“Well, Elodie,” he said, turning back to her. “You drive a hard bargain. I’ll think about it. But I warn you: You take this seafaring fella to the big city at your own risk.”

Bart ambled over to them, impatient and needing attention. Tito waved a stick and tossed it, sending him dashing back toward the water.

If she was going to really go for it—change her life, figure out a way to work remotely, travel back and forth so she could have her relationship and her company—she had to know if it was for real. If he was going to stick around. One way to test that was to share the worst part of herself.

And so she told him. About her manipulations all summer. The lie about her intention to open a shop in town. About Liam. About Paulina. About the family infighting and decades of resentment. About how she took it all out on her niece, shutting her out and, maybe worst of all, tainting her memory of her father.

He listened calmly. Silently. When she was done talking, he said simply, “You can fix this.”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. But she knew she had to try. As long as she was fighting with her sister and her niece, the wounds of the past would never be healed. And they would all suffer because of it.

“Do you think terribly of me?” she said, feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever felt before. Sitting on that spit of sand, surrounded by water and with the taste of salt in her mouth and the wind in her face, it was as if her entire life had led to that moment.

“Of course not. How could I?” he said, his gaze soft. “I love you, Elodie.”

Her heart swelled. He moved his egg crate closer to her, pulling her into his arms. She felt herself losing her balance, but he kept her steady.

“I love you, too,” she said. And then, “Tito, if I do move in with you—or, at the very least, spend a lot more time out here—what would I do about my work?”

“Well,” he said, seeming to ponder this. “A very clever businesswoman I happen to know said recently that this town needs a high-end jewelry shop . . .”

Gemma wiped perspiration from her forehead, climbing the stairs to Lidia’s front deck.

It felt like the entire town had descended on the marina. The line for boat rentals stretched almost to the street and there was a crowded queue of people waiting to board the seal tour boat. Behind the house, Manny and a few other men were repairing a pontoon. Carnival week was just around the corner and the streets and shops were already at maximum capacity.