An unexpected homecoming brings hope and healing to three generations of women…

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The sixteen-hour work days are unfulfilling, and so are things with her ex-fiancé, who suddenly wants to take up where they left off. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet, has been seriously injured in a car accident, Liv has no choice but to pack up her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California coast.

It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But as Liv gets closer to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother, who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.

As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.

About the Author

RAEANNE THAYNE finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author lives with her husband and three children. Her books have won numerous honors, including RITA® Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website, www.raeannethayne.com.

Also available from RaeAnne Thayne and Mills & Boon

Coming Home for Christmas

Snow Angel Cove

Redemption Bay

Coming Soon

Summer at Lake Haven

Christmas at Holiday House

For a complete list of books by RaeAnne Thayne,

please visit www.raeannethayne.com

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Sea Glass Cottage

RaeAnne Thayne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09905-9

THE SEA GLASS COTTAGE

© 2020 RaeAnne Thayne

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Praise for New York Times bestselling author

RaeAnne Thayne

‘Emotional and deeply satisfying. I savoured every page.’ Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah Morgan on

The Sea Glass Cottage

‘[Thayne] is a rising star in the romance world. Her books are wonderfully romantic, feel-good reads that end with me sighing over the last pages.’

—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

‘RaeAnne Thayne is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors…. Once you start reading, you aren’t going to be able to stop.’

—Fresh Fiction

‘RaeAnne has a knack for capturing those emotions that come from the heart.’

—RT Book Reviews

‘Tiny Haven Point springs to vivid life in Thayne’s capable hands as she spins another sweet, heartfelt story.’

—Library Journal on Redemption Bay

Whenever I am asked to provide acknowledgments and a dedication to my book, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all those behind the scenes who have a role in bringing to life my initial raw idea to a completed book my readers can hold in their hands. As always, I am deeply indebted to my editor, the wonderful Gail Chasan (and her amazing assistant, Megan Broderick); to my indomitable agent, Karen Solem; to Sarah Burningham and her hardworking team at Little Bird Publicity for tirelessly helping spread the word about my books; to Lisa Wray and her marketing team at Harlequin; to my assistants, Judie Bouldry and Carrie Stevenson, for keeping me on track; and to everyone else at Harlequin—from the art department for their stunning covers to the copy editors, sales force, production team and everyone else I may have failed to mention.

As always, I owe the deepest of debts to my hero of a husband and our three children, who have somehow managed to put up with my deadline craziness for more than sixty books. I love you all dearly.

Finally, this particular book would not have been possible without three cherished friends who helped me see the possibilities: Jill Shalvis, Marina Adair and Joan Swan. I can’t thank you enough for all your help!

To our newfound family, Shane, Ryan and Brad. Our lives have been changed forever by your willingness to open your hearts.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Praise

Acknowledgment

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Epilogue

About the Publisher

1

OLIVIA

She could do this.

Olivia Harper approached the nondescript coffee shop across the street from her apartment in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

The place wasn’t necessarily her favorite. The servers could be rude, the food overcooked and the coffee rather bland compared to the place she preferred a few blocks east. The ambience at the Kozy Kitchen wasn’t particularly cozy, or “kozy,” either, for that matter, featuring cracked vinyl booths and walls that had needed a new coat of paint about a decade earlier. The Kitchen, as those in the neighborhood called it, was too tired and dingy to attract many hipsters, with their laptops and their slouchy knit caps and their carefully groomed facial hair.

Right now, it was perfect for her needs. Olivia stood outside the door, ignoring the drizzle and the pedestrians hurrying past her on their way to somewhere far more interesting and important than this run-down diner.

Every instinct inside her cried out for her to rush back down the street, race up the three flights to her apartment, climb into her bed and yank the covers over her head.

Any normal person would feel the same in her situation, especially after enduring a life-changing event like she had experienced five days earlier.

Her reaction wasn’t out of the ordinary. In the five days since she had witnessed a horrific assault at another diner, the nightmares still haunted her, so vivid she had awakened every morning smelling spilled coffee, blood and fear.

She closed her eyes, still hearing the screams of the barista, the enraged yells of the junkie senselessly attacking her, Olivia’s own harsh, terrified breathing.

She could feel the floor tiles under her knees and the cushions of the booth pressing into her back as she huddled on the floor, trying to make herself disappear.

Until that experience less than a week earlier, Olivia had blithely gone through life with absolutely no idea what a craven coward she was.

If she had ever thought about it, which, quite honestly, she hadn’t, she might have assumed she would be the kind of person always ready to step up in the face of danger. Someone who could yank a child out of the way of a speeding car or dive into a lake to rescue a floundering swimmer or confront a bully tormenting someone smaller than him.

Someone like her beloved father, who had given his life to save others.

Instead, when her moment to stand up and make a difference came along, she had done absolutely nothing to help another human under attack except crouch under a table and call 911, all but paralyzed by her fear.

Shame left a bitter taste, even five days later. She hated remembering that she had done nothing while that junkie had fired a gun in the air then used it to pistol-whip the barista again and again.

Olivia had wanted desperately to run out of the coffee shop and find help but she’d been afraid to do even that, not sure if he had more rounds in his weapon.

The attack had seemed to last hours but had only been a moment or two before the barista herself and another customer, a woman approximately the age of Olivia’s mother, had finally put an end to the horror.

That customer, just walking into the otherwise empty coffee shop, had sized up the situation in an instant and demonstrated all the strength and courage that had completely deserted Olivia. Instead of hurrying out of the coffee shop to safety, she had instead run to the barista’s aid, yelling at the junkie to stop.

Startled, he had paused his relentless, horrifying random attack and had eased away slightly. That had been long enough for the barista, battered and bleeding and crying in pain, to pick up a carafe of coffee and throw it and its piping hot contents at him.

Olivia could still hear his outraged yell and the shouts of a neighborhood police officer who had finally responded to her call, ordering everyone down to the ground.

In five minutes it was over, but Olivia had relived it for days, especially coming face-to-face with the stark realization that she was a craven coward.

Steve Harper would have been ashamed of her.

Amazing, the lengths a person could go to deceive herself. All this time, Olivia thought she was strong and decisive and in control.

In certain areas of her life, maybe. Hadn’t she moved away from her hometown in Northern California to go to college twelve years earlier and never looked back? That had taken strength. And she had built her own social media marketing company in her own time, working nights and weekends until she now had clients across the globe.

Of course, she was terrified to take the leap and make her side hustle her full-time job. She still put in long hours handling information technology for a medical conglomerate because the pay was good and the benefits amazing—even though her ex-fiancé worked in the administration for said conglomerate and made her life unnecessarily difficult, simply because she had broken off their engagement six months earlier.

She was constantly running from any situation she found emotionally threatening.

“Are you going in?”

A man was holding the door for her, she realized. He was about her age and not bad looking in a slightly rumpled, professor sort of way.

She started to take a step inside after him but fear froze her in place. She couldn’t do it. Not yet.

“I’m waiting for someone,” she lied.

“Here’s a crazy idea. You could always wait inside, where it’s dry.”

He smiled, his brown eyes friendly and with a glimmer of interest.

“I’m good,” she mumbled.

He shrugged and let the door between them close with a disappointed sort of look.

Yeah, she was a coward when it came to dating, too. She had one serious relationship in college that had ended by mutual agreement. Then she’d become engaged to the first guy she dated out of school, until she realized neither one of them loved the other. They were simply together for convenience.

She had convinced herself that a mildly enjoyable relationship was the safer choice. What if she loved someone passionately, fiercely, and then lost him suddenly, as her mother had her father? Sixteen years later, there were times Juliet still seemed shattered.

So many things could go wrong. A car accident. A plane crash. A heart attack.

A burning building where a man might run inside to save people, despite his daughter begging him not to do it.

Olivia shoved her hands into her pockets against the damp Seattle afternoon. Nothing would take the chill from her bones, though. She knew that. Even five days of sick leave, huddling in her bed and mindlessly bingeing on cooking shows hadn’t done anything but make her crave cake.

She couldn’t hide away in her apartment forever. Eventually she was going to have to reenter life and go back to work, which was why she stood outside this coffee shop in a typical spring drizzle with her heart pounding and her stomach in knots.

This was stupid. The odds of anything like that happening to her again were ridiculously small. She couldn’t let one man battling mental illness and drug abuse control the rest of her life.

She could do this.

She reached out to pull the door open, but before she could make contact with the metal handle, her cell phone chimed from her pocket.

She knew instantly from the ringtone it was her best friend from high school, who still lived in Cape Sanctuary with her three children.

Talking to Melody was more important than testing her resolve by going into the Kozy Kitchen right now, she told herself. She answered the call, already heading back across the street to her own apartment.

“Mel,” she answered, her voice slightly breathless from the adrenaline still pumping through her and from the stairs she was racing up two at a time. “I’m so glad you called.”

Glad didn’t come close to covering the extent of her relief. She really hadn’t wanted to go into that coffee shop. Not yet. Why should she make herself? She had coffee at home and could have groceries delivered when she needed them.

“You know why I’m calling, then?” Melody asked, a strange note in her voice.

“I know it’s amazing to hear from you. You’ve been on my mind.”

She was not only a coward but a lousy friend. She hadn’t checked in with Melody in a few weeks, despite knowing her friend was going through a life upheaval far worse than witnessing an attack on someone else.

As she unlocked her apartment, the cutest rescue dog in the world, a tiny, fluffy cross between a Chihuahua and a miniature poodle, gyrated with joy at the sight of her.

Yet another reason she didn’t have to leave. If she needed love and attention, she only had to call her dog and Otis would come running.

She scooped him up and let him lick her face, already feeling some of her anxiety calm.

“I was thinking how great it would be if you and the boys could come up and stay with me for a few days when school gets out for the summer,” she said now to Melody. “We could take the boys to the Space Needle, maybe hop the ferry up to the San Juans and go whale watching. They would love it. What do you think?”

The words seemed to be spilling out of her, too fast. She was babbling, a weird combination of relief that she hadn’t had to face that coffee shop and guilt that she had been wrapped up so tightly with her own life that she hadn’t reached out to a friend in need.

“My apartment isn’t very big,” she went on without waiting for an answer. “But I have an extra bedroom and can pick up some air beds for the boys. They’ve got some really comfortable ones these days. I’ve got a friend who says she stayed on one at her sister’s house in Tacoma and slept better than she does on her regular mattress. I’ve still got my car, though I hardly drive it in the city, and the boys would love to meet Otis. Maybe we could even drive to Olympic National Park, if you wanted.”

“Liv. Stop.” Melody cut her off. “Though that all sounds amazing and I’m sure the boys would love it, we can talk about that later. You have no idea why I called, do you?”

“I… Why did you call?”

Melody was silent for a few seconds. “I’m afraid there’s been an accident,” she finally said.

The breath ran out of Olivia like somebody had popped one of those air mattresses with a bread knife.

“Oh no. Is it one of your boys?” Oh please, she prayed. Don’t let it be one of the boys.

Melody had been through enough over the past three months, since her jerkhole husband ran off with one of his high school students.

“No, honey. It’s not my family. It’s yours.”

Her words seemed to come from far away and it took a long time for them to pierce through.

No. Impossible.

Fear rushed back in, swamping her like a fast-moving tide. She sank blindly onto the sofa.

“Is it Caitlin?”

“It’s not your niece. Stop throwing out guesses and just let me tell you. It’s your mom. Before you freak out, let me just say, first of all, she’s okay, from what I understand. I don’t have all the details but I do know she’s in the hospital, but she’s okay. It could have been much worse.”

Her mom. Olivia tried to picture Juliet lying in a hospital bed and couldn’t quite do it. Juliet Harper didn’t have time to be in a hospital bed. She was always hurrying somewhere, either next door to Sea Glass Cottage to the garden center the Harper family had run in Cape Sanctuary for generations or down the hill to town to help a friend or to one of Caitlin’s school events.

“What happened?”

“She had a bad fall and suffered a concussion and I think some broken bones.”

Olivia’s stomach twisted. A concussion. Broken bones. Oh man. “Fell where? Off one of the cliffs near the garden center?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know all the details yet. This just happened this morning and it’s still early for the gossip to make all the rounds around town. I assumed you already knew. That Caitlin or someone would have called you. I was only checking in to see how I can help.”

This morning. She glanced at her watch. Her mother had been in an accident hours earlier and Olivia was just finding out about it now, in late afternoon.

Someone should have told her—if not Juliet herself, then, as Melody said, at least Caitlin.

Given their recent history, it wasn’t particularly surprising that her niece, raised by Olivia’s mother since she was a baby, hadn’t bothered to call. Olivia wasn’t Caitlin’s favorite person right now. These days, during Olivia’s regular video chats with her mother, Caitlin never popped in to say hi anymore. At fifteen, Caitlin was abrasive and moody and didn’t seem to like Olivia much, for reasons she didn’t quite understand.

“I’m sure someone tried to reach me but my phone has been having trouble,” she lied. Her phone never had trouble. She made sure it was always in working order, since so much of her freelance business depended on her clients being able to reach her and on her being able to Tweet or post something on the fly.

“I’m glad I checked in, then.”

“Same here. Thank you.”

Several bones broken and a long recovery. Oh dear. That would be tough on Juliet, especially this time of year when the garden center always saw peak business.

“Thank you for telling me. Is she in the hospital there in Cape Sanctuary or was she taken to one of the bigger cities?”

“I’m not sure. I can call around for you, if you want.”

“I’ll find out. You have enough to worry about.”

“Keep me posted. I’m worried about her. She’s a pretty great lady, that mom of yours.”

Olivia shifted, uncomfortable as she always was when others spoke about her mother to her. Everyone loved her, with good reason. Juliet was warm, gracious, kind to just about everyone in their beachside community of Cape Sanctuary.

Which made Olivia’s own awkward, tangled relationship with her mother even harder to comprehend.

“Will you be able to come home for a few days?”

Home. How could she go home when she couldn’t even walk into the coffee shop across the street?

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see what’s going on there.”

How could she possibly travel all the way to Northern California? A complicated mix of emotions seemed to lodge like a tangled ball of yarn in her chest whenever she thought about her hometown, which she loved and hated in equal measures.

The town held so much guilt and pain and sorrow. Her father was buried there and so was her sister. Each room in Sea Glass Cottage stirred like the swirl of dust motes with memories of happier times.

Olivia hadn’t been back in more than a year. She kept meaning to make a trip but something else always seemed to come up. She usually went for the holidays at least, but the previous year she’d backed out of even that after work obligations kept her in Seattle until Christmas Eve and a storm had made last-minute travel difficult. She had spent the holiday with friends instead of with her mother and Caitlin and had felt guilty that she had enjoyed it much more than the previous few when she had gone home.

She couldn’t avoid it now, though. A trip back to Cape Sanctuary was long overdue, especially if her mother needed her.

“Thanks again for letting me know.”

“I’m so glad I called. The minute you find out anything about Juliet, let me know.”

“I will. Thanks.”

After she ended the call with Melody, Olivia immediately called her mother’s cell. When there was no answer there, she dialed Caitlin’s phone and was sent straight to voice mail, almost as if her niece was blocking her.

She glared at the phone in frustration.

Left with few other options, she finally dialed the hospital in Cape Sanctuary. To her relief, after she asked whether her mother was a patient there, she was connected almost instantly to a room.

“Hello?”

Her mother did not sound like herself. Usually Juliet’s voice was firm, confident. She wasn’t exactly brusque, merely self-assured and determined to waste as little time as possible.

Today, Juliet’s voice was small, hesitant, almost… Frightened.

With her own emotions frayed from the week she’d had, Olivia was aware of a subtle thread connecting them for once, as unexpected as it was unusual.

She was frightened, too.

“Mom. What’s going on? Is it true you were in an accident?”

“How did you find out?” Juliet asked.

Not from you or from Caitlin, she wanted to answer tartly. The two people who should have told her hadn’t bothered to pick up the phone, had they?

Otis came running over with his favorite toy and sat at her feet, happily chewing.

“Melody called me, saying she’d heard bits and pieces and knew you had been injured. Apparently you had a fall. Are you okay? What happened?”

“It’s the stupidest thing. I’m so embarrassed.”

“I don’t think the word embarrassed needs to enter the conversation here. You’re hurt. You had an accident. You didn’t break a bottle of pickles at the grocery store. Did you fall off the roof?”

Juliet released a breath. “I was up on a ladder, trying to hang some baskets I had just potted to the hooks in one of the greenhouses, and…something went wrong.”

Olivia frowned at that momentary hesitation. “Something?”

“The ladder buckled or it wasn’t set up right in the first place. I don’t know exactly. To be honest, everything’s a bit of a blur. Of course, that might be the pain medicine talking.”

“What were you doing up on a ladder? You’re the boss. Don’t you have people to do that?”

“We’re shorthanded. Don’t get me started.” Juliet’s voice sounded somewhat stronger. Talking about the garden center she loved must have helped take her mind off the pain and fear.

“I spent three years training Sharon Mortimer to be the assistant manager under me and she decides two weeks ago to take a job running the nursery at a box store in Redding. Can you believe it? Where’s the loyalty?”

She didn’t want to deal with the garden center’s personnel issues right now, when her mother was lying in a hospital bed. “What are the doctors saying?”

“You know doctors. They only want to give you bad news.”

“What did they say?”

Juliet sighed. “Apparently I have a concussion. And I broke two ribs and also my right hip. That’s the side I landed on. They were afraid my wrist on that side was broken as well where I tried to brace my landing, but it seems to be only sprained.”

How far had she fallen? Good heavens. It sounded horrible. “Oh, Mom.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Juliet assured her. “I was only on the ground for a few minutes before one of my customers found me and called paramedics. And they were there right away. So handsome.”

Juliet seemed to be drifting away again.

“What are the doctors saying about your recovery? Will you need surgery? A cast?” Olivia pressed again. She had no idea how a broken hip was treated.

“Dr. Adeno, that nice new orthopedic doctor, was just here and she wants to do surgery tomorrow. I still haven’t decided if I want to go through with it.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “It’s not like Botox, Mom. It’s not about whether you feel like it or not. If you need orthopedic surgery, you don’t have many options. Not if you want to walk again.”

“She says I’ll be in the hospital three to five days and need four to six weeks of recovery. I can’t be away from the garden center that long! The whole place will fall apart, especially without Sharon.”

Everything always came back to the garden center. Why was she so surprised?

After Steve Harper’s tragic death, her mother had stepped up to run the business that supported her family and had surprised everyone—probably most especially Juliet herself—by being great at it.

Olivia had tried not to resent her mother’s long hours as she had immersed herself in learning the business.

She had never been gifted with the green thumb of her father, or her older sister. Steve and Natalie had bonded over their time in the garden. Nat had loved playing in the dirt while Olivia much preferred digging into a good book.

“This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.” Juliet suddenly sounded close to tears.

“Spring growing season.”

“Right. Our busiest season of the year. And that traitor Sharon deserts us for stock options and a better 401(k). What am I going to do? I can’t have surgery tomorrow.”

Again, her mother sounded frightened and Olivia had no idea how to handle it. Juliet was one of the most together people she’d ever known. Hearing this vulnerability in her voice disturbed her almost more than the accident itself.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently, not knowing what else she could say.

“I wish you were here.”

The small, frail-sounding words came out of nowhere, almost as if Juliet didn’t really know she had uttered them.

Olivia stared into space while she felt something odd and sharp tug at her chest.

Her mother needed her. For once, Juliet wasn’t the invincible almost-fifty-three-year-old widow running a successful business and raising her teenage granddaughter on her own. She was an injured woman who needed help and didn’t know how to ask for it.

In the end, that was all that mattered. Olivia reached for a piece of paper, already mentally going through the list of things she would have to do in order to take extended emergency family leave from her job, close up her apartment and head out of town.

“I’ll come down for a few days,” she said instantly, without giving herself time to panic. “I’ll be there as soon as I can make the arrangements.”

“Oh. Oh no,” Juliet said quickly, as if coming to her senses and realizing what she had said. “I know how busy you are. Anyway, what will Grant say?”

Grant was her ex-fiancé. Though he was an executive at her job, he wasn’t directly over her department and had nothing to say that mattered. At least he hadn’t in the six months since they broke up. “Don’t worry about me, Mom. This is an emergency. I can take some time.”

“Oh. I hate to be a bother. I feel so stupid.”

“You’re not a bother and you’re not stupid.”

What kind of weird universe had she slipped into where she was the one giving her mother counsel? That wasn’t the natural order of things. Usually Juliet didn’t need Olivia or anybody. After Olivia’s father died, her mother had tried very hard to prove that to the world.

“I’ll get down there soon as I can.”

“I’ll be fine, honey. I promise,” Juliet continued to protest. “Don’t come. Do you hear me?”

Before Olivia could answer, Juliet switched gears. “Oh. I need to go,” she said. “Caitlin just came in.”

Of course her mom needed to go if Olivia’s fifteen-year-old niece was there. She almost insisted her mother hand the phone to Caitlin so Olivia could yell at her for not calling her the instant she found out about Juliet’s accident, but she had a feeling Juliet would refuse, ever protective over the daughter of the child she couldn’t save.

“All right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Don’t come down, honey.” Her mother suddenly sounded far more like herself, her voice brisk and in control. “I mean it. We’ll be fine. I may not be able to get around for a few weeks, but I can supervise operations at the garden center just fine from a wheelchair. I’ll call you later in the week. Bye. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she started to say, but by then, her mother had already hung up the phone.

Olivia sat for a moment, her dog happily chewing his toy at her feet and full-on rain splattering the window now.

She was half tempted to listen to her mother and stay right here in Seattle, especially after Juliet had just bluntly told her not to come. But then she thought of Juliet’s frightened voice and knew she couldn’t stand by. For once, her mother needed her. If that meant Olivia had to bury her own anxieties and juggle work and clients to make it happen, she could do it.

2

JULIET

Juliet Harper ended the call to her daughter, aware even through her fuzzy, painkiller-addled brain of the usual funny catch in her chest that always showed up when she talked to Olivia.

Their relationship seemed so…wrong. She always ended up saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing.

Every time she spoke with Olivia, she had the best of intentions, determined this would be her chance to heal whatever was broken in her interactions with her daughter.

Instead, she would end up bumbling her way through a conversation, never saying what was really on her mind or expressing how much she loved and admired Olivia for all she had overcome.

She knew what was at the heart of it. She had failed one daughter so miserably and was desperately afraid she would screw up with the other one. The great and terrible irony in the whole situation was that her very fear was the main thing in the way of forging a warm and loving mother-daughter relationship with Olivia. The one she yearned for with all her heart.

“Who was that?” Caitlin took a sip from the soda she had brought up from the hospital cafeteria after Juliet had made her granddaughter go down and find something to eat.

Why couldn’t her interactions with Olivia be as easy as those with Caitlin?

“Your aunt Olivia. I asked you to call her. Why didn’t you?”

“I sent her a message,” Caitlin said, her tone defensive. “Maybe she missed it.”

“I told you to call her, not message,” she said. Caitlin always did things her own way and had since she was a baby. When other children would stack two or three blocks together, Caitlin would use them like percussion instruments. Instead of playing with dolls, she had dressed up the wriggling cats and tried to have tea parties with them.

She shifted in the hospital bed in a futile effort to find a more comfortable position.

Everything hurt. Who knew that one stupid decision, to climb a ladder without someone there to hold it for her, as she always insisted for her workers, could have such devastating consequences?

She should have known. She wasn’t stupid, though nobody would know that by the traumatic events of her day.

The pain meds were wearing off. Instead of asking for more or surrendering to her discomfort, Juliet forced herself to focus on her granddaughter.

She looked so much like her mother, with Natalie’s blond hair, bold eyebrows, stunning hazel eyes. Where Natalie had favored layers and big curls, like the style of the day when she was a teenager, Caitlin wore her hair short in an almost elfin cut. She dressed in her own unique style.

“Olivia must have got my message. Otherwise she wouldn’t have known you were hurt.”

“She only knows because Melody Baker called her. She and Olivia were tight as could be when they were in school. Always together. If you saw one, the other one was close behind. Kind of like you and Jake Cragun.”

Caitlin made a face. “We’re not together that much.”

Both of them knew that wasn’t true. Their neighbor had been Caitlin’s closest friend since grade school.

Caitlin had girlfriends, too, good ones, but Jake was her BFF, her confidant.

Juliet had always thought it was so sweet, the way the two of them were always talking a mile a minute to each other. When they weren’t together, they were texting each other or sending memes back and forth.

They had supported each other through some pretty tough things. Despite her young age, Caitlin had been a rock to Jake when his mother died of cancer three years earlier.

Juliet felt a pang when she thought of her dear friend Lilianne, who kept a smile on her face even when she lost her hair and when the grueling effects of chemotherapy treatment kept her on the couch for days afterward.

“How’s your English homework? Did you finish the essay you needed to write?”

“You’re in a hospital bed and you’re still going to nag me about my homework? Really, Mimi?” Caitlin said. She always called Juliet that, from the days when Caitlin had been learning to talk and instinctively tried to call her Mama, since Juliet had been her primary caregiver most of her life.

“It’s my job to worry about your homework.” Juliet frowned as she tried to adjust. Pain clawed at her and she couldn’t hold back a moan.

Worry furrowed Caitlin’s brow. “Right now, my English homework should be the last thing on your mind. For once, can’t you just rest and focus on yourself?”

Juliet wasn’t completely sure she knew how to do that. She had been taking care of those she loved all her life, from the time her own mother died when she was fourteen and she had to help her father raise her younger sister.

She hadn’t minded. She loved her family, loved cooking nutritious meals and keeping house. Marrying Steve right out of high school and slipping into life as a full-time mother and wife by accidentally getting pregnant on their honeymoon had seemed a natural transition.

And then, after all those wonderful years of marriage, Steve had been killed and she had been left to handle everything. The garden center. Sea Glass Cottage. The girls, with Natalie in and out of jail and treatment centers as she battled her addictions and Olivia slipping further and further away, like a freesia blossom bobbing on the breakers, being carried out to sea by a riptide.

She was trying. Exercising more, eating better. She had lost some of the stress weight she had gained after Steve died and she wanted to think she was more fit than she’d been her entire adult life, especially after her doctor told her regular exercise was one of the best ways to slow the progression of her condition.

What would happen now? Would she regain all the weight while she recovered from her injuries?

Had this stupid fall ruined everything?

The questions seemed to rattle together in her brain like dry seeds in a gourd.

“You should rest while you can,” Caitlin said, fluffing her pillow and adjusting the blanket.

Sleep did sound lovely. In sleep, she could push away all the fears and worries and unfinished tasks she didn’t make it to that day.

“What about you? Do I need to arrange a ride home for you? It will be dark soon.”

“I could take the bus if I had to, but I don’t because I’m staying here. The nurse told me this chair folds out to a bed, so I will just sleep in the room with you in case you need anything.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Why? It’s just one night.”

“Because you have school tomorrow. How do you think you’ll do on your history test on two hours of sleep in an uncomfortable hospital chair?”

“I’m planning to take a sick day tomorrow. You need someone here when you have surgery.”

She almost told Caitlin she had asked Olivia to come home, but suspected her granddaughter would not be thrilled at the information. For some reason, Caitlin didn’t seem to like her aunt right now, though they had been de facto siblings for most of Caitlin’s life and certainly since Juliet took full custody of her granddaughter after Natalie’s death, when Caitlin was not quite three.

Yet another thing Juliet couldn’t fix. Pain lodged in her chest, this time having nothing to do with her broken bones. She had tried to dig out the root of Caitlin’s anger toward her aunt, but this was one thing the girl wouldn’t share with her.

Oh well. It probably wouldn’t be an issue. She doubted Olivia would be able to come home. Her daughter was far too busy and successful and happy in the life she had created away from Cape Sanctuary. It was for the best anyway.

“I will call one of my friends to be here during the surgery. Maybe Stella or Jane could come while I’m in surgery. I understand that you might not want to stay at Sea Glass Cottage by yourself tonight. Let me call Henry and see if he can pick you up and let you stay at their place tonight.”

Caitlin lifted her chin. “Stop worrying about me. I don’t need a ride and I don’t need a babysitter because I’m staying here tonight.”

Some part of Juliet was grateful for her granddaughter’s loyalty. Caitlin could be the sweetest thing, affectionate and helpful, eager to please.

She could also be as stubborn as a mule with a canker sore.

“You have school tomorrow,” she repeated. “You can’t stay here all night. I appreciate the offer, honey. Truly I do. I’ll be okay. I can press a button if I need a single thing and the nurses will be here soon.”

“How are you going to stop me?”

She narrowed her gaze at the defiant tone, so familiar. When she spoke like that, she looked and sounded just like her mother had in the last few years when Nat had been so troubled. Slipping out at night, going to wild parties, coming home drunk or stoned.

She had learned some bitter lessons through the experience of being Natalie’s only remaining parent in the last three years of her oldest daughter’s life. She wasn’t about to make the same mistakes: passivity, inertia, acquiescence. Forget that.

“Young lady,” she said sternly. “You are still a minor and I am still your grandmother, not to mention your legal guardian. I might be in a hospital bed but that doesn’t make me completely helpless. You are not staying at this hospital tonight. I will make that clear to the entire medical staff if I have to. You don’t have to stay with Henry and Jake if you don’t want to. I can call another of your friends. Maybe Emma or Allie. It doesn’t matter to me. You choose. But you’re not staying here.”

Caitlin looked slightly shocked at her fierce response. “I just don’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m in a hospital full of people who will be coming in and out at all hours of the night to check my vital signs and take my blood and roll me this way and that. By the time they release me, I’ll be desperate for some alone time.”

Caitlin still looked as if she wanted to argue, but before she could, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in,” Juliet called, grateful for the interruption.

It wasn’t a nurse with another dose of pain medicine, as she was hoping. Instead, Henry Cragun and his son Jake pushed open the door.

“Hey. You up for visitors?”

Juliet fought the urge to pull the hospital blankets over her head. How ridiculous, when she was injured and in pain, that she could worry about vanity right now, but she hated the idea of Henry Cragun seeing her like this.

Wounded, frail, broken.

Old.

She sighed. While she didn’t particularly want Henry here, perhaps he and his son could talk some sense into her stubborn granddaughter.

“Hi,” she said, aware she sounded slightly breathless. With any luck, Henry would merely assume she was in pain. He could never guess that lately she always felt this way whenever he was around.

While Jake went immediately to Caitlin to give her a hug, Henry headed to her bedside. He was carrying a vase full of flowers, big lush pale pink peonies she knew probably came from his garden. They looked feminine, almost sensual in the hands of such a tough, hardworking man.

“Those are gorgeous,” she managed, her voice squeaking. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He set them on the table beside her bed, then gave her a long look. “Oh, Juliet. What have you done to yourself now?”

She felt old and clumsy and stupid. “I broke the cardinal rule of ladders and now I’m paying the price.”

“I hear you had quite a nasty fall.”

“She has two broken ribs, a concussion and a broken hip,” Caitlin offered, ever so helpfully.

Juliet felt like an ancient old crone.

Henry winced in sympathy. “You never do things halfway, do you?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Surgery tomorrow and a few weeks of recovery and I’ll be good as new.”

He raised an eyebrow, clearly doubtful, and she wanted to throw a pillow at him. She was trying to be optimistic here. She didn’t need a hospital room full of Debbie Downers.

“I hope that’s the case,” he said. “What time is surgery tomorrow?”

“We’re not sure yet,” Caitlin said.

“I haven’t decided if I’m having surgery.”

It was a stupid position and she knew it. Of course she had to have surgery. She had a broken hip that needed to be repaired. She had no choice, and no amount of trying to exert a little control would change that.

“I hope you know that Caitlin is welcome to stay with us until you break out of here. Even after, if you need to go into a rehabilitation center.”

She was an old lady with a broken hip who might need to go into a nursing home to recover.

Could her life hit a lower point?

“Thank you. I was hoping you’d say that. There you go, honey. You can stay with Henry and Jake for now. I’ll compromise. You can take a sick day tomorrow to be here during my surgery as long as you email your teachers to find out what homework you might have.”

Her granddaughter pouted but apparently didn’t want to argue in front of their neighbors and friends.

“What can we do to help?” Henry sat in the visitor’s chair, entirely too close for Juliet’s comfort. Of course, anywhere he chose to sit in the room would be too close for comfort.

That was the awful pain pills talking, she told herself, but she knew it was a lie. Over the past few months, she had developed a completely ridiculous attraction to the man.

She couldn’t be attracted to him. He was her friend. One of her closest. His late wife had been one of her dearest friends.

She needed to focus on that and not on the way her pulse seemed to jump whenever he was near and her insides felt shaky and weak.

She cherished his friendship too much to ruin everything. Not only that, but he was eight years younger than her, and as a local landscape designer with a thriving company, he was one of her best clients at Harper Hill Home & Garden. She couldn’t lose sight of that.

“I don’t know yet, to be honest. Right now, I can hardly think straight. I just want to make it through the surgery tomorrow and then I’ll focus on how to make it through the next few months.”

He reached for her hand, his skin warm and a little rough from his work as a landscaping contractor.

“I would tell you to call me if you need anything, but I’m pretty sure you won’t do that, will you?”

She wanted to lean into his hand, into him, and let him take care of everything. That was one of Henry Cragun’s defining traits. He came across as a strong, capable man who could handle any crisis, from a leaky faucet to a woman who hadn’t had an orgasm with someone else in years.

She didn’t lean into him. Instead, she slipped her hand away to play with the edge of the hospital blanket. “I don’t think I need help right now, but thank you. I have good employees.” At least the ones who were left. She felt the betrayal all over again of losing Sharon.

“Well, keep me posted, then. I’ll be around.”

She found more comfort from that than she probably should. “Thank you.”

A knock at the door heralded more visitors.

“You’re a popular person today.”

“Yeah. And all I needed to do to win the popularity contest was fall off a ladder.”

He smiled as the door opened and Lucien Hall, her longtime neurologist, walked in.

Juliet could feel panic swelling in her along with the pain. Oh no. She should have anticipated this. Lucien treated her disease and was one of a very small number of people who knew about it.

If he said anything, even dropped a hint, her secret would be out and everything would change.

“I’m sorry to interrupt. I was here visiting another patient and received a text from Dr. Adeno, letting me know about your injuries. I just saw you a week ago. What happened?”

“She fell off a ladder and broke two ribs and her hip. And she has a concussion,” Caitlin said, giving the doctor a curious look. Juliet’s heart dropped. It was clear her granddaughter was wondering what kind of doctor Lucien was and what reason Juliet might have had for visiting him.

Lucien gave her a look that was part disbelief and part admonishment. “What were you doing up on a ladder?”

“Hanging flowers,” she said. “I’m fine. I’m sure Dr. Adeno gave you the full report. How are you? How’s Jorge?”

Lucien had recently married his partner in a beautiful seaside service, and Harper Hill Home & Garden had helped with the flowers.

“He’s wonderful, but don’t think you’re going to change the subject that easily,” he said.

Juliet tried not to panic. She couldn’t have a conversation right now with him while Henry, Jake and Caitlin were there.

To her vast relief, Henry seemed to pick up on her distress. He glanced at the teenagers.

“Come on, kids. Let’s let Juliet and her doctor talk. We can grab some dinner then head over to Sea Glass Cottage and pick up some things for Caitlin so she can stay in the guest room.”

Caitlin looked reluctant to leave her grandmother. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“I’m fine. I have nurses to take care of me. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll call you later, to make sure you’re still okay.”

“Is there anything we can bring back to you later tonight? Anything from home you might find comforting?” Henry asked her, so much gentleness and kindness in his eyes that she suddenly wanted to cry.

She couldn’t lose his friendship. It was too precious to her, like a rare flower that only bloomed once every hundred years.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and she again fought the urge to throw her arms around his neck and let him take care of her.

“Thank you for the peonies. I can’t believe you remembered they’re my favorites.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, his voice gruff. “Don’t fall off anything in the night.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She felt that same complicated mix of gratitude and tenderness as Henry ushered his son and her granddaughter out of the hospital room, leaving her alone with her neurologist.

“So. Talk to me,” Lucien said in his no-nonsense voice. “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” she admitted.

“You shouldn’t have been up on a ladder. You know that, right? I warned you that the new medication we were trying might cause dizziness.”

She shifted on the bed. “Yes. It’s been worth it. I haven’t had any symptoms.”

“It’s too early in the trial to know if that will continue. You know that, right? You have multiple sclerosis, Juliet. You can’t pretend you don’t. Yes, you’re lucky enough that your symptoms have been mild so far, but no one can predict what might happen.”

“I feel strong and healthy, except for the broken bones,” she muttered.

“You know that may not continue forever, though. We can keep the symptoms at bay a long time but possibly not indefinitely.”

She knew. She knew entirely too well. She woke up each morning wondering if today would be the day she would suddenly develop vision problems or her hands would go numb. With each muscle pain or spasm, she worried this was the beginning of a steep decline.

At the end of each day, she said a prayer of gratitude that she’d been able to make it through another day where she could keep up with the demands of her life.

Dr. Hall’s voice gentled. “You need to promise me that next time you’re prescribed a medication that may cause dizziness, you don’t climb up a twenty-foot ladder to hang a flower basket, got it?”

“I promise. It was a mistake. One I’m paying for dearly.”

“Dr. Adeno says she wants to operate tomorrow.”

“That’s the plan.”

“You’ll be in excellent hands. She’s a very good surgeon.”

“Nice to know.”

“If I have your permission to talk with her, I’ll give her a call to discuss co-treatments. Some of the medications you’re on for the MS might impact your healing process.”

“Yes. You can talk to her. Thank you.”

He squeezed her hand. “Good luck tomorrow. I’ll check in while you’re still an inpatient and have my office schedule you for a few months from now so we can check in.”

After he left, the room seemed blessedly empty, but she knew it wouldn’t last. More nurses and technicians would be in to poke at her.

Juliet was exhausted suddenly. She longed to curl up on this bed and forget everything. Her pain, the accident, the burden of her MS diagnosis that she had carried alone every day for the past four years.

The bouquet Henry had brought her stirred the air with its luscious smell, and she closed her eyes, focusing on that scent and trying to picture the showy blossoms with their intricate layers of petals until she fell asleep.

3

OLIVIA

“Only another hour now, Otis. Can you believe we made it this far? We got this, right?”

The little dog in his crate on the back seat snored, which she decided to take as his answer.

She was so tired. It had taken her several hours to make all the arrangements at work, tie up loose business ends and pack up her car. She hadn’t been able to hit the road until about ten the previous night and had been driving for twelve hours, stopping only to catch an hour or so of sleep in the parking lot of a twenty-four-hour grocery store.

She had stopped for gas and to let Otis out a few other times. Other than that, she had been behind the wheel.

The scenery here was lovely as she headed south along the coast toward home. Still, she couldn’t help wondering if she was making a terrible mistake.

Her mother was in an accredited hospital with trained caregivers. What exactly could Olivia provide that they couldn’t?

What could she do in Cape Sanctuary besides get in the way? She wasn’t good at dealing with sick people. The sight of blood made her queasy and she didn’t have a lot of patience for sitting around in a hospital room.

And heaven knew, she was helpless at the garden center. The last time she had tried to help out during a visit home shortly after graduating from college, she had ended up killing an entire table of vegetables by using the wrong fertilizer before one of the other workers stopped her.

“My mom is hurt and she wants me there. I owe her,” she said out loud. “You understand, don’t you, Otis?”

Her dog, awake now, gave his sweet bark, as if he fully agreed with her. That was yet another reason she adored his face. He had become her sounding board, her confessor, her personal secret keeper.

“You don’t think it’s crazy, do you? I mean, she’s my mom and she’s hurt. And I love her. And going home to help for a few days is the right thing to do.”

Otis thumped his tail and circled his crate a few times.

“Yeah. I’m glad you agree. Thanks, bud. Good talk.”

The dog scratched at the floor of his crate and circled again, a clear indication that he needed out for a bit. Though painfully close to her destination, Olivia decided she could use the break as well to stretch her legs.

She picked a well-lit convenience store just off the highway and used her credit card at the pump to fill up before walking Otis around the side of the building, one hand on the canister of pepper spray on her key chain and the other tightly gripping the dog’s leash. He wouldn’t be a lot of protection but she found comfort from his presence anyway.

So far on this trip, she had managed to avoid too much crowd anxiety by paying at the pump and hurrying in and out when she needed to refill her coffee or use the restroom. It helped that she was driving overnight, when most sane people were sleeping. The morning was well underway now, though, and the convenience store parking lot was quickly filling up with commuters. No one looked threatening, she told herself, lifting her face to the sun and rotating her shoulders to ease some of the tension there. She couldn’t spend her entire life in fear because of one moment she couldn’t take back.

After a quick trip inside, where she held on to her pepper spray the entire time and hurried back to the car as soon as possible, she and Otis hit the open road again. For the rest of the journey, they made good time. When they were about half an hour from Cape Sanctuary, she had stopped again to use the restroom from all the coffee she’d been drinking and to give Otis some water when she suddenly realized she should probably have a plan for the dog once she arrived in town.

She certainly couldn’t take him to the hospital with her, especially when she didn’t know how long she would be there. As he had never been to Sea Glass Cottage, she didn’t want to simply abandon him in a strange house.

On impulse, she dialed Melody.

“Hi. I was just thinking about you,” her friend said. “How’s your mom?”

“She had an okay night. I talked to her this morning and found out her surgery is scheduled for eleven. That’s why I’m calling. Any chance you could do me a favor?”

“Sure,” Melody said instantly. “Anything. Do you want me to go sit with her during the surgery?”

“Thank you, but what I actually need is a dogsitter for a few hours while I head to the hospital myself. I was going to drop Otis at Sea Glass Cottage, but Mom and Caitlin have cats and he can be kind of a wuss when it comes to felines. I’d like to give him the chance to get to know them first when I’m there to referee. Do you mind watching him while I check on her?”

“Like, right now? As in, you’re in town?”

“Almost. I’m about twenty minutes out.”

“Did you drive all night? You must be exhausted!”

She wasn’t as tired as she’d expected, fueled by caffeine and adrenaline, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t last.

“I’m okay for now.”

“After we spoke on the phone yesterday, I didn’t think you were going to be able to make it back.”

“My mom needs me,” she said simply. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I was so busy making arrangements I didn’t think about it until I was on the way. I didn’t want to call you at 3:00 a.m.”

“You know I would have taken your calls. Day or night, hon.”

Oh, she loved Melody. She had dear friends in Seattle but she wasn’t sure any of them were of the call-me-day-or-night variety. “Thank you.”

“We’re happy to dogsit. The other boys are in school, but I still have Charlie home with me and can promise you, he would love to play with a dog. Ours is kind of a party pooper.”

“Thank you. Otis is very well behaved and loves children, I promise. You’re a lifesaver. I have no idea how long I’ll be at the hospital. It might be several hours.”

“No problem. We don’t have anything on our schedule today.”

“I owe you. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Perfect. That gives me time to get out of my yoga pants and into some real clothes. See you then.”

Olivia ended the call, grateful all over again for the priceless gift of old and dear friends. Melody had been her rock during those difficult years after Steve Harper died and Natalie went off the rails.

Olivia wanted to think she had been the same to her in return when Melody’s mom had died after years of alcohol abuse, but she was almost certain the ledger would never be equal.

As she drove into town, her skin started to prickle, memories flashing across her mind like a fast slideshow.

Her dad used to love breakfast there at the Huckleberry Café on lazy summer mornings, always ordering pancakes with extra of their eponymous syrup.

The small beachside park reminded her of her father trying to teach her and Nat how to surf. She could almost taste the salt of the seawater, feel the cool Pacific surrounding her, hear the laughter of her older sister.

Those lush, abundant flowers hanging in baskets from the lampposts throughout town probably came from the Harper Hill nursery. Every year, her family would gather one evening and pick the most luxurious baskets from their vast selection then load them into one of the nursery delivery trucks to deliver to the city office for the seasonal display.

Her dad was always so delighted at being able to do a little something to beautify their community.

He had loved Cape Sanctuary. That was the main reason he had become a volunteer firefighter, so he could give back to the neighbors and friends he loved.

The sleepy little beach town hadn’t changed much. It was a bit out of the way for a huge tourist influx but visitors still managed to find it in the summertime, coming in droves to enjoy the towering rock formations offshore, the impossibly green forests, the fairy-tale cottages surrounded by gardens and wind chimes.

It really was a beautiful setting. Too bad her memories marred the serenity of it.

When she drove past the site of the old McComb building, long since rebuilt, she noticed a new restaurant sign hung out front.

Her father had died there. He had given his life for the town he loved, an event that had been the single defining moment of her life. She would never be able to bring herself to go into that restaurant, even if people told her it served the best food in town.

She pushed away the memory as she turned down a road and approached Melody’s trim house, several blocks from the ocean.

It was a two-story cottage, really, probably less than a thousand square feet on each level, but charming, like something out of a Disney movie or a fairy tale.

Rosebushes lined the walk and cheerful blue shutters provided a stark contrast against the pale, weathered shake siding.

She pulled into the drive and turned off the engine to her crossover hybrid. “Here we are, Otis. We made it in one piece.”

Her dog flopped his tail against the wall of the crate. He grew even more excited when she came to the back and opened the door of the vehicle to clip on his leash and let him out. She held the leash with one hand and carried the crate with the other, in case he needed to retreat inside his happy place while he was visiting strangers.

“I need you to behave yourself now,” she instructed him. “It will be okay. You’ll see.”

Otis looked doubtful and she picked him up for a quick hug. “I know how nervous you get around new people. But if I can come back to town and deal with my mom, you can spend a little time with people you don’t know. I’ll be back in a few hours to get you.”

The dog gazed at her with a trust she found humbling. In the three months since they had adopted each other, she was astonished at how important Otis had become to her.

Melody came to the door before she even had time to ring the doorbell.

“Oh. I’m so happy you’re here.” Her friend hugged her tightly, and for a few lovely moments, Olivia hugged her back, feeling some of the anxiety that had simmered just under her skin begin to ease.

She cherished her friends in Seattle, she thought again, a community of caring, intelligent, funny men and women. But there was something as comforting as warm socks about being with her childhood best friend, the woman who had always known her best. It seemed to settle something deep inside her.

Melody had lost weight since she’d seen her last and she had new circles under her eyes, but her smile was bright and genuine.

“You must be so tired.”

“I’m all right,” she said. “Juliet wanted me here. So I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry she’s going through this. Your mom is so fiercely independent. This must be torture for her.”

“I can only imagine. I’m sure she’s driving the doctors and nurses crazy.”

“You’re probably in a hurry to get to the hospital. Don’t worry. We’ll have a chance to catch up.”

“Thank you. This is Otis. He’s usually a sweetheart, though a little shy.”

“Excellent. Charlie and Thor, that’s our golden retriever, will be glad for the company. They’re playing in the back right now.”

“Otis can be a nervous Nellie. He might not want to even come out of his carrier,” she warned.

“We’ll be gentle, I promise. He’ll be okay, Liv. We don’t torture fur babies around here. My boys are careful.”

She was being ridiculous, she knew. Otis was just so dear to her, her first creature since she’d become an adult. She hadn’t had a dog in years, not since her dad’s beloved border collie died of old age a few months after Steve’s death. She’d forgotten how dogs could reach in and grab hold of a person’s heart.

“Thanks.” She hugged Melody again, wondering if the weight loss was from a diet or if she had stopped eating after her idiot husband walked out on her. “I love you tons. You know that, right?”

“Yes.” Melody eased away, her eyes suspiciously bright. “I’m really sorry about your mom. But on a purely selfish note, I’m so glad you’re home for a few days.”

She was the worst friend. She should have come home the moment she heard Rich Baker had walked out on his family. Melody hadn’t told her; she’d had to hear the news from Juliet, who had sounded heartbroken.

As soon as she hung up after hearing the news from her mother, Olivia had called Mel and they had cried together for a good hour on the phone. She had tried to stay in touch since then with video chats and funny texts and even a few care packages of things she thought might cheer her up.

In retrospect, she was ashamed she hadn’t done more. Squeezing even a weekend out of her schedule to fly down would have meant more than all the floral bouquets or bath baskets or luxury linens she could have sent.

“We’ll catch up. I promise. As soon as I get my mom settled, we’ll find a babysitter for your boys and we’ll head to The Sea Shanty, where we can drink margaritas all night and tell each other everything.”

“That sounds perfect,” Mel said with a rather watery smile. “I’ve missed you.”

“Same, times a million,” she said, giving Melody another hug.

“You’d better get out of here and head to the hospital so you can catch your mom before surgery.”

“Yeah.” She hugged her dog one more time then set him back in the safe zone of his carrier and headed for the door.

“I’ll call you as soon as I know anything,” she promised.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Melody stood at the top step of her cottage, waving as Olivia headed down the sidewalk.

She had just reached her vehicle and opened the door when a shiny blue pickup truck pulled up into the driveway next to her.

Not her business who else might be visiting Melody, she told herself as a man climbed out of the driver’s seat.

For just a moment, their gazes met, his curious and maybe a little suspicious, and Melody felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of salt water over her head.

It was Cooper Vance, Melody’s older brother.

Lean, tough, dangerous. Gorgeous.

A hundred memories suddenly chased each other across her mind, tumbling and rolling, leaving her off balance and feeling a little dizzy.

She was only tired and overcaffeinated, she told herself. That was the reason she felt that seismic jolt of awareness.

When she was barely a teenager she used to have such a crush on him. In one of those weird twists that often happened among neighbors close in age, his sister had been her best friend, while her sister, Natalie, had been his.

She used to think he was hotter than all the guys in her favorite boy band mixed together.

He gazed at her without any trace of recognition. Big surprise there. She had only been fourteen the last time she saw him, gawky and awkward, with an overbite, braces on her teeth, frizzy, overprocessed hair and no figure to speak of.

He had moved away from Cape Sanctuary, joining the military as an elite special forces pararescue trooper. When Natalie died of an overdose, he had been stationed overseas and hadn’t been able to make it back for her funeral.

Somehow their paths had not intersected in all the intervening years. If she were smart, she would figure out a way to keep them from ever intersecting.

The man was trouble.

She had known he was back in town. Melody had mentioned it a few months ago in an email, something Olivia had registered vaguely as one of those interesting details that wouldn’t have much impact in her life. Why would it? She was busy with her life in Seattle and rarely came back to Cape Sanctuary.

And then her mother had mentioned Cooper a few weeks ago, telling Olivia she had run into him at the grocery store. The conversation had been typical Juliet.

“He was so kind,” her mother had said, always looking for the good in people. “He insisted on loading all of my groceries into my trunk like I was some old lady. I always liked that boy. Your father did, too. It didn’t matter what his background was, how difficult his home life might have been, that his dad was in prison and his mom was a drunk. He always worked hard and looked out for his family.”

Yes, Cooper was perfect in Juliet’s eyes. Olivia had a sexy dream about him that night, she remembered now, and could feel her face heat at the memory.

She frowned and would have climbed into her car and driven away except this was Cape Sanctuary and that sort of rudeness just wasn’t acceptable.

He offered a polite smile. “Hi. I’m Cooper Vance, Melody’s brother.”

“I know.”

He looked apologetic. “Sorry. I haven’t been back in town very long and I’m still trying to remember faces and names.”

He gave her a closer look. “Olivia? Is that you? Good Lord. How long has it been?”

So long. And not long enough.

“A few years. Mel told me you had moved back to town.”

He shrugged. “The fire chief job opened up here and I was looking for a change. The timing seemed right. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. I obviously wasn’t looking closely enough. You look like your mom and…you have Nat’s eyes.”

Grief twisted across his features and she felt a pang of sympathy. She missed her sister, too.

People had been saying she resembled her mother and her sister most of her life. She didn’t see it. Natalie had been tall, willowy, gorgeous, with long wavy blond hair and compelling, classically lovely features.

Olivia felt like the awkward clone rendition of Natalie, as if the mold that created them had been slightly damaged by the forging progress and was starting to wear out. They shared the same high cheekbones, the same hazel eyes, but Olivia had never reached Nat’s height and her hair wasn’t quite as vibrantly blond. It was also annoyingly frizzy, until she’d grown tired of trying to straighten it and just adopted beach waves or messy buns.

Most important, Natalie had carried herself with an assurance Olivia had never felt.

Would Olivia have grown into her skin a little better if her father hadn’t died so abruptly and if Natalie’s life hadn’t spiraled out of control shortly after? She didn’t know. She only knew that by the time her sister died, Natalie had no longer looked like the classic beach beauty. Her hair was dry, falling out, and her weight had dwindled so much that her bones showed and her skin had become sallow and loose.

Cooper hadn’t been there to see it, of course. He had been off saving the world. He and Natalie had been best friends, but when she had needed him most, Cooper hadn’t been anywhere around. If he’d stayed, maybe he could have stopped that downward spiral. None of the rest of them could.

“I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Yes. Barely.”

“Your mom and niece will be so happy to see you. Have you stopped by the hospital yet?”

“On my way now. I only stopped to see if Mel could babysit for me.”

He looked surprised. “You have kids? I had no idea! How many? How old?”

“One. Otis. He’s about three, at least according to his veterinarian, but I can’t be sure.”

He smiled slightly and she ordered her stupid hormones not to react. “None of the human variety?”

She thought she would by now. She’d been with Grant for four years, engaged for two, and they’d talked about possibly having one and adopting another child or maybe even siblings out of the foster system.

That had been her one regret when she broke off the engagement.

“No. And I understand you don’t, either. Mel likes to talk about you.”

His sister was justifiably proud of Cooper, who had been a hero before he left town and who continued that pattern in the military, from what she heard.

“How’s your mom doing? That was one hell of a nasty fall.”

“You were there?” That didn’t really surprise her. Cape Sanctuary had a small paid staff of emergency medical technicians and EMT-paramedics. Most of the volunteer firefighters were also trained as EMTs, as her father had been.

“I was on the ambulance that responded. It was scary for the first few minutes, until she regained consciousness.”

“Unconscious! Nobody told me she was unconscious.”

“She fell pretty hard. We were worried about a spinal injury, so it took us a while to stabilize her. Your mom was a trooper, though. Asking about the guys’ families and when Lindy Melendez was having her bridal shower.”

“Yeah. That’s my mom.”

Everyone loved Juliet Harper. If her mom ever decided to run for mayor of Cape Sanctuary, she would be a lock.

“Well, thanks for helping her.”

“It’s part of the job,” he answered with a smile that left her feeling dazed.

She was sleep-deprived from driving all night, worried about her mother and stressed about leaving her doggy. That was the only reason for her ridiculous reaction. She certainly wasn’t still pining over her best friend’s older brother, no matter how gorgeous the adult version of Cooper Vance might be.

“I guess I’ll see you around,” he said, with another of those lethal smiles.

She nodded, which was all she could manage, climbed into her vehicle and drove away, vowing to do her very best to make sure she saw him first and prevented that from happening.

4

COOPER

Olivia Harper.

Cooper watched her drive away in a little silver SUV, feeling as if he were the one who had fallen off a ladder.

How many years had it been since he had seen Olivia? He couldn’t remember. It even might have been before he left town for good. Melody had mentioned her a few times over the years. He remembered Melody telling him when Olivia graduated from college, when she got a job in tech somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, when she started her own social media company.

She’d been engaged a few years ago, he remembered now. And then Melody had told him she’d broken off the engagement sometime later.

Other than those few shout-outs from his sister, he hadn’t really dwelled on her much. If he did, he had thought of her as Little Livie, Natalie’s baby sister and his own sister’s best friend. In his mind, she still had pigtails and braces and walked around with a book in her hand most of the time.

She wasn’t that girl anymore. The Olivia he just encountered was still small in stature but she wasn’t gawky and awkward anymore. His reaction to that one brief slash of smile still seemed to ricochet around his chest.

She wasn’t for him, Cooper reminded himself. She was only here temporarily to visit her mother and she would be leaving soon to return to her life in Seattle.

He, on the other hand, was here for good. His sister needed his help and he had vowed to her and to himself that he would do whatever necessary for Melody and her boys. They had to be his focus, not this instant, unexpected reaction to Olivia Harper.

He pushed her out of his mind, grabbed his toolbox and headed up the steps to Melody’s house. One of them needed fixing, he noted. He would add that to his to-do list.

Before he could knock on the door, his youngest nephew raced around the corner of the house, Melody’s big, goofy retriever right behind him. “Hi, Uncle Cooper! Did you bring your dog?”

He always loved listening to Charlie, who had trouble with his R or L sounds, so called him Coopah and used words like bwing instead of bring.

“No. Jock was sleeping when I left and I didn’t want to disturb him.”

“That’s okay. Because guess what? We’re dogsitting!”

“I heard that.” He studied the boy and the dog. “Weird. He looks just like Thor.”

Charlie giggled. “This is Thor, silly. The dog we’re supposed to be dogsitting isn’t here yet.”

“I think it is, since its owner just left.”

“Oh! I want to go see!”

Charlie raced up the steps to the porch of Melody’s small two-story house. “Mom! Hey, Mom! Where’s the dog? Is it here?”

His sister came around the house holding a tiny trembling purse pooch cradled in her arm. “Hey. Keep it down. He’s nervous enough already.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Charlie spoke in what he probably thought in his five-year-old wisdom was a whisper but was loud enough to rattle the windows.

“This is Otis. He’s not sure about us yet.”

“He’s so cute! Hi, buddy. Don’t be afraid. We’re nice. Except for Will and he’s still at school.” He beamed at the dog, who answered by trembling a little more forcefully and hiding his face in Melody’s arm.

Charlie’s smile turned into a frown. “What’s wrong with him? Is he cold? I can get a blanket.”

“He’s just nervous. If we sit down together on the sofa, I bet he’ll settle down enough that you can make friends and then hold him in a few minutes, as long as you can be gentle.”

“Okay. But I have to pee first. I was gonna do it outside but you got mad at me last time.”

“Good call.” Cooper barely had time to say the words to Charlie before he raced down the hall toward the bathroom at a pace that clearly indicated an emergency was imminent.

Man, he loved this kid. Charlie and his older brothers, Will and Ryan, were the most adorable boys. They were funny and sweet and openhearted. For the life of him, Cooper could not figure out what man in his right mind would walk away from the perfect family.

“So. This must be Olivia’s dog.”

Melody’s eyes widened in shock. “How could you possibly know that?”

He had to smile. She had the same expression on her face that she used to get when he would pull a quarter out of her ear. For hours, he had practiced magic tricks he learned from a school library book, simply to earn that look of astonished glee from her.

“Seriously. Did Charlie tell you that?”

He shook his head, shifting his toolbox to the other hand. “She was leaving as I was pulling in and told me she was leaving her dog here. From there, I could put the pieces together on my own. I didn’t recognize her at first. It’s been years.”

“Neither of you has managed to make it back to town nearly enough over the years.”

Was coming back to Cape Sanctuary as difficult for Olivia as it was for him? They shared some of the same ghosts. Her sister. Her father. He had loved them, too.

Guilt, his longtime companion, poked its ugly hand in the air for attention, but he had become an expert at ignoring it. For the most part, anyway.

“She was always a good friend to you.”

Melody’s features softened as she petted the trembling dog, who seemed to be settling down. “The best. I don’t know how many nights I spent at Sea Glass Cottage with her family when I was growing up. Maybe more than at our own place.”

He didn’t blame her for that. The tiny two-bedroom on Harper Hill their mother had inherited from her grandmother when Cooper was ten had been cluttered, dilapidated, cold in the winter and sweltering in the summer. Melody had slept with their mother while he’d been in a tiny room of his own until he ended up carving another space for himself out of the attic by putting up his own drywall and laying down a floor he created out of secondhand boards so that Melody could take his old room.

At least it had been a roof over their head, which was more than they’d had at previous times in their childhood. The very best part about the house had been their neighbors, Steve and Juliet Harper and their daughters, similar in age to him and to Melody.

Steve and Juliet quickly had sized up the situation in their home. He didn’t know how. Maybe they’d caught a glimpse of their garbage and had seen the outsize proportion of empty liquor bottles to food packaging. Or maybe they would have been just as kind anyway. Regardless, they had welcomed him and his sister into their home and into their lives.

He had been ten in years and about thirty in experience by then, wary, mistrustful, difficult. Because they had moved so much, all his previous close friendships had been painfully short-lived and he hadn’t been looking for another, but for some bizarre reason he still didn’t understand, Natalie Harper had decided they should be best friends.

Nat. His heart ached whenever he thought of her, yet one more woman in his life he couldn’t protect.

“Is Olivia in town long?” he asked, hoping his voice sounded casual enough.

“I suppose that depends on what happens with her mom’s surgery. I hope she can be here at least a few days so we have time to catch up.”

“Her mom had a pretty bad fall. I don’t think her recovery is going to be quick.”

“Oh, poor Juliet. I should try to get to the hospital tonight, after she’s out of surgery.”

He loved that about his sister. Even after everything she had been through, after her world had basically imploded, she still was able to focus on others. She had always been that way. If they were down to their last can of tomato soup, she would find someone less fortunate to share it with them.

“I’m sure she would appreciate it,” he said. “Now, which bathroom sink did you say was leaking?”

“The boys’ bathroom upstairs. I wish you would let me call a plumber.”

“You might still have to. I’m not an expert. But let me take a look at it first. I brought my tools and everything.” He lifted his box.

“You’re the best brother a girl could ask for. I would hug you, if I didn’t think it would terrify poor Otis here,” Melody said with a smile that didn’t quite hide the shadows there.

“Save your hugs until we see if I can actually fix it. You might need to give them to a real plumber.”

“That wouldn’t exactly be a hardship, since my plumber is pretty cute.”

“Send Charlie up when he gets out of the bathroom down here. I’ll give him a quick lesson in how to use a pipe wrench.”

“I’m not sure I want that one knowing how to take the pipes apart in this house. That’s a skill that might come back to bite me.”

He smiled. Charlie was a handful, which was one of the reasons he loved the kid. “Also, I’m here for at least a few hours. I can dogsit and kidsit for you, if you want to go to the store by yourself or even go sit by the beach with a book.”

To his dismay, her eyes filled with tears and she hugged him. “You really are the best brother in the world. I have no idea what I would do without you. I would love to run to the garden center to pick up a few things for the yard without having to keep Charlie from jumping in all the decorative fountains.”

“Have at it. Want me to take the dog?”

“I’ll put him back into his crate for now. Liv said that’s his happy place.”

“Got it. I’ll just carry the whole thing upstairs, where he can hang out with us. Send Charlie up before you leave.”

As he headed up the stairs with his toolbox in one hand and the dog carrier in the other, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Olivia and their intertwined lives.

Her dad had been a mentor to him, one of those genuinely good guys driven to try making a difference in the world. He might have done amazing things, if he had lived past his forties instead of dying in a fire where he never should have been in the first place.

His fault.

Cooper set the toolbox down a bit more heavily than he should have, and Olivia’s little dog whimpered at the sudden noise.

“Sorry, bud,” he said, setting the carrier down more gently.

He still missed him. Olivia’s father had been one of the most decent men Cooper had ever known. The fact that he went into that building because of Cooper’s own stupidity still haunted him.

Join the club, Steve, Cooper wanted to say. The ghosts of all the people he couldn’t save could probably fill the chapel of the local church.

His mother.

Natalie.

None of his efforts had been quite enough.

Yeah. All those ghosts were the reason he hadn’t come back to town as often as he might have over the years. Cape Sanctuary didn’t exactly live up to its name, in his case. For him, it was a place of sorrow and regret and inadequacy.

“Hey, Uncle Coop. I’m here to help.”

As his nephew climbed the stairs in his oversize cowboy boots, Cooper pushed away the memories.

He couldn’t fix the past, but he was here now for his sister. Melody was the entire reason he had decided to apply for the fire chief job in Cape Sanctuary.

She was stuck here alone with three boys, abandoned by her soon-to-be ex-husband. She tried to put on a good front, but he could see the baffled grief in her expression when she let down her guard.

He wanted everything to be perfect for his sister. That had been his goal since the day she was born. The fact that her life had come to this, that her bastard husband had destroyed their marriage and her self-confidence without a backward look, made Cooper want to punch his fist through a wall.

Okay, he would have preferred to punch his fist through Rich Baker’s face. He couldn’t do it, though. He didn’t want to end up in jail, like his and Mel’s father, who had spent most of their childhood as a guest of some correctional institution or other. Since he couldn’t beat the living daylights out of the man who had broken his sister’s heart, he would settle for stepping in and helping her out with the boys as much as he could.

If that meant coming home to Cape Sanctuary and taking the tame and rather staid job of fire chief in a small California tourist town, it was a sacrifice he was more than willing to make.

That was what he should focus on, Cooper told himself as he showed Charlie the water valve beneath the sink. These boys, his sister, his job. They were all that mattered. Not a certain lovely former neighbor or the shocking, unexpected awareness she sparked in him.

5

CAITLIN

She hated this so much. On a scale of one to ten, sitting in Mimi’s hospital room and waiting for her to go into surgery ranked about a million times infinity.

Caitlin sat in the ugly, uncomfortable chair in her grandmother’s room. Her head throbbed and her stomach felt a little sick, like that time she got food poisoning from eating bad potato salad at her friend Emma’s house.

The hospital smelled. Mimi’s room wasn’t so bad. Her room smelled like all the flowers people had brought her, which Caitlin had arranged on a ledge beside the window, where her grandmother could see them.

The rest of the place reeked, though, of disinfectant and pee and despair.

Sitting here was so boring. She didn’t have the focus right now to read anything and she was all caught up on her YouTube subscriptions. Sure, she could always play one of the games on her phone to pass the time, but it was hard to concentrate to beat another stupid level when she was so worried.

She looked over at her grandmother, whose eyes were closed. Every time she saw Mimi’s bruises, Caitlin felt like she couldn’t breathe.

What would happen to her if Mimi died?

She pressed a hand to her stomach, to the nerves there.

Mimi wasn’t dying. She was only asleep, like she’d been most of the morning since Jake’s dad dropped Caitlin off.

The nurses assured Caitlin that there was nothing to worry about—it was only reaction from the pain medicine Mimi was on and the residual shock from her injuries, especially the concussion. Caitlin hated it anyway. She was not used to her grandmother being like this, dozing like some old lady during the day.

Juliet wasn’t old. She was only in her fifties. Caitlin had done the math once and knew her grandma had her mom when she was only nineteen and hadn’t even been forty when Natalie had Caitlin when she was only eighteen.

Mimi would be fifty-three in a few days and usually seemed a lot younger than that. She worked hard all day long at the garden center and then came home and took care of Sea Glass Cottage. She came to every one of Caitlin’s things, from soccer games to school plays to orchestra concerts.

She wasn’t old. She was only injured.

On the other hand, at least when she was sleeping, Mimi couldn’t nag at her to do her homework while she was sitting doing nothing or worry about the classes Caitlin had missed to be here.

Caitlin thought about taking a selfie in the dull hospital room and posting it with the hashtag #myglamorouslife, but she hadn’t had time to do her makeup the way she liked it and didn’t like being here anyway, so why take a pic to remember it?

“Cait?”

“I’m here, Mimi. Do you need something?”

“Water.”

Caitlin rose from the chair, glad to give her muscles a break from it, and went to her grandmother’s bedside. Mimi wasn’t all the way awake. Her eyes were still mostly closed. They were swollen slightly, which the nurse had told Caitlin was from some of the medicine and also from her concussion.

“The nurses said no, remember?” she said softly, taking Mimi’s outstretched hand in hers. “They don’t want you to have anything in your stomach before surgery.”

Mimi sighed and closed her eyes again, still holding Caitlin’s hand. She stayed there for a long time, not wanting to move her fingers away and wake up her grandmother.

What would she have done without her grandmother all these years? Caitlin didn’t even like thinking about it. Mimi had been more like her mother, really, since she was a baby. In fact, according to her grandmother, Caitlin had tried to call her Mama when she was first learning to talk because she spent so much time with Juliet. No matter how many times her grandmother tried to correct her, she still called her Mama. Somehow in those early years, that had morphed into Mimi. Apparently Grandma or Gamma or Gran had been too hard for her to manage when she was so little.

Caitlin was the only one who called Juliet that, which she had always kind of liked.

She knew that without her grandmother, she probably would have ended up in foster care. That might not have been so bad if somebody nice had adopted her, but she knew the odds of that weren’t great. Juliet was on the board of directors for Stella Davenport’s foster care organization and Caitlin knew the statistics. She knew a much higher percentage of girls in foster care ended up dropping out of high school, getting pregnant before age twenty and struggling with substance abuse issues.

Not every grandmother could step in to rescue a grandchild. She understood that and was deeply grateful that Juliet had been willing to raise her when Natalie’s heroin addiction had landed her in and out of jail and then dead of an overdose a few days after she got out the last time.

She felt the familiar pang she usually did when she thought about her mother. By now, she knew it was more habit than actual grief. She hardly remembered Natalie except through pictures and the stories Juliet would tell her and a few fleeting images in her head she wasn’t even sure were real or not.

Her mother seemed like some kind of exotic creature who didn’t really exist, like something out of Harry Potter or Middle Earth.

She knew her mom was dead. She’d always known it, but when she was little, she used to like to pretend her real mother was the fairy princess in some kind of story, captured by an evil witch and forced to stay shut up in a castle somewhere until Caitlin performed some act of courage and daring to rescue her, like finishing all her times table flash cards the fastest in class or winning a race in PE.

Now that she was fifteen and almost an adult, she knew the truth was much less interesting and a whole hell of a lot more depressing. She knew Natalie had liked to party, that she had gotten pregnant with Caitlin when she was just a teenager. That she’d never told her family who the baby daddy was, which meant Caitlin had no idea, either.

Juliet had told her that Natalie was creative and funny, with a tender heart. That she loved art and cooking and working at the greenhouse with Steve, the grandpa who had died before Caitlin was born.

She’d come to know her mother much better since Christmas, after finding her diaries in the attic. She’d learned that Natalie had a sharp wit, was pretty observant and had terrible spelling. Mimi had told her Natalie had struggled in school. She wasn’t stupid; she just couldn’t seem to process math and science subjects well and she struggled to remember dates and names.

Her poor grades had put her in remedial classes and that had led her to hanging around with some kids who didn’t always make good choices. Nat, in turn, had started making those bad choices along with her friends.

Caitlin turned back to her notebook, studying the three names there, unearthed after months of research, poring over her mom’s journals and digging through any other information she could find.

One of these names was her dad. She was certain of it.

Jake thought she was wasting her time.

“You’ve got a wonderful grandmother in Mimi. Why do you have to keep digging into history? You know what happens when you start turning over rocks. You end up finding grubs and spiders and all kinds of distasteful things.”

That was likely true but she had to know.

Anyway, she had a plan. A good one. Jake, who wanted to be a police detective when he grew up and was into all the true crime books and podcasts and YouTube videos, had given her the idea.

“If they can catch serial killers by connecting them to people who have sent in their DNA to be tested, certainly we can search the DNA database to find somebody who might be related to you.”

“My dad is not a serial killer!” She refused to believe that.

“I never said he was,” Jake had protested. “I’m just saying that the process to find your dad’s identity would be the same. The DNA you inherit from both parents is called autosomal DNA. Once you take a DNA test at one of the genealogy websites, you can upload your genetic markers for free into several other sites. Then you sit back and wait to see if you come up with any close relationship matches.”

Caitlin knew it was all a matter of luck that would depend on one of her relatives on her father’s side taking a DNA test and being traceable. The odds weren’t great but she had to try.

She had sent the test in three weeks ago, after saving her allowance for a month. According to the website, it generally took four to six weeks to get results. Any day now, she might know the truth about her dad.

She was looking at the list again, thinking about the sparse details she knew about the guys, when somebody knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she called, assuming it was finally the anesthesiologist, coming to get Mimi to take her to surgery.

Instead, her aunt Olivia walked in, at least an hour earlier than Caitlin had expected her.

She must have broken some speed limits to get here so quickly.

A weird mix of conflicting emotions churned in her chest at the sight of her aunt. She hadn’t seen her in person since she found Olivia’s journals shortly after finding her mom’s. She’d been dreading this moment, not sure what to say or how to act.

She had always admired Olivia. Her aunt always seemed so cool, so put together, as if she had everything figured out. She worked for some big health business in Seattle and also ran a start-up of her own. She traveled to exciting places; she had a great apartment and super nice friends.

All this time, she thought her aunt loved her. Olivia always sent fun gifts on birthdays and holidays, texted her funny memes she found, used to call her up sometimes, just because. Caitlin had even gone up to stay with her a few times and Olivia had taken her to cool restaurants and clothes stores that weren’t like anything they had here in Cape Sanctuary.

She had loved her right back. In a way, they were more like sisters separated by about fourteen years, since Olivia’s actual mother was Caitlin’s mom, too, in every way that mattered.

Then Caitlin had read her aunt’s diary and discovered everything was a lie. Her aunt didn’t love her. She despised her.

Since then, Caitlin couldn’t shake a terrible sense of betrayal, as if a best friend had humiliated her, stabbed her in the back in front of the entire school.

Olivia didn’t look sharp or put together now, she thought with a small-minded sense of satisfaction she was immediately ashamed of. Right now, her aunt’s eyes looked bloodshot and her hair was in a messy bun that looked more messy than bun. She wore yoga pants and an oversize sweater, and her face was pale and tired looking.

Olivia’s eyes widened when she spotted her and Mimi inside the room. “Oh. You’re still here,” she whispered, with a careful look at the bed where Mimi was sleeping. “The nurse at information who gave me the room number thought Mom might be in surgery already. I’m glad I checked here first.”

Hospital information ought to know where its patients were, Caitlin thought grumpily. She closed her notebook to hide the names there. Her quest to find her father was none of Olivia’s business.

“We’re still here. The anesthesiologist is on his way. You didn’t have to come. I told you that on the phone. I can handle things.”

She cringed inside as she heard her own tone. She sounded like a cranky three-year-old who insisted on crossing the street by herself, without holding a grown-up’s hand.

All of her interactions with Olivia were like this lately. She wanted to sound cool and polite and detached. Instead, she suspected she usually came across petulant and childish.

The words she had read in her aunt’s journal seemed burned into her brain, flashing there like glaring neon signs.

Whiny.

Brat.

Annoying.

Needy.

That had been hard enough. Who would possibly want to read that about themselves?

Worse, though, had been discovering Olivia’s love-hate relationship with Natalie. Olivia’s own sister and Caitlin’s mother.

Her resentment had come across loud and clear on the pages of that journal. She had written about Natalie throwing her life away by having Caitlin, about the terrible choices she was making, about how she could never stay out of trouble.

Okay, Caitlin knew she should never have even looked at the pages of that diary. It had been a serious invasion of Olivia’s privacy. How would she feel if somebody read her teenage diary sometime in the future and judged her for the things she’d written?

In her defense, Caitlin was on a quest to find her dad and had thought maybe her aunt’s diary from that time when Natalie had still been alive might provide valuable information that might help her.

Instead, all she had discovered was exactly how much her aunt had resented her.

As if Caitlin could help the situation. She’d only been a little kid. It wasn’t her fault her mom had been an addict who couldn’t take care of herself or a kid, that she had been in and out of jail and Mimi had to take care of Caitlin or else let her go into foster care.

She wasn’t a brat and she wanted to toss those words at her aunt right now like an ax at one of those throwing clubs.

Why did Olivia have to come back to Cape Sanctuary? They didn’t need her. Mimi wouldn’t want her here, either. Caitlin knew it.

As if Mimi sensed Olivia’s presence, her eyes started to flutter open.

Right now her grandmother looked older than her years. She wasn’t wearing makeup and the few wrinkles that fanned out from her eyes seemed more pronounced.

“Oh. You’re here.”

Mimi’s voice was filled with so much relief and gratitude, Caitlin tried not to feel invisible.

“Hey, Mom.” Olivia went to Mimi’s bedside and stood kind of awkwardly, as if she wasn’t sure whether to hug her or not.

While Caitlin and Olivia used to get along for the most part until she read that diary, she had always been aware that Olivia and Mimi’s relationship was a little funky, as if both of them had a hundred things they wanted to say to each other but could never find the words.

Olivia was never mean to Juliet and vice versa, but they were always überpolite. Kind of like when Caitlin’s friends Allie and Emma got in a huge fight then made up and were way too nice to each other for weeks.

Though she looked kind of out of it from the medication the nurse had given her, Juliet tried to sit up. “I told you not to come. Oh, honey. You must have driven all night.”

“I’m glad I made it before they took you for surgery.”

“I am, too. But you still didn’t need to come.”

Much to Caitlin’s dismay, a tear leaked out of her grandmother’s blue eyes. Juliet reached a trembling hand out, and after an awkward kind of moment, Olivia reached for it and squeezed.

“How are you feeling?”

How did Olivia think she was feeling? Jeez. Juliet had a grand total of four broken bones, including her hip and her ribs.

“I’ve been better,” Juliet said, forcing a smile. “How are you? How was the drive?”

“Good. There’s not a lot of traffic on the interstate at 3:00 a.m.”

Before Juliet could answer, the door opened again. This time it really was the anesthesiologist, Dr. Zane, a really nice middle-aged man who had come in earlier to introduce himself to Mimi and Caitlin. She still wasn’t sure if Zane was his first name or his last. Or maybe he was like Beyoncé or Drake and only needed one name.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked with a kindly smile.

Mimi suddenly looked nervous. “Do I have a choice?”

“Not if you want to heal properly. I’m sorry.”

With a sigh, her grandmother nodded. “I guess I’m ready.” She squeezed Olivia’s hand again then released it, and Olivia stepped away.

“Bye, Mom. I…I love you.”

Caitlin wanted to roll her eyes. It wasn’t really that hard to tell someone going into surgery that you love them, was it?

“I love you, too, my dear.”

“Everything will be fine,” Caitlin said briskly, stepping forward to give Mimi a genuine hug. “You’ll be back on your feet and getting things done at the garden center before you know it.”

Her grandmother hugged her tightly. “You still should have been at school, but I’m glad you’re here, too,” she murmured.

Dr. Zane spent a moment unhooking the bed from the wall, set a chart at the foot of the bed and started wheeling the whole thing out of the room.

“You two can come as far as the door of the surgery unit, if you want,” Dr. Zane said cheerfully. “We have a waiting area for family members that’s closer. You’re welcome to wait there or you can come back here and wait in the room. Either way is fine. The surgeon will find you after she’s done and let you know how things went.”

He pushed Mimi in her bed and they both followed after him like they were in one of those crazy New Orleans funeral processions she’d seen in a documentary once.

After a series of hallways, they reached an area of the hospital with a big sign hanging from the ceiling that said Surgical Suite.

“The waiting area is just through those doors,” Dr. Zane said, pointing. “This shouldn’t take long. Maybe two hours from start to finish. You’ve got plenty of time to go get something to eat, if you need to. We can page you overhead throughout the hospital if we need you.”

They said their goodbyes to Mimi again and the look in her eyes made Caitlin’s stomach hurt all over again.

Mimi looked scared. Really scared. And her grandmother never looked scared.

What if something happened to her during the surgery? She had heard about those things. Yeah, complications were rare, but they did happen.

Dr. Zane scanned his ID badge on a sensor on the wall and a door swung open.

Once he’d pushed Mimi through and the doors swung shut again, Caitlin felt like she was going to throw up.

“Don’t worry,” Olivia said gently. “Mom is tough. She’ll be okay.”

Caitlin was suddenly furious, all the hurt and betrayal and fear tumbling together in her chest into one thick, nasty ball. “What the hell do you know? You’re never here. You don’t even know her. Don’t try to pretend you give a shit what happens to her.”

She stalked off, needing desperately to be alone.

6

OLIVIA

What had she said?

Olivia stared after her niece as Caitlin stomped down the hall.

The girl was a mystery to her lately. She had no idea what was going on behind those hazel eyes. She did know Caitlin seemed to hate her these days. She obviously couldn’t stand to be around Olivia.

That shouldn’t surprise her. Caitlin’s mother hadn’t liked her much, either. After their father died, Natalie had largely ignored her. They had gone from being very close siblings to Natalie caring only about her friends, partying and the men in her life.

Caitlin was following the pattern, either distant and cool or straight-up rude to Olivia.

She didn’t think it was just adolescence. A few months ago, she had asked her mom about Caitlin’s attitude shift, trying to ascertain whether she was showing it to everyone or just to Olivia. Juliet seemed to think she was imagining things.

She took a chair in a corner of the half-full waiting room. The moment she stopped moving, all the nervous energy pushing her onward all night as she drove seemed to trickle away. Suddenly, she was completely exhausted, more tired than she ever remembered feeling.

She closed her eyes, thinking she would only rest them for a moment. The room was warm and soothing music played overhead.

She ought to take the anesthesiologist’s advice and grab something to eat.

It was her last thought for a while.

She dreamed about the happy childhood family she remembered. Juliet, Natalie, Steve. They were having a picnic lunch on Driftwood Beach—Juliet’s best fried chicken and the delicious potato salad she made where she used fresh herbs. It was the Fourth of July. Olivia could tell by the little kids running past with flags and the distant sound of a band playing patriotic music.

She was happy, her heart full as she savored this time with her family. Her dad, tall and handsome, pushed her and Nat on the swings, and they went higher and higher until her toes seemed to touch the clouds.

Then suddenly it was dark and the fireworks were starting. Only they weren’t fireworks. Instead, with whistles and crashing booms, explosions started going off up and down the beach. Juliet screamed and grabbed Olivia, pushing her into the ocean, out of the way of the flames.

Natalie didn’t want to go into the ocean. Her mom tried to call them both but Natalie wouldn’t leave the swings. She kept wanting to go higher and higher, until she and Steve both disappeared into the smoke and fire.

Then, oddly, Olivia’s little dog was somehow there, running into the fire. She tried to go after Otis but she couldn’t move, trapped in the water. Finally, out of nowhere, Cooper Vance appeared. He gave her a long, disappointed look, then took off into the flames after Otis.

Everything she loved. Gone, while she stood by, cowering in the water.

“Wake up. She’s out of surgery.”

Somehow the words pierced the tormented haze of sleep, yanking her out of that place of smoke and fear.

She blinked her eyes open for several seconds, disoriented. It took her several more seconds to register the bright glare of hospital lights and the muted chatter around her.

She found Caitlin standing a couple of feet away, scowling at her.

“What did I miss?”

“You slept like a baby through the whole surgery. Nearly two hours. I can tell you were really worried about your mom.”

She scrubbed at her face and sat up, stung by Caitlin’s sarcasm. Olivia wanted to remind her that she had just driven twelve hours across two states to get here before Juliet went under the knife but suspected it wouldn’t make any difference to Caitlin.

Nothing she did would be right, as far as her niece was concerned.

She also didn’t bother telling her about the week of sleepless nights she had endured since that attack that seemed a lifetime ago and how the cumulative effect of them must have caught up with her in this warm waiting room filled with low voices and calming music.

“Sorry. You said she’s out of surgery?”

“Yes. They called from the operating room and said she would be going back to the same hospital room where she stayed the night for the rest of her recovery time. They said to wait here and the doctor would be out to talk to us, though.”

Olivia still felt bleary-eyed and out of it. She wasn’t at all competent for any discussion with a medical professional right now. She didn’t have much choice, though. She needed to talk to the doctor and she wasn’t about to reveal any sign of weakness to Caitlin, with her current attitude.

“Okay.” She forced a smile. “Thanks.”

She had barely formed the words when a woman approached them. She looked to be in her forties with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and kindly brown eyes. She was tall and appeared elegant, even in scrubs.

“Hi. Caitlin, right? I think we met yesterday.”

“Yes. Hi, Dr. Adeno. How’s my grandmother?”

The woman gave her a reassuring smile but turned to Olivia without answering directly. “Hello. I know I haven’t met you. Are you a family member of Juliet Harper?”

“I’m her daughter. Olivia Harper.”

“All right. Good. I have to check these days, with privacy laws. I’m Dr. Sylvia Adeno. I performed your mom’s orthopedic surgery. Everything went great. As I spoke to your mother about before the surgery, we went ahead and did a total joint replacement because the blood supply to the ball joint was damaged in her fall. In that case, studies have shown that total replacement generally results in fewer complications in the long term. She’s got some fun new hardware.”

Just thinking about it made Olivia’s hips ache in sympathy. Her mother would be miserable.

“How is she? Can we go see her yet?”

“They’ll be taking her to her room shortly and you can join her there. I wanted to speak to you both first about her condition and what her recovery will require.”

“Of course,” Olivia answered. She still didn’t feel quite on her game, but at least she was no longer groggy.

“Juliet has had a very bad fall. She’s lucky to come out of it with only the injuries she had. The concussion is already healing nicely, though she may have lingering side effects for several weeks.”

“We can watch her carefully.”

The doctor paused. “I know your mother. She doesn’t like to sit still for very long, but she’s going to have to be realistic, and it is your job to reinforce that with her. Her recovery is going to take weeks, if not months.”

Not the news Olivia wanted to hear but rather what she suspected, judging by the severity of her mother’s injuries.

“Do you recommend she go to a rehab center during her initial recovery?”

“Can she get around the house in a wheelchair? Into the house and into the bathroom?”

“Some of it. Not all,” Caitlin answered while Olivia was trying to picture her childhood home and envision the possibilities.

“You have to discuss that with her and consider your options, then. If Sea Glass Cottage can be made more accessible, she’ll be able to recover at home.”

“I have a feeling that’s what she would prefer,” Olivia said.

“Of course it is,” Caitlin said. “She would hate having to go to a rehab center. They’re like nursing homes, aren’t they?”

The doctor shrugged. “Not exactly. But close enough that some people see them that way. You don’t have to decide anything about this today. I want to keep her at least a couple of nights for observation. We’ll make sure she has a safe place to go home to before we release her.”

“What about the garden center?” Caitlin asked. “The first thing she’s going to ask when she comes all the way out of anesthesia is when she can go back to work.”

Caitlin apparently knew exactly the way Juliet’s mind worked. Olivia could imagine her mother asking that very question.

“That’s going to be a personal decision. You as her family will need to remind her that work-related stress impedes healing. I would recommend at least three or four weeks away from the garden center and then she can slowly return for light office work only for another month.”

“Two months?” Caitlin exclaimed. “That’s the whole spring! She’ll go crazy!”

“It’s going to be difficult for her, certainly,” Dr. Adeno said. “But if she wants to regain full mobility, she’ll have to face the difficult and deal with it. She might need to find someone else to take over for her, at least for the first few weeks.”

She eyed the two of them. “Perhaps a family member could step up.”

“I can do it,” Caitlin said immediately. “No problem.”

Olivia did her best not to roll her eyes at her fifteen-year-old niece. “You’re still in high school. You can’t miss the last six weeks of school to run Harper Hill Home and Garden.”

“Who else is there? The assistant manager quit a week ago and none of the other employees have been there long enough to know how things work.”

Olivia was aware of the surgeon, watching the conversation with a polite but distracted expression.

“This isn’t really your concern, is it, Dr. Adeno? You’ve done your part in performing the surgery. Thank you for that. It’s up to us now to make sure Juliet gives herself all the time she needs to heal.”

“Excellent. It’s always so much easier for my patients when they have supportive family members. She should be coming out of recovery and heading to her room, if you want to head in that direction. Do you remember where to go?”

“I do,” Caitlin said, looking sour, as usual.

“Thank you,” Olivia said to the surgeon.

“You’re welcome. Juliet is one of my favorite people and has been very kind to me since I moved to Cape Sanctuary. Also, my husband and I love to garden and count on Harper Hill to supply us with everything we need. We need her healthy and strong.”

They all did, Olivia thought as she followed Caitlin along the hallways a few moments later.

The solution was clear. She was going to have to stay, at least through her mother’s initial recovery. Caitlin certainly could not shoulder the burden of running the garden center and going to school at the same time. Knowing Juliet, her mother would hate being sidelined and would probably override any attempts by Caitlin or employees of the garden center to keep her away.

She had already been off since the attack in the coffee shop and would have to call human resources about arranging several more weeks of emergency family leave.

She was already edgy after being in town only a few hours and wasn’t sure she could endure several more weeks.

But her mother needed her help. What choice did she have? She couldn’t abandon Juliet or Caitlin. Olivia might not be able to tackle an armed gunman in a coffee shop. But she could surely manage to put her life on hold for a few weeks in order to help out in a crisis.

JULIET

She flashed in and out of awareness for what felt like a lifetime.

One moment she was with Steve again and they were walking the cliffs on a summer evening with his old dog on a leash.

Another, she was with Natalie in the delivery room, half of her heart aching for her child and the trials she would face as a single mother and the other half overwhelmed with the miracle of life and this tiny, crying little girl.

Then she was laughing with Olivia over a show they used to enjoy together, watching her younger daughter’s face light up with glee as she understood some sophisticated, clever line of dialogue.

She hurt. Everywhere. She heard a whimper and realized it was coming from her.

“I think she might be coming out of it. She’s been moaning in her sleep. Should she be doing that? Is there something else you could give her?”

That sounded like Caitlin’s voice.

“Yes. We can give her more pain meds.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes to see who was speaking. It would hurt too much if she did.

Then a moment later, the tension and pain seemed to flow out of her like the tide receding, and she breathed out, her muscles relaxing.

It took her a long time to come back to full awareness. She didn’t want to. The drugs were lovely. Why would she ever want to leave this place where she was free of pain and fear, heartache and regret?

Eventually, she knew she had to open her eyes, especially when she heard Caitlin and Olivia arguing.

“I’m staying here, Caitlin. I’ve been on the phone with my company and have already made all the arrangements to take leave. I can handle the garden center during the day and work long-distance in the evening for my employer and my own clients.”

“Why? Don’t you think I’m capable? I’ve been helping out at the garden center for years.”

“It’s not a matter of whether you’re capable,” Olivia began.

Juliet wanted to tell her not to bother. When Caitlin was in one of her stubborn moods, there was no debating her. The best thing was simply to move on to another topic and quietly do what you were planning anyway.

She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the room was quiet and she felt a little more clearheaded.

Olivia was sitting beside her. So she hadn’t conjured her in a dream, along with the husband and daughter she had lost.

“You’re really here,” she said, her voice croaking and her throat sore.

Olivia jumped up instantly. “Hi. You’re awake. That’s good. How are you feeling?”

“I’ve had better days.” She cleared away the dryness of her throat. Had she swallowed an entire bag of potting soil?

“The nurse said you could have some ice water when you wake up.”

Olivia retrieved a cup from beside the bed and the liquid trickling down her throat was the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted.

“Where’s Caitlin? Did she go home?”

“I made her go grab some dinner in the cafeteria.”

“She’s a good girl.”

“Yes.”

She sipped more water as snippets she had heard while she was out of it filtered through her head. “Did you…? I thought I heard you tell Caitlin you’re…staying.”

“For now. A few weeks, anyway.”

“You don’t need to do that. I don’t…want to be a burden.”

She had dreaded that most of all after her initial diagnosis, that someday Olivia would hate her for this weakness.

“You’re not a burden. I have everything arranged.”

“What’s…arranged?”

“I’m going to stay in town for now so I can take care of you and help out at the garden center until you’re on your feet again.”

“No.”

The word came out sharp, gruff, and Olivia looked taken aback.

“You don’t have a lot of choices here, Mom. Dr. Adeno says you need to take it easy for at least a month.”

A month! That was impossible. “We’ll be fine.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Will you? Caitlin said there’s no one to run the garden center right now. She, by the way, wants to drop out of tenth grade to take over.”

“That’s ridiculous. She can’t do that. She’s only fifteen.”

“Exactly what I told her.” Olivia studied her closely and Juliet was horribly aware that a tear might be dripping out of her eye. She pulled the scratchy hospital sheet up to wipe at it until Olivia handed her a tissue off the bedside table.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“It’s the medication, I’m sure.”

She nodded, though she knew it wasn’t the medication. She was feeling sorry for herself. She couldn’t really think straight, but she did know she didn’t want to be in this hospital bed and didn’t want to be dependent for help on a daughter who already seemed to resent her so much.

“You don’t have to stay,” she said again. “We can…figure something out.”

“It’s done. You don’t have to figure anything out.” Olivia’s voice was gentle. “Your job right now is to focus on healing. Those are the orders from Dr. Adeno. She’s quite fierce.”

She closed her eyes as another tear dripped out. She wasn’t even sad, really, just upset and emotional. “You hate the garden center.”

Surprise widened Olivia’s eyes. “What makes you say that? I don’t hate it.”

“You resent it, anyway. Or at least the time I spent there after your father died.”

What a horrible time that had been. Another tear dripped out. She had loved the man with all her heart, had loved their life and their daughters and taking care of all of them.

Then Steve had run into a burning building and hadn’t come out alive, and she had been left with all of it. The garden center, the house, two troubled girls, then Caitlin just a year later.

Their finances had been a mess. She’d only discovered it after Steve’s death. The business had been deeply in debt, the house heavily mortgaged. She was afraid they would lose everything and she and the girls would be on the streets.

She had been wholly unprepared for the challenge of taking over the family business. Steve had run everything and she had been content to let him. They had divided their family responsibilities down traditional lines. He had been provider, protector, while she had been in charge of the home front, stepping in to help run the cash register during busy times of year, yes, and being involved in some garden design projects, but that was all.

She had loved their life. She had loved preparing healthy, nutritious meals for her family, creating a home they had all wanted to return to. She had taken every opportunity to volunteer in her daughters’ classrooms, from home mother to field trip chaperone, even traveling with Natalie’s choir group on a memorable visit to Washington, DC.

She wanted to think she’d been a good mother. At least a loving one.

Then Steve had died and 100 percent of the responsibilities had fallen on her. In the midst of that, just six months after Steve died, Natalie had come to tell her she was pregnant and keeping the baby.

It had taken everything she had to keep her sanity hanging by the tiniest thread. As a result, she had neglected her youngest child horribly.

She told herself it was all right. Olivia had been the strong one, the one whose report card was always perfect and who had friends around her and who seemed to make good choices all the time.

Juliet had failed her, maybe more than she had failed anyone else in her life. The worst part was, she didn’t know how to fix it. Instead of healing the tiny cracks that had formed in their relationship, she had opted to ignore them, hoping they would fix themselves. Instead, they had grown into huge gaping fissures.

“I’m sorry,” she said now, another tear dripping onto her pillow.

Olivia squeezed her fingers and Juliet wanted to hold on tight and not let go. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It was an accident. You don’t need to worry about this right now. Just do your best to rest. Sleep while you can. Do you need more pain meds?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll get the nurse.”

“Thank you. I am glad you’re here, Olivia. Thank you for taking care of Caitlin.”

Her granddaughter came into the room just in time to hear that last comment. “I’m fifteen years old. I don’t need a babysitter, Mimi.”

The familiar nickname soothed her. “I know. You’re right.”

The nurse came in and bustled around, checking her IV and taking her vital signs.

“You’re doing great. Everything looks normal,” she said. Then she pushed a syringe full of medicine into the IV line. “This will help take the edge off. Don’t hesitate to call during the night if you need more pain relief. Stay on top of the pain and your body will thank you, trust me.”

Some pain was too big to climb, like trying to scale a steep mountain face alone in a blizzard.

She couldn’t even take the first step right now and decided to sleep instead.

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