He half listened as Louisa chatted—something about asking Deborah if she or Manny would like to say a few words before awards were handed out—but mostly he was focused on her. Her eyes flickered so brightly as she seemed to forget everyone else around them and paid attention only to the two people standing in front of her.

When they walked away, Louisa glanced at him, brow quirked in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “You have no idea how good you are at this.”

Her laugh sounded nervous. “At what?”

“At your job,” he said. “It’s more than just work for you, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah. That was the whole reason I started this business. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. To create experiences for them. I never expected to be planning a fundraiser like this, but it suits me, I think.”

“Yeah, it really does.”

Her eyes scanned the crowd, then landed on her parents, across the lawn. “I wonder if they’ll ever think so.”

He moved to block her view of Warren and JoEllen. “It doesn’t matter, Louisa. You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing in exactly the right place to do it. Of course you struck out on your own—you wanted to do work that mattered.” He paused until he was sure he had her full attention. “And I believe in you. Maybe that can be enough for a while?”

Her lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”

He inhaled the smell of sunshine in her hair and vowed to find ways to show her how special she was.

Letter in Louisa’s mailbox the day after the regatta:

Louisa,

Thanks for sailing with me. Turns out we still make a pretty great team. Enclosed is a check for half of what you paid at the Coastie auction. I know you won’t want to take it, but I want to contribute to Jackson’s fundraiser. Let me, okay?

PS—I’m on the way to the station, but I hardly slept last night. Couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. When can we do it again?

Love,

Cody

Jackson Wirth died on Tuesday night. His parents made the hardest decision of their lives and took him off life support. His body lasted twenty-two minutes on its own, and then the boy was gone.

The funeral was two days later, and Louisa accompanied nearly all of the Coast Guardsmen who were stationed at Brant Point. That night, the whole of Nantucket launched paper lanterns over the ocean in his honor, an idea spearheaded by Louisa Chambers.

And Cody fell even more in love with her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE