The bright sunny day that greeted her made her grateful to live in such a beautiful place. After she decided to stay permanently on Gansett, she’d worried about being bored. However, she’d been anything but bored. With Grant’s big family nearby and their wide circle of friends, there was always something going on, even in the winter when the tourists had gone home.

She’d loved her first full winter on the island, during which she’d kept the restaurant open only on the weekends and had spent the rest of the time hunkered down with Grant while he worked on the screenplay about her efforts to get Charlie freed from jail. For months, she’d cautiously avoided his frequent attempts to pin her down on a wedding date by changing the subject or evading the questions. He’d never pushed her, but she could tell that her refusal to discuss it had hurt him on more than one occasion.

It was such a relief to know she no longer had to dodge the issue. They’d talked through all of her fears and set a date. She was going to marry Grant in a few short weeks. The thought set off a wave of giddy laughter as she pulled into her stepfather’s driveway, where he was cutting the grass. As he was wearing only a pair of shorts, his impressive physique was on full display. He had muscles on top of muscles, which came from the time he’d spent in prison with nothing to do but work out for several hours a day.

Seeing her there, he turned off the mower and used a bandanna to wipe the sweat from his face. He bent to pick up the T-shirt he’d tossed on the grass and put it back on. “Hey there. What brings you out so early?”

“I wanted to see my dad. Is that allowed?”

“Always. I could use a cold one. Join me?”

“Lead the way.” She followed him into the small house he rented from Ned Saunders. He’d intended the rental to be temporary until he figured out a plan for life after prison. Like so many others who’d come to Gansett, that life had found him, and she was thrilled to have him close by. The first thing she noticed inside the house was the vase of artfully arranged flowers on his kitchen table. “Nice flowers.”

“Oh, thanks. Sarah picked them from the garden.”

“How is Sarah?”

“Good, as you know. You saw her yesterday.”

Stephanie smiled at him as she accepted the glass of lemonade he’d poured for her.

“I’m actually glad you came by,” he said. “I was going to call you today to tell you I’ll be off the island for the next week or so.”

“Where’re you going?”

“To Virginia with Sarah and Owen. Her ex-husband is going on trial for beating her up last fall.”