I regret so deeply the way I ended things between us. I wish I’d had the presence of mind to lay out the situation and discuss it more rationally, but I was in survival mode. I couldn’t think of anything beyond putting one foot in front of another.

There isn’t a lot I regret, but I do regret that.

Love,

K xx

While Blair slept, I had breakfast with Grace and returned with the key to his cottage. When he woke, I gave it to him so he could make himself at home next door, then I cooked scrambled eggs while he filled me in on the flight and asked for more details about the stalker.

Blair shoved a quivering piece of egg into his mouth and scowled. “If I get my hands on this guy….”

“You won’t do anything because your loving sister would hate to see you get into trouble.”

He grumbled, and then continued eating. I sipped a mug of herbal tea and waited until he was finished.

“Would you like to go for a walk around town?”

“You’re on.” He took his plate to the kitchen and rinsed it off. “Just give me five minutes to get ready.”

I grinned, pleased that some things never changed. Even though Blair had already showered and adorned himself with a new set of tattered black jeans and a T-shirt advertising his own band, he’d no doubt want to primp his hair and touch up his eyeliner. He didn’t like to go out looking anything other than 100 percent. It worked for him though. Women and men flocked to him. Whenever I’d gone to one of his band’s gigs, I’d seen him sneak off home with someone afterward.

He emerged a few minutes later with everything just so. I led him out of the cottage, keyed in the code, and locked the door behind us.

“I’m glad you’ve had better security put in,” he said as we walked down the path to the road.

“Liam did it.”

“Oh.” He seemed taken aback. “That was good of him.”

We wandered along the footpath and turned onto Centennial Street. The Colonial-style buildings looked more yellow than usual in the warm sun, and groups of tourists clustered on the pavement, some of them spilling onto the road. While cars could drive through here, many chose to park at the edges and walk in. Destiny Falls was a pedestrian-friendly town.

“When was the town built?” Blair asked. “It looks like they’ve kept a lot of the original architecture.”