She tried not to think about it as she drove through town, down Beach Street, past Children’s Beach. She arrived at the station, parked, and went inside. She found a few of the guys in the common area.

“Louisa!” Carlos Delgado, one of the guys from the auction, grinned at her.

“Hey, Carlos.” She looked around the station, growing sadder by the minute. “You haven’t seen Cody, have you?”

Carlos frowned. “Oh. He’s gone. Didn’t you know?”

The other guys were staring at her now, and she wondered if she appeared as frantic and frazzled as she felt. “I heard he might be back.”

They exchanged glances and shrugs across the room.

“Sorry; we haven’t seen him,” Carlos said. “If he shows up, do you want me to tell him you stopped by?”

Louisa felt like the air had been sucked straight out of her lungs. Was she suffocating? Was she back underwater, just one wave away from certain death?

“Louisa?”

She shook the memory away, angry that it still haunted her at all. But losing him felt a lot like flailing around in that water. It felt a lot like drowning.

“Sorry,” she said. “No, you don’t have to tell him anything.”

“Okay. Have a good night.” They resumed their chatter, and the sound of laughter filled the space behind her as she walked toward the door.

It was almost like walking in slow motion through quicksand, knowing that her own choices were the reason she was here. She’d pushed him away—she’d given up her second chance. Did she really feel entitled to a third?

She stepped outside into the darkness, the moon casting a yellowish hue over the ocean, over the lighthouse. The memory of her own laughter mixing with Cody’s echoed through her mind. They’d loved each other so wholly, yet they’d given up so easily.

She’d spent years wishing for—praying for—a second chance. How could she have discarded it with such ease? And why? Because there were challenges to overcome?

She walked in the shadows toward the lighthouse, as if it beckoned her over in spite of her sorrow. She’d been meant to spend her birthday right in that very spot, and now here she was—alone.

That cruel realization stung.

The night was warm, but there was a breeze coming off the ocean. The sound of the waves drew her in. Louisa loved this island. She’d loved and lost here on these shores. She found Cody’s number in her phone. She opened a new text message and was instantly reminded her last three messages had gone unanswered. She almost clicked it off without texting, but something stopped her.

Quickly, before she changed her mind, she typed, Happy birthday! and hit Send.

Seconds later, she saw a light just a few yards away.