The knock on the door reminded her of the work she should’ve been doing. Thankfully, she wasn’t nervous. She found these initial conversations easy to navigate. She told prospective clients about her business, she listened to what they needed, gave them some ideas on how she could help, and then she usually followed up with an estimated breakdown of services and costs.

It was based off of the work she’d done at the hotel—work she’d been very good at. She only hoped the nearly dying thing didn’t cramp her style today. Would she even be able to concentrate?

She walked to the door and smoothed her blue sundress, straightening her white jean jacket and noticing her toenails needed to be repainted already.

As was customary, she whispered a silent Help me nail this one, Lord, and opened the door, surprised to find two men in blue uniforms on the other side.

Cody Boggs and a man she didn’t recognize.

“What are you doing here?” she asked without thinking.

A surprised expression washed over the other man’s face, and Louisa quickly pivoted.

“I mean, if you’re here to check up on me again, I really am fine. I have nothing but high praise for the Coast Guard in the wake of my accident.”

“Louisa—”

“I know you guys have an image problem on the island, but you won’t hear a negative word from me. In fact, you won’t hear anything from me. I just got a request to talk with a very popular blogger here on the island, and I turned her down.” Why am I still talking? “I don’t need to share the gory details of my stupid mistake, but if you need me to help make you guys look better, I can try to figure out a way to do that without tanking my own reputation. Or telling my father what happened.”

Both men were frowning now.

“Louisa, this is Master Chief Duncan McGreery.”

“You brought the master chief? Was that really necessary?”

“We aren’t here to talk about the accident,” the master chief said. “May we come in?”

“I have a meeting; I’m sorry.”

“I set up the meeting with your assistant. Or your business partner?” The man smiled warmly. “Alyssa Martin?”

Louisa pulled out her phone and opened the calendar, realizing she really should’ve made that—and not McKenzie Palmer’s email—her priority for the morning. “You’re my nine o’clock?”

The master chief’s smile held tight. Meanwhile, Cody’s expression could only be described as terse.

“I’m sorry. I misunderstood.” No matter how many times she made a fool of herself, it never got any easier.

“May we come in?” the master chief asked again.