She dragged her single suitcase behind her, aware how pathetic it was that at the age of thirty-one, she could fit nearly everything important to her in one suitcase—and it wasn’t even the largest one in the set her grandmother had sent when she graduated from college nine years ago.

She heaved a sigh and moved with the flow of foot traffic as tourists flooded off the ferry and onto the street. When she was a girl, this was the moment she looked forward to all year long—the moment her flip-flops hit the cobblestones, the moment she and her mom arrived in Nantucket.

So much had changed.

As she watched Andrew’s red-and-yellow backpack disappear into the crowd, she said a quick prayer that his days in Nantucket were filled with nothing but good things—lobster boils and fish fries, giant ice cream cones from the Juice Bar and long, sun-kissed days at Jetties Beach.

She wished for him all the things she would’ve held on to if Nantucket hadn’t been ruined for her all those years ago.

And suddenly, she wasn’t so sure she actually could do hard things.

But she was about to find out.

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A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

DEAR READER,

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I want you to know how much you mean to me. Knowing how many books there are for you to choose from, it humbles and amazes me that you would choose to spend time reading one of mine. It means the absolute world to me.

I think one of the best things about being an author has been getting to know many of you—I’ve met some of you in real life, and many are simply “online friends,” but you all make my days brighter, and I’m grateful to you for that.

As seems to be a theme in many of my stories, forgiveness plays a large part in this one. Maybe it’s because it’s something I’m constantly striving to get right, or it’s an area of my life that needs regular care and attention. Either way, it’s a lesson worth keeping at the forefront of my mind, and I hope that maybe you can relate as Cody and Louisa grapple with their past mistakes, the guilt and shame they still feel over what they’ve done.

And I especially hope the unconditional love and sacrifice Cody in particular experienced resonates with you and that you know in your soul that you are equally as loved.