Her dad’s voice echoed in her ear—louder this time—and rightfully so. She should’ve listened. She should’ve—whack. Another wave, this one bringing with it a mouthful of water. She spit it out and struggled back to her board, barely latching on to it as the current kicked up again.

She coughed, white-knuckling the paddleboard and scanning the shore, the horizon, the open sea.

Nothing.

That was when she began to realize she might actually be in danger. That was when she thought, I could die out here.

Who would handle the Timmons anniversary party if she died? How would she ever show Eric she was completely over him—even though, in reality, she wasn’t sure she was? Who would water that stupid houseplant her mother had sent over from Valero and Sons “because you need practice keeping something alive if you’re ever going to have children”?

She wanted to have children, so she needed to make sure that plant lived.

She draped her torso over the paddleboard and tried not to think about sharks. She tried to think about something happier.

Beaches on Nantucket Close after at Least a Dozen Shark Sightings. It was the headline of an article she’d stumbled across online only two weeks prior. Were the sharks gone? Were they circling her at that exact moment?

And then, all of a sudden, the image of a smiling Daniel Boggs flittered through her mind.

Is this how you felt, Mr. Boggs?

That image had no business haunting her, not now when she’d been doing so well. But a wave tossed her forward, and she barely managed to hold on to the board, so she closed her eyes and prayed.

Because right about now, she needed a miracle.

Mr. Boggs had probably prayed for the same thing and look how that had turned out.

Maybe this was what she deserved. Maybe this was payback for what she’d done. Maybe this was God’s way of reminding her that actions had consequences.

Actions like not wearing a life vest. Or breaking someone’s heart.

She’d been working how many years to try to make amends for her mistakes? Would it ever be enough? Would forgiveness ever come?

It occurred to her that on normal days she was excellent at pushing these thoughts away. In fact, most days she didn’t even have to work at it.

Apparently being faced with the end of one’s life resulted in this. A deep dive into all the things she’d been successfully avoiding. As if there weren’t more important things to be thinking about. Like staying alive.

If only she had a single clue how to do that.