Of course. She’d been stupid to hope that he’d come on his own, that he was genuinely interested in her well-being, that he cared. He didn’t care about her—he’d put her out of his mind (and his life) ages ago.

Because she’d been foolish. She’d run him out. That was the truth of it. She might as well have pushed him off a cliff and straight into another dimension. And to think there had been a time she was certain they’d know each other forever.

Funny thing, that. The silly notions of a teenage girl.

The front door opened, and she saw his expression change. There was no sign of the easygoing kid Cody had been. Instead, there was a man who seemed neat and orderly and controlled and without any personality whatsoever. But she also saw a man who did not want to come face-to-face with the past. And she and Maggie represented the past.

“We’re having lobster rolls, and I don’t want to hear another—” Maggie stopped short at the sight of Cody, who now stood (at attention?) in the living room.

Louisa couldn’t help but admire him in that uniform. He made that thing look good. He’d always been a good-looking kid, but this adult version was a whole other level of handsome.

Never mind the tight line that seemed permanently etched in his forehead.

“Oh, my.” Ally practically sighed the words as she drank in the sight of the man in Louisa’s living room. “You’re even more beautiful than Louisa said.”

Louisa shot her a Shut up! look, but Ally seemed not to notice. Her friend was on a roll today.

Cody also seemed unfazed by the comment. Not a great sign, though she supposed he couldn’t break character when he’d committed so fully to playing the angry military man.

Maggie stood a full foot shorter than him, but somehow her presence almost seemed larger. She took him in—all six feet, two inches of him, if Louisa had to guess—then shook her head. “Well, look who it is.”

He gave her a stern nod. “Maggie.”

Louisa knew that just would not do. Not for Maggie.

“You decided to come back to Nantucket, and you didn’t even look me up? How am I supposed to not be offended by that?”

He shifted.

“No hug for your favorite aunt?” Maggie set her grocery bags on the floor.

Cody looked like a sturdy wall that someone was pulling apart, brick by brick.

And that someone was Maggie Fisher.

She stepped toward him, arms open, and he rigidly allowed her to hug him. It was almost painful to watch because the levels of affection seemed to be so mismatched.

Louisa and Alyssa exchanged a quick glance, and Louisa wondered if her friend was hoping for a turn in Cody’s arms.