She had a little money left over. Not a ton, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Lisa needed a loan. The restaurant industry was infamously tough. It wouldn’t be a loan, though. She would never ask for it back.

“Keep an open mind.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re still checking things off that list,” Lisa explained. “It’s just that the list has changed. You went through something horrible and you’ve got a plan for how to get through it. Tell me your therapist didn’t mention a change of scenery.”

Oh, she had. “I don’t think she meant for me to take it this far. She was talking about a vacation or a retreat for a couple of months.”

“But you like to do things big,” Lisa pointed out. “Lila Daley doesn’t do anything halfway. You throw yourself in one hundred percent. You take over and get the job done, but this isn’t a job. This is your life, and I think you made the right choice coming here. I think if you’d stayed in Dallas, you would have eventually found another Brock and gotten back on your path. You might have changed hospitals, but you wouldn’t have essentially changed your life.”

“I assure you my life changed.” She could barely sleep through the night without dreaming about it. “I didn’t need to do anything to have my entire life turned around but go to work and be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was spontaneous.”

“No.” Lisa shook her head vigorously. “That was planned. He’d planned to kill her for years, and you know it. That wasn’t your fault and I pray you figure that out soon or I worry you’ll let your life slip by and you won’t ever know the truth.”

“What’s the truth?”

Lisa leaned toward her, eyes shining. “That you are worthy of love, sister. That you deserve every bit of happiness you can find. That it’s time to let go, to find that person who can lift you up the way you always did for me and Laurel and Will. Somewhere along the way you forgot that you need support, too, and I’m going to be here for you.”

Emotion welled hard and fast, but she shoved it down. This was too much after an already rough day. “How about you help me find something to eat in this town?”

A smile lit up her sister’s face. “That I can do.”

Lisa started talking about the new foods to try, and Lila prayed she got through the night. Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow she could leave all the emotional crap behind and get to work.

Tomorrow her new life began.

•   •   •