In the end, what other choice did she have? He was always going to be a firefighter. And one loss to that profession was more than enough for her. This knowledge didn’t ease the pain she felt.

Buzz. Buzz.

She had no interest in talking to anyone—until she glanced at the caller ID.

Hannah pressed the phone to her ear. “Emma? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Why would you say that?”

“Because…oh, I don’t know. Never mind. What did you need?”

“I heard about the fire. How is everyone doing? Do I need to come home?”

Hannah filled her sister in on the details of the fire. Conveniently, she left out any mention of Ethan. Just the thought of him sent a wave of sadness over her, but she worked hard to hide it from her sister.

“So you see, everything is fine and there’s no need for you to drop everything and come home.” Hannah hoped her voice didn’t betray her. “What’s going on with you?”

“We’re getting ready to go out on the road next week.” Em went on to mention the famous country star she would be opening for, and Hannah was extremely impressed.

“Wow, Em! I’m so happy for you. I knew you could do it.”

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at Spring Fling?”

“How did you know?” Hannah was surprised her sister, who’d been gone for quite a long time, would still be on top of the happenings in and around Bluestar.

“You do realize you can take the girl out of Bluestar, but you can’t take Bluestar out of the girl. I still keep track of what’s going on with the town on the island’s blog.”

“Oh. Right.” Hannah recalled how Mayor Banks had launched a Bluestar website a year or so ago, but she wasn’t aware there was a blog. “This blog, it’s just about the public events in Bluestar, right?”

“Actually, there’s a lot more like wedding, baby, and birthday announcements. Last week they had an update on your bakery—”

“What?” Why hadn’t she heard about it? “What did it say?”

“That the flood had delayed the opening, and they weren’t sure if you’d be open for the beginning of tourist season at the beginning of May. And then they mentioned other places in town that people could get their baked goods. None of it was bad.”

Her stomach dropped. “That all depends on how you look at it.”

“Oh, Han, don’t worry.” Em was the only one to call her Han. “Once your bakery is open, you know you’ll have more business than you can deal with.” There was a distinct pause. “Is that what has you so down?”

“I’m not down.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded like she was trying too hard to be convincing.

“So if it’s not the bakery, it must be the new guy who has been helping you.”

“You mean Ethan?”

“Yes. What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing good.” And then it came spilling out.