In a flash, Louisa was back on that boat, touching Cody’s T-shirt, inhaling the scent of his aftershave, hearing the sound of the birds, and wondering how it might taste if he brought his lips to hers.

“Just one,” Louisa said.

“Just you and Cody?” Her mother’s expression had turned troubled.

Louisa nodded.

“How is he?”

Beautiful. Kind. Muscular. Handsome. Strong. Gorgeous. Broken. “Fine, I guess.”

“Is he speaking to you?”

“We’re working on the regatta together, Mother,” Louisa said, realizing they were veering wildly off course. “Hey, do you know anything about that memorial someone put up for Daniel?”

“The cross?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Louisa eyed her mother.

“I mean, I know it exists.”

“Do you know who put it there?”

Her mother shrugged. “How would I?”

“You and Dad were his closest friends.”

“That was a long time ago. Maybe Marissa had it installed. Or Cody?”

“They didn’t.”

Her mother shifted. She looked uncomfortable. Did she have something to hide?

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out an apple, then found a cutting board and knife and started slicing. She’d eat it with sharp cheddar cheese, same way she had when Louisa was a girl. It was a JoEllen delicacy Louisa had never cared for.

She liked her cheese on crackers and her apples with peanut butter.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to be anything like her mother.

“Cody found something on the back of the cross,” she said cautiously, scrutinizing her mother’s every move.

Mom glanced up mindlessly but continued cutting. “And?”

“It was a note for his dad.”

Her mother stopped cutting.

“It was addressed to Danny.”

“Danny?”

Louisa nodded. “Danny.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Did you leave the note, Mom?”

“I did not,” she said. “Other people on this island knew Daniel Boggs. Maggie, for instance.”

“Maggie knows nothing about it,” Louisa said. “And to my knowledge, she never called him Danny.”

Mom set the knife down and gave Louisa her full attention. “What do you really want to ask me, Louisa?”

Louisa’s palms had gone cold. Was she really about to accuse her mother of having an affair? “Were you sleeping with Cody’s dad?”

Apparently yes, she was going to accuse her mom of having an affair.

Her mother gasped. “No, I was not.”

Well, shoot, Louisa actually believed her.

“Daniel and I dated very casually before we met Marissa and Warren. I was the one who set them up, if you’ll remember.”

“I know the story,” she said. “But nobody else called him Danny.”

“Lots of people called him Danny,” Mom said. “People he worked with. His boss. Your father. Maggie even called him that now and then.”

“I never heard anyone but you call him that.”

“How do you remember back that far, Louisa? It’s been ages, and you were young.” She found the cheddar in the fridge, took it out, and began hacking at it.