eyes were red and puffy, and his heart clenched a little at the sight.  How could he not have known what a beauty she’d grow up to be?

“Well,” he said, chuckling a little.  “I’m teary eyed, you’re still bawling . . . all in all, I’d say that was the most therapeutic haircut I’ve ever had.”

She giggled a little, wiping at her eyes.  “I have a little bit more to do in front.  I’ll try to get through it without sobbing.”

Standing again, she retrieved the scissors from where they’d fallen and went back to cutting his hair, still sniffling a little.  She worked silently, her brow furrowed.

When he spoke again, he surprised her by saying what she least expected to hear.

“I can’t remember saying it,” he said, a thoughtful expression his face.  “Have I?”

Immediately she knew what he was referring to.

“Nope,” she said, “But I know.”

“Do you?”

“I can feel it in the way you touch me, in the way you kiss,” she said simply. 

Pacey cleared his throat,  “Still would be kinda nice to hear, though, right?”

“Well, yeah.  I mean, here I’ve overturned my entire life, alienated my closest friends for a guy who might turn out to have lukewarm feelings,“ she grinned.  “No matter what his eyes tell me.”

“Joey,” he began, and cleared his throat again.  Starting over, he said, “Joey Potter . . . Poster Child for Angry Sarcastic Chicks of America . . . my worst enemy . . . my best friend . . . I love you.”

Her heart pounded and her eyes closed and her hand slipped as she cut off a huge chunk of his hair close to the scalp.  “Oops.”

“Joey,” he said calmly.  “What did you do?”

“You said you wouldn’t be mad at me if I screwed up.  Remember?  You said.”

“Jo.”

“My eyes might have shut when I cut this last bit, but that’s because you said you loved me,”  she said, speaking quickly like she always did when upset.  “It’s really your fault.”

“My fault?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, that certainly is in an interesting way to look at it,” he commented drily.  “What does it look like?”

“It looks like I gave you a bald spot,” she sighed.  “Right in front.”

Great.  “Can you fix it?”

She bit her lower lip, shaking her head.  “I cut it right against your scalp.”

He was silent for a moment, and she began to wonder if he was mad or not.  She was mounting a defense in her head when he surprised her once again.

“Shave it off.”

When she regained the use of her jaw, she said, “What?”

“Shave it,” he said, shrugging.  “It’ll grow back.”

“We don’t have time!  We’re supposed to meet Bessie and Bodie in fifteen minutes!”

Pacey let out an mockingly exasperated breath.  “Well, it’s a good thing for you that nobody knows us here.  It’ll be bad enough having Bessie see it.  I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking worried as he stood up.  “I told you we should have spent the fifteen bucks.”

Pacey smiled, his palms immediately moving to cup her face.  “Honey, it’s just hair.”

“I know.  But it’s your hair,” she said.  “And you look like an idiot.”

Pacey laughed, the deep sound rumbling up from within his chest.  “Don’t worry, Jo.  I’ll make sure everyone’s well aware you’re with the idiot.”

“Why don’t we stop by the barber shop after lunch?”

Pacey climbed back on the boat, starting down the steps to finish getting dressed, and to check out the damage.  “No can do, Potter.  You hacked at my head, you have to shave it.”

“You’re getting a perverse pleasure out of this, aren’t you?”

He grinned wolfishly before disappearing below.  “Absolutely.”

“Oh dear God.  What the hell happened to your head?”

“Always a pleasure to see you too, Bessie,” Pacey replied with an easy smile, leaning down to hug her.

From where she stood hugging Bodie, Joey defended him.  “Actually, I did it.  And we’re going to have it fixed later.  It’s not that bad.”

“Actually,” Pacey grinned, mocking her,  “she’s going to fix it herself.  She’s going to shave it off later.”

“Well, whatever.  You need to do something with it, because you look like an escaped mental patient.”

Pacey laughed, slipping an arm around Bessie’s shoulders as they walked into the resteraunt.  “See, and I would have thought you’d be bitter about your hired help running off with your sister.  Let me tell you, this warm and fuzzy moment we’re having has eased my fears.”

The older woman looped her arm around his waist affectionately.  “Me?  Bitter? Never.”

Behind them, Bodie began to cough, choking on his own laughter.  Joey wasn’t even bothering to cover it up.

“And when I said “hired help”, I meant, of course, “the Potter’s slave boy.”

“Of course,” Bessie said.  “I never thought differently.”

They seated themselves at a booth in the corner, and a girl that looked too young to legally work came over to greet them.  She gave Pacey an obvious double-take, staring at his hair.

“Hi,” he said, offering his hand to the young girl.  She took it nervously.  “My name is Jeb, and it’s been an awful long time since I’ve been outside.”

Quickly, she drew her hand back, stammered out the specials, and waited just long enough for Bessie to order for cheeseburgers with fries and Pepsis.  Joey slapped him on the arm, laughing.  “You scared her.”

“Hey!  I’m just trying to live up to the new look I’ve got going on,” he told her reasonably.  “It’s hard work when you’ve been this debonair, good-looking guy all your life.  Then your girlfriend whacks a chunk of your hair off and there you have it, a whole new personality: scary mental patient guy.”

“So I take it from the annoyingly witty banter that the two of you are doing fine?  You’re not about to kill each other?” Bessie asked, sitting across from Joey on the inside by the window.

“Not yet,” Joey answered, giving Pacey a withering look.

“How are you all doing, moneywise?” Bodie asked. 

“Well, look at my hair, dude.  This reeks of ‘home job,’ doesn’t it?”

Joey elbowed him in the stomach.  “Pacey.  For the love of God, I’m sorry, okay?”

“Let’s just hope I have the kind of head that can pull the bald look off well,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder.  “For your benefit.  You’re the one who’ll have to look at me hour after hour, day after day.”

“Okay, okay, let’s get to it,” Bessie said, cutting in.  “Are you broke?”

Serious, Pacey answered, “Yes.”

Bodie reached for his wallet, opening it and pulling out five crisp bills, handing them to Pacey.  Joey’s eyes widened when she saw the Benjamins.

“Man, I can’t take this much,” Pacey immediately protested.  “What about the repairs around the B&B?  The unfinished room?”

“Pacey, you’re sailing along the coast in a small boat with my sister,” Bodie said.  “I want you to have this money to take care of her, and to make sure the both of you come back safe and sound if something happens to the boat.”

“Bessie, I will pay you back every cent of it, I promise,” Pacey said earnestly.

“No, you won’t.  You have to save money for college,” Bessie answered, offering him her own take on the Potter lopsided smile.

Pacey took a deep breath, smiling.  “You Potter women, you’re unbelievable."

Laughing, Bodie agreed.  “Tell me about it.”

“And Pacey, dear boy, why are you acting as if I’m not going to take this out in trade?”

Pacey playfully groaned.  “Just remember to feed me and I’ll do any type of manual labor you need.”

Joey was still stunned.  “Bessie, I can’t believe you’re not pissed.”

Bodie broke in at that.  “No, she’s not pissed now.”

“How bad was she?” Joey asked him.

“Well . . . Doug had come by the house, telling us that you’d taken off with Pacey on his boat.  That was a fun night.  I especially loved the part where she threw things at my head when I suggested that you’d done the right thing.”

“But after awhile I calmed down and saw that yes, you had made the right decision.  You needed to get the hell away from Dawson for awhile.  Who, by the way, came by the next day to talk to you.”

Pacey wasn’t surprised, but Joey was.  “What?”

“He said he needed to take something back before you did anything,”  Bessie said.

“Oh my God.  What did you tell him?”

“I told him that he needed to leave you alone for awhile,” she continued, smiling at the timid waitress who had brought their food and was sitting it out before them.  She never met Pacey’s eyes, scampering away as quickly as she’d come.

“I’m sure he was thrilled with that,” Pacey commented, sticking a fry in his mouth.

Bessie rolled her eyes.  “He said it was important that he talked to Joey, and so I told him straight out, “Look, Dawson, she left with him.”  And he asked where, like he was going to hunt you down.  And when I said Key West, he looked at me like I was insane."

“I’ve seen that look a million times.  Eyebrows raised, whites around the eyes?”  Pacey asked, taking the pickles off Joey’s plate.

“That’s the one,” Bessie said.  “And he actually asked me why I didn’t go after you.”

“Not that she didn’t want to, mind you,” Bodie interjected.

“So I told him I’d been rooting for Pacey for a good long while, longer than even Pacey knows,” Bessie said, munching on her hamburger.  “He stormed off, and he rowed away so fast I thought he’d capsize.”

“I should have figured he’d do something like that,” Joey said thoughtfully.

“Let me ask you this,” Bessie said, taking Joey’s hands in her own.  “Are you happy?”

She felt all three pairs of eyes watching her, and she never hesitated when she replied, “Yes.”

“Then I’m happy for you.  This is the last summer you have to be a kid, and you should enjoy it to the fullest,”  Bessie told her.  “You both should.”

They ate the rest of their lunch gabbing about the eccentricities of some of the B&B’s guests, and where Joey and Pacey had docked along the way.

Near the end of the meal, Bessie said,  “Joey, I’m going to the ladies room."

Joey looked into her eyes and immediately understood that she was to follow.  “Me too.  Move it, Pace.”

Bodie and Pacey got up while the Potters slid out from the booth, heading toward the bathroom. After sitting down again, Bodie said, “You do know, of course, that if you bring her back knocked up, I’ll kill you.”

Pacey nodded, taking a drink of Pepsi.  “Yup.”

“So, did you happen to catch the game the other night on the radio?”

“No, actually, we were too far out.  Who won?”

“Are you two having sex?”

“No!”

“If you are, I have no room to judge you,” Bessie said from within her stall.  “You just have to be careful about it.”

Joey rolled her eyes, leaning against the sink, “Believe me, Bessie, I‘ve learned from your mistakes.”

Bessie flushed and opened the door, walking over to the sink.  “Have you?  Because I know all about being swept up in the moment, and letting things go too far."

“Bessie, we’re not having sex, okay?”

Bessie washed her hands, grinning at her.  “How far have you gone?”

Joey blushed.  “Not so far.”

“How far?”

“Not all that far, Bessie.”

“Come on!”

“All I’m saying is he has nice hands.”

Bessie smiled knowingly.  “Be careful, Joey.”

“I will.”

Bessie looked at her for a moment, searching her eyes.  Then she reached in her purse, and pulled out a box, handing it to Joey.

“Oh my God.”

When Joey and Bessie came out of the bathroom, Bodie and Pacey were waiting by the door, having paid the bill.

“We have to go back, we left Alexander with Grams and her Bible group is going to arrive at seven,” Bodie said as they walked outside.  “We’re afraid a bunch of old ladies fawning over him will scare him.”

When they reached the truck, Joey hugged him tightly while Pacey pulled her suitcase out of the back of the truck.  “Thank you for letting me do this.”

“Just be careful, okay?”

“I promise.”

Bessie hugged her next.  “Remember what I said.”

“I’ll never forget it, as long as I live,” Joey said.

Bodie and Pacey made their manly goodbyes, and Bessie kissed him on the cheek.  “Bring yourselves back in one piece.  I’ve already started a list of things I need done.”

Pacey laughed, hugging her one-armed, the other struggling with Joey’s suitcase.  “I’m sure you have.”

As Bessie and Bodie drove away, they began walking back toward the docks.  “She packed everything you own.”

“And then some,” Joey commented.  “Did you get the sex talk?”

“Yeah,” Pacey said.  “Did you?”

From her back pocket, Joey pulled out the slim box Bessie had given her.  “Oh my God, Pacey.”

Pacey dropped the suitcase, taking the box from her hand.  “‘Ribbed for Her Pleasure’?”

“She gave me instructions.”

Pacey howled with laughter. 

“I love that woman!” 

The sun was nearing the horizon when Joey began to lather his scalp with shaving foam.  He sat on the dock, perched on the same stool he’d sat on hours before.  True Love was docked beside him, and on the ledge of the boat rested a towel, a bowel of water, and a straight edge razor.

“Explain to me again why I’m not doing this with a Bic,” Joey said as she washed her hands off on the towel.

“Because, Josephine, if you’re going to shave someone’s head, you should do it with the right equipment,” Pacey explained, bullshit coloring his tone.

“This is going to take me longer, you do realize that, of course,” she said.  “And don’t call me that.”

“Of course, Josephine.”

“Pacey.”

“Yes, dear?”

Joey took the razor in hand, and slowly began to scrape it along the side of his head.  “Don’t piss off the person with a razor to your head.”

“Point taken, Your Majesty,” he said, leaning his head back and grinning up at her.

Taking his head in her hands, she repositioned him.  “Sit still, Pacey.”

“I love it when your forceful, Potter.”

Joey blushed, wiping her hands again.  “Hush.”

Joey once again began to scrape the razor along his head, shaving a few inches then rinsing the blade, wiping it on the towel before shaving a few more.

“So what do you think Bessie meant when she said ‘I’ve been rooting for Pacey longer than even Pacey knows’?” Joey asked.

There was a moment of silence before he answered her, a moment where he seemed to screw his courage up before saying, “Bessie has known I’ve had feelings for you since the night I knew I had feelings for you."

“What?” 

“Just what I said, Potter, she’s known since as long as I’ve known.”

Joey was quiet a moment as more and more of his scalp became visible.  “When did you know?”

“Well, I think I’ve always had feelings for you,” he said.  “Always.  But I never gave much thought to them until that weekend Mr. Fricke came to review the B&B.”

“That was six months ago, Pacey.”

“I know.”

“Well, tell me more,” Joey said.  He could tell from her voice that she was surprised.

“Actually, it was Mitch who made me realize how my feelings for you had deepened into something more than friendship.  He came outside while I was chopping wood for the fire, and we had a father-not-real-son heart-to-heart, and he asked me point blank why I care so much about what happens to the B&B, and I couldn’t give him an answer,” he said, watching the sky turn shades of pink and gold as the sun slipped a little lower in the sky.  “Which made me wonder why.”

“And so you went and talked to Bessie?”

“No, silly.  Do you want me to tell you, or do you want to guess?”

“I’ll be quiet.”

Pacey snorted.  “Hallelujah.”

“Hey!”

“Anyway, the next day I put it out of my head.  Me, Pacey Witter, falling for Joey Potter?  Nah,” he said, his watching the water now.  “Couldn’t be.  Besides, by then we’d just gotten to be comfortable around each other, as friends.”

Joey moved a little slower, the sound of his voice lulling her.  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“That night, I came over to tell you that I’d talked to the furnace guy.  I barged into your house like I’d done a hundred times before, and I called for you up and down the hall.  I came back toward the living room, and I saw you there, sleeping on the couch by the fire.”

Joey remembered how tired she’d been, and how all day long, she wanted nothing more than a little peace and quiet and a nap.  When she came home from the store, Bessie and Bodie and Alex were outside in the cold, bundled up and having a candlelit picnic.  She’d gone inside and built a fire, curling up with a blanket while the the room warmed up.

“Your blanket had fallen a little, and I went over and tucked you in a little tighter.  Then I went over and sat in the rocker by the fire, and watched you sleep.  And I remember thinking, ‘No.  Please, God, no.’ And there were other thoughts along the lines of how beautiful you looked,” he said, his voice soft.  Being a devil, he added, “How quiet.

“Oh my God, Pacey,”  she said, her voice barely audible.

“And I kept hearing Grams’s voice, telling us about her husband.  You remember?”

Joey nodded, whispering Jennifer Lindley’s grandmother’s words.  “You know you love someone when you can sit by the fire all night, watching them sleep.”

“Yeah,” he said.  “And I found out how true that really is.”

“Really?”

“I watched you sleep, and I dug around inside and realized, truly realized, that while we’d been hanging out, working on the B&B, I’d gone and fallen in love with you,” he said.  “And I knew that if I ever told you, it would wreck not only my life, but possibly yours too.”

“How long were you there that night?” she asked when she found her voice.

“Honestly, Jo, I have no idea,” he said.  “I was so lost in thought that when Bessie put her hand on my shoulder, I nearly shed my skin.”

“What did she say?”

“First she asked me how long I’d been there.  When I couldn’t tell her, she took my hand and led me to the kitchen.  She sat me down at the table and made me hot chocolate.”

“She always does that when it’s obvious I need to talk about something,” Joey commented.  She could see her older sister offering him cocoa and her ear.

“So I sat there, silently, while she made the hot chocolate.  And then she said, ‘Mom said this would happen.’  I asked, ‘What, that some guy would fall for Joey?”

“What did she say?"

“She said that no, she had said specifically that I’d fall in love with you.  That one day, I’d worship the ground you walked on.”

Her heart clenched at his words, and she could remember clearly the day she’d told her mother that she was in love with Dawson Leery.  She’d been twelve, and while her mother had been amused, she’d also been worried.  “I remember her telling me that maybe, between the two of you, I’d picked the wrong one to pin my hopes and dreams on.  I thought she was crazy, and told her so.  I’d forgotten about that...”

Joey was halfway through shaving his head.  There was a strange initmacy involved in the process of shaving the head of your man, something nearly primitive, and she found herself enjoying it.  She’d never admit to it, though.

“I told Bessie that your mother had been right.  She told me that she’d seen this coming a mile away, and when I asked her how, she told me she’d seen the way I looked at you recently.  And that when I wasn’t aware of it, you were looking at me the same way.”

“Not much gets by her.”

“I asked her not to say anything to you.  And I told her that I was going to do my best to keep it to myself.  And I did pretty good, for awhile.”

“And then . . .?”

There was silence then, and only the lap of the waves and the caw of the birds were heard.  Quietly he said, “Then there was College Guy, and opening night of the play.  After you left with A.J., Bessie fed me and went over some of the tougher lines of the play with me.  She told me that I needed to get my ass in gear and do something about how I felt, because she couldn’t stand A.J.”

“I had no idea you and Bessie had this whole . . . thing going on that I didn’t know about,” she said. 

“Well, that was the point, Jo."

“That actually clears up a whole lot, come to think of it,” Joey said.  “She had no advice to offer me, and she has opinions on everything I say or do, practically."

“I wanted you to figure it out for yourself without being coerced by others.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” she said, shaving another strip of hair off.

“It did take you a damn long time, didn’t it?” he asked in a jovial tone.

“You’d be surprised, Pacey,” she said, moving around in front of him, straddling him mid-thigh.

“Are you saying you weren’t as oblivious to my charm as you appeared, Ice Queen?” he teased.

Joey smiled.  “Remember that day you were working on the roof last September?  And it was nearly a hundred degrees?”

“Yeah?”

“I walked around the corner, bringing you a glass of lemonade.  I looked up and there you were on the ladder, shirtless and sweaty.”

A huge smile broke over his face as he remembered that day.  “You dropped the glass and blamed it on a bee sting!”

She giggled, embarassed.  “I remember thinking, “Look at those abs!  Too bad they’re attached to Pacey Witter.”

He chuckled as she concentrated on shaving the hair near his temple, and he watched her face.  “Tell me more.”

“I can pinpoint the moment I truly knew I had feelings for you that weren’t going away.”

“Oh really?” he asked.  “Do tell.”

“We were sitting on the couch one night in February, after the whole Valentine’s Day thing, and we were watching some stupid teen drama, making fun of it.  You kept tickling me, and it was making me really mad because you wouldn’t stop it,” she told him.  “I yelled at you to quit it, and when you did, I thought, ‘I don’t really want him to stop touching me.’”

“I was dying to touch you, anyway I could.”

“I laid awake all night wondering when the hell this had happened.”

“I know all about those kind of nights.”

Joey began shaving the last strip, carefully.  “Do you ever regret kissing me that day?  It turned our world upside down.”

“I‘ll never regret kissing you that day,” he said.  “It was the best kiss I’d ever had, and better than I dreamed it could be to kiss Joey Potter.”

“Even after the pain and misplaced anger that followed?”

“It’s worth it.  You’re worth it,” he said sincerely.  “Do you?  Have any regrets?”

Setting down the razor, she looked deep into his eyes.  “I haven’t looked back once.”

When he exhaled suddenly, she realized he’d held his breath, which just made her love him that much more.

“So . . . how’s it look?” he asked a little too brightly.

Joey smiled, putting her hands in the bowl of water and rinsing his head, then toweling it off.  “You look . . . really good.”

“Oh, yeah?” he replied, catching on quickly.  His eyes darkened as he held her gaze.  “How good?”

The teasing smile fell from her lips as she scooted closer on his lap, leaning in. “When you look at me like that, I just want to grab you and kiss you over and over again,” she said.

“That’s pretty damn good,” he whispered against her lips just  before he kissed her.

PEOPLE Magazine, August 2015
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.

Keeping the Pace

For multi-million dollar actor Pacey J. Witter (The Ocean Between Us, Born of Tragedy), life couldn’t be more hectic.  He’s got his hands full with the press tour for the upcoming drama Divided, which is already generating Oscar-buzz.  He’s starting a production company with his wife, author Josephine Witter (Legend).  He’s the proud father of four girls; Emily, 10, Bianca, 8, Grace, 6, and Teresa, 3.  And as if that wasn’t enough to keep any man hopping, he and his wife are expecting their fifth baby, another girl, next month.  His life may be chaotic, but, he says, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Finding a peaceful moment with the engaging actor proved to be quite tasking.  Recently I finally caught up with him and his heavily pregnant wife, Josephine, 31, at their main home in Capeside, Massachusettes, where they were both born and raised.

Unlike some actors who build fortresses in the Hollywood hills to keep themselves separated from their fans, the Witters have their home on the waterfront, overlooking the Pacific.  When asked why they stay in the small coastal town, instead of living in the more convenient Los Angeles, Witter is quick to tell me that he wants his daughters to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.

All three girls attend the Capeside Public School system, and their parents are very active in the PTO.  In fact, Witter, 32, has attended every single school event each of his daughters have participated in, which isn’t an easy feat when you regularly work on the opposite side of the country.

He takes a lot of ribbing from his friends for how much he dotes on his girls.  “But that’s okay, that’s alright,” he says, chuckling.  “I come home and see them smile up at me with their mother’s lopsided smile, and my whole world looks brighter.”

Does he ever wish at least one of them was a boy?  “Nah.  The way we’re going, I’m gonna have my own softball team in a few years.”

The day after the interview, the actor is scheduled to leave on a press tour for Divided, where he’s also going to promote his production company, Daydream Believers, which involves every one of his closest friends from high school.

“Joey (his wife) wrote a novel while she was pregnant with Teresa, called That Summer, based on our first few years together, which weren‘t easy.  She wrote it for our daughters, so they could read it later on and feel more connected to their own history.  When I read it, I immediately wanted to make a movie out of it,” the actor explains, his voice animated.  “So I decided to produce the movie based on her script.  I asked my childhood best friend, Dawson Leery (critically acclaimed director of The Girl Next Door), to direct it.  One of our other best friends, Jennifer Lindley (Oscar-winning set decorator for such movies as the recent The Matrix 7) is going to do our sets."

Witter goes on to explain that  Leery’s wife, Andrea McPhee (of Silence is Golden fame), another childhood friend, is going to star as Josephine’s older sister, Bessie.  Her brother Jack is going to serve as the company’s official lawyer. 

“It should be fun,” Witter laughs.  “We’ve all dated each other.  We’ve stolen girlfriends, broken friendships, the whole nine yards together.”

Sounds like the basis for a teen drama to me.