She walked over to her desk, opened the top drawer, and found her book of stamps. She peeled one off and stuck it to the corner of the envelope. As she walked out, and before she changed her mind, she left the envelope in the mailbox with the flag up, made her way to her Vespa, tucked away the items she needed for her presentation, and headed off in the direction of Brant Point.

There was only the slightest niggle of concern that she’d made a mistake, but that wasn’t too hard to ignore since her choice was easy to justify.

She pulled up in front of the station at the same time Ally arrived, thankfully double-fisting disposable cups from Island Coffee.

“You’re my hero,” Louisa said, taking one of the cups.

“Coconut milk latte, one packet of stevia.” Alyssa’s smile faded. “You look like you could use it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Are you sleeping?”

“Not well.” They walked toward the door, Louisa’s nerves dancing a jig in her belly. “Not at all.”

“Lou.” Ally put a hand on Louisa’s arm to stop her.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “I’ve just been restless.”

“You almost died, Louisa,” Ally said. “You might need help processing some of that.”

Louisa didn’t want to think about it. She wasn’t about to tell Ally that the accident was only part of what kept her up at night.

The door opened and Cody stood at the top of the stairs. There was the other part.

Cody hadn’t opened the door because he saw them standing out there—that was obvious by the look on his face—but now here they were, staring at each other.

At her side, Alyssa let out a barely audible sigh.

“Hey.” Cody wore his uniform today, and for a split second Louisa thought perhaps they should’ve gone with Ally’s calendar idea.

Ally gave her arm a shove.

“Hi,” Louisa said.

They moved toward the door. Cody stepped out of the way to let them through, and as she passed, she inhaled the unfamiliar scent of him. Manly, clean, woodsy. She liked it. When she’d known him all those years ago, he mostly smelled like sunblock, summer, and the ocean.

She’d liked that too.

But it also set her nerves on edge. He set her nerves on edge.

How was she supposed to be professional with him staring at her? And he would stare—that’s what he did. He watched with such dark intensity she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.

Not that she really wanted to know. But oh, how she wanted to know.

“We’ve got you all set up in here,” he said without even a hint of expression.

By contrast, Master Chief Duncan McGreery walked into the room with that wide smile that made Cody look like a grumpy old man.