She stepped out of her small, compact car and shut the door. Surprisingly, it had gotten her here all the way from Nashville, although there was that moment near Knoxville where she thought the wheel might pop off. Thankfully, it turned out to be a pothole in the road, but it sure gave her quite a shock.

Emma Mackenzie had spent her life taking care of people, first her sick mother and then her dysfunctional grandmother. Now, she was responsible for this huge lighthouse, and it would be impossible to hide her imperfections when she was the one guiding strangers through the tall building day after day.

Sure, she could’ve said no to this job, but when her old friend had told her about it, she’d been intrigued. After all, her previous line of work was nothing like this. Every day had been stressful and full of adrenaline. Surely, walking people through a lighthouse would be a cakewalk compared to that.

Never mind that she knew next to nothing about lighthouses, except what she’d learned watching YouTube videos and grilling her old friend. Paul had been a buddy of hers in high school, and when he’d heard about her recent situation, he’d been the first to step up with the opportunity. He lived in Atlanta now, working as a headhunter mostly for the tech industry, but he had connections in Seagrove and one thing had led to another.

After meetings with the county, mostly virtual, she’d been hired. A part of her was scared a bit, but the larger part of her was grateful to get away from regular life. Escaping to a small island that nobody had even heard of made her feel safer than she had in years.

When she looked at the ocean, it reminded her of her mother. She’d passed away almost ten years ago now, but Emma would’ve given anything to have one more day with her. She so loved the ocean. They went on beach vacations a lot when she was a kid, even though her mother was working two jobs just to pay for things like that. Having never had a father in her life, Emma had counted on her mom. Although she’d been in her late twenties when her mom was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, it hadn’t made it any easier. She needed her, even now, at forty years old.

She had especially needed her when she had to step up and take care of her grandmother. The woman had been impossible to deal with for most of her life, and being responsible for her after her own mother had passed away almost destroyed her. In the end, a stroke in her sleep had taken her, but not before she’d taken just about everything out of Emma. That was already a year ago. How time flew.

“Oh good! You made it!”

A woman walked toward her, a smile on her face. She looked overly made up for the area, and her hair was so high that it looked like cotton candy piled on her head.