Emma swallowed hard, doing everything within her power not to well up with tears. It was the first time anyone really gave words to her thoughts.”I’m so sorry that happened to you,” was all that she could choke out. Janine met her eyes for a long moment, and it was obvious that she was already aware of the fact that Emma was hiding her own trauma.

“Thank you. I went through a lot of therapy, and I still have to go at times, but I’m a lot better now. I found that pushing it down all of those years just made me miserable. Sometimes, those things that we try to keep in the dark start to eat away at our souls. As soon as we bring them out into the light, they dissipate. They lose their power. And that allowed me to get my power back.”

Emma smiled. “I’m happy for you. Now, why don’t we have that cup of coffee? I thought this machine would never finish brewing!”

As she hurried to pour the cups of coffee and stop the conversation, Emma couldn’t help but feel great relief that she had met Janine. Even though she never planned to tell her what was causing her so much pain, it was nice to know that she had someone who truly understood what she was going through.

Julie, Meg and Colleen walked up the pathway toward the lighthouse. They could’ve driven Julie’s car, but today there were already so many cars on the island going to the lighthouse opening. In fact, Julie couldn’t believe how many vehicles were passing them on the gravel road. Normally, it was very rare to see another car moving on this road, but she realized she’d better get used to some level of traffic now that the lighthouse was open.

They had intended to go on the first tour of the day, but Julie was so exhausted between work and wedding planning for Meg that she just didn’t have it in her. Plus, Vivi had spent the night with her and had kept the whole household up. Apparently Dawson had slipped her way too much sugar after dinner time.

“I can’t believe how many people are here!” Colleen said, looking ahead of them at the parking lot adjoining the lighthouse property.

“It’s kind of sad. I don’t really want this many people on the island all the time,” Julie said.

“Maybe it will be good business for the inn,” Meg said, always choosing to look at the bright side.

“So Christian is taking Vivi on a little daddy daughter date?” Julie asked.

“Yes. I think they are going to the park and then to get ice cream. And I have to admit that I’m glad to get a little time off today.”

“How’s work going?” Colleen asked.

“It’s fine. I enjoy working at the college, but I’m not sure it’s where I want to be long-term. We’ll see.”