The time-weathered pier had been here many years. Had Kate walked out here on nights like this, taking a moment to be alone and think? Had she stood in this very spot after her affair had ended, wondering how to tell Burke—or whether to tell him at all? Had she come here to face her cancer diagnosis and to contemplate the end of her life?

Tonight Allison could almost feel Kate’s presence. But she didn’t believe in ghosts—not her mother’s, not Kevin’s, or any of the other people she’d known and lost. Kate was gone, leaving only her husband, her daughter, and those blessed, cursed letters as a challenge to the woman who would take her place.

She shivered under her jacket. It was time to go back. Would Burke be waiting by the back door to scold her for going off and worrying him? But no, tonight he would avoid any confrontation that could arise from his having called her by the wrong name.

She entered by the back door to discover that she’d been right. The den was empty, the TV silent. At the foot of the stairs, she saw that Burke’s door was closed, with no light showing through the crack underneath.

Limping on her twisted ankle, she climbed the stairs to her room and the solitary king-size bed. There would be no letter from Kate to read tonight. Except for the one that was sealed, she had read them all. Now she was on her own.

* * *

Brianna was driving to work the next morning when she got the phone call from the dean at Northwestern. Pulse racing, she pulled off the road and switched off the engine to take the call.

“Thanks for getting back to me so soon,” she said. “As I told you, I need to know about my readmission as soon as possible.”

“I understand.” The dean, a middle-aged woman, was pleasant but not warm. “I got to work this morning with a little time to spare, so I read through your application. Unfortunately . . .” The woman paused. Brianna’s heart sank.

“Unfortunately,” the dean continued, “your grades aren’t high enough to compete with the new students who are applying every day. A B-plus average would be good enough to keep you in school if you were already here. But it’s not good enough to get you readmitted—especially since you were barely passing most of your classes before you dropped out this fall. I’m sorry. I know it’s a disappointment. But there are other colleges.”