He took off in the other direction, Captain chasing after him for a few seconds before reversing course to return to them. Despite her wet clothes and the cold coiling around her, she bent when Captain neared and buried her fingers in his warm fur, letting him lick her face before standing again and readjusting the blanket around her shoulders.

When she rose, it was to see Neil’s blue-gray eyes pinned on her, his scrutiny tinged with a sort of curious realization.

“You really don’t know.” His voice was soft and low. “This isn’t just a free vacation to you. Or a game.”

“Definitely not a game.” She tugged the blanket tighter. “I just want to know who I am.”

“Well . . . I hope you find out.”

If he’d said those same words Sunday evening, she was certain he wouldn’t have meant them. But tonight, with twilight draping the landscape around them in misty shadows, it was different. He was different.

They started walking again, picking their way through the trees, toward splotches of light from the house on the other side.

“Are you going to work on the treehouse tonight?”

Captain raced ahead as Neil shook his head. “Probably not tonight. Not really sure what kind of frame of mind Indi will be in, but in case she wants to talk . . .”

Oh, yes, about the no-show fiancé. She gave Neil a sidelong glance, took in the concern wrinkling his brow. “It was nice—what you did back there. Taking the attention off her, I mean. Getting everyone to go running into the ocean.”

He didn’t respond.

“Lilian said you’re the reason Indi was able to open her store. And Maggie told me one of the reasons you didn’t go to college was because you knew Lilian would eventually want to go to law school. You wanted there to be money for that.”

“When did my family members get so talkative?”

She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “I’m trying to say you’re obviously a good brother to them. You should give them a chance to be good sisters to you.”

He slowed, the breeze lifting his hair. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Cecil from the newspaper said something today about the farm going downhill.”

His gaze narrowed. “It’s not going downhill. What would Cecil know about the farm anyway?”