“Do you have someone special in your life?”

Emma shook her head. “I used to. But it didn’t work out.”

She prayed that Janine didn’t ask any additional questions about her personal life since she really hadn’t prepared any answers. But Janine struck her as someone who had been through her share of dark moments, and she felt an immediate kinship with her for some reason.

“I’m really blessed to have my boyfriend, William. I went through a lot of relationships that were definitely not good for me.”

“I understand how that is. My last boyfriend was a wonderful man, but there was just too much water under the bridge. A lot of memories that I would rather forget, if you know what I mean.”

Why was she opening up? Why was she starting to say things that were only going to lead people to ask more questions about her past?

“Well, enough talk about that sort of thing,” Janine said, smiling. “Do you have any family that will be coming to see the lighthouse?”

“No, not really. The only family I ever really had was my grandmother and my mother, and they’ve both passed away. So, it’s just me.”

Janine looked at her, a compassionate expression on her face. “Well, what you’ll learn about Seagrove is that we all become family. No matter what your background, you are going to be enveloped by the wonderful people of this area.”

Emma smiled. “I hope so. This is the first time I’ve ever just moved away to someplace where I don’t know anyone. But eventually I think I’d really like that sense of community.”

Janine reached across the counter and patted her on the hand. “I know it’s hard to start over somewhere new. I felt that way even though I had family here when I arrived. We were all pretty estranged at that point. But you’re going to do great here.”

“It’s hard to imagine that you had any kind of fracture in your relationship with your sister.”

Janine chuckled under her breath. “Oh, that was a work in progress for a very long time. But now we’re good. She’s my best friend.”

“I have a best friend back home. Her name is Caroline. She keeps begging me to come back.”

“Do you regret moving here?”

“No. I feel peaceful here for the first time in a long time. I mean I still have my moments…” She had almost said too much. What was she thinking? If she started mentioning nightmares, Janine was surely going to ask more questions.

“Look, I understand when we have things in our past that are dark and upsetting, it’s really hard to start a new life. I was attacked a few years ago when I was teaching yoga on an island. I didn’t tell anyone what happened, and I tried to keep it hidden. But, over time, all it did was separate me further and further from my loved ones. And they thought I was doing things for one reason when it was really because I had this severe trauma I was keeping a secret.”