“Wow. I have missed a lot. If he’s as awesome as you say, you need to give him another chance.”

“I don’t know.” All the reasons to hold back flashed in her mind like big warning signs.

“Han, you’ve always been the cautious one. You stayed close to home. You took forever to get serious with a guy—”

“And look how that turned out.”

“But you say Ethan is different. And…and he’s a firefighter, just like Dad.” The tone of Em’s voice said she was connecting the dots. “And you’re worried that Ethan might meet the same fate as Dad.”

“I couldn’t go through that again. Every time he went out on a call, I’d worry about him.”

“And you’re saying if he did anything else for a living that you wouldn’t worry about him?”

“No, but—”

“What happened to Dad was the worst. And I miss him as much as you, but it was an accident, Han. You can’t think that it’s going to happen again.”

Her sister was right. Logically she agreed, but it was her heart that wasn’t so certain it was up for taking a risk again with a firefighter. “It doesn’t matter anyhow. His job is in New York and mine is here on the island.”

“Unless you tell him the truth. Tell him you love him. You do love him, don’t you?”

Hannah opened her mouth to deny it, but she couldn’t. She wordlessly pressed her lips together as she thought of Ethan. Was her sister right? Had she overreacted? Should she try to fix things?

“Enough about me,” Hannah said. “When are you coming home?”

“I…I don’t know.” Em went on to tell her about the cross-country tour.

“Now I can tell everyone that I knew you before you were famous.”

“You could tell them a lot more than that, but don’t you dare.” In the background, there was knocking and someone calling out Em’s name. “Sorry, Han, I have to go. I know you’ve been hurt before, but if you don’t take a chance on Ethan, you’ll regret it. Bye.”

And with that her sister was gone. Hannah wished her sister was there in Bluestar. She missed Em a lot. They didn’t agree on everything. Their mother always said it was because they were opposites. But they did have a lot of fun together.

As for telling Ethan about her feelings, Em had some good points. But since when did she start taking advice from her younger sister—the same sister who’d broken up with her soulmate to chase her singing dreams?

She was home.

At last.

Birdie clasped her hands together as a smile pulled at her lips. She’d missed Spring Fling but from what she’d heard, it had been a huge success. Now she wanted to thank Ethan and Hannah for all they’d done in her absence.

Ethan’s parents, who’d taken Peaches to pick her up at Sunny Days, stood with her in Beachcomber Park. Birdie’s gaze searched the lingering crowd. Where was her nephew and Hannah? Her reports from Betty had all been positive. Her little bit of meddling had worked.