A smile immediately pulled at his lips. “Hi, Hannah. How are you?”

There was a pause as though she wasn’t sure how to answer his question. “Good. Busy.” She muffled the phone to say something to someone else. “Sorry. And you?”

“Better now.”

“Now? Why now?”

Clang. Bang. Ding.

He continued to smile as he imagined the kitchen of the bakery abuzz with activity. “Hannah, step outside.”

“I’m sorry if it’s hard to hear me, but I can’t take a break now. Can we talk later?”

“No. Please. I wouldn’t ask you if this wasn’t important.”

She hesitated, considering his request. “Hang on.”

She muffled the phone again to talk to someone in the kitchen. Then he heard the sound of the exterior kitchen door opening. The next thing he knew she was standing in front of him, wearing her white work clothes. She’d never looked so beautiful.

“Hello, Hannah.”

She blinked as though making sure he was truly standing there in front of her. “Ethan, what are you doing here?”

It wasn’t the greeting he’d been hoping for, but at least she was speaking to him. “I’m back.” He held out an arrangement of purple, pink, and white tulips he’d bought at Bea’s Posie Patch. “These are for you.”

She stepped forward and accepted them. “Thank you.” She gazed at the floral arrangement for a moment before meeting his gaze again. “I don’t understand. Has something happened? I just saw your aunt. She seemed—”

“Can we take a walk?”

“I, uh…wait.” She rushed inside and then returned a couple of minutes later without her apron or the flowers. “Let’s go.”

They started in the direction of the beach. He could see in her eyes that his abrupt departure without a goodbye had hurt her. He never meant to make things worse for her. By his way of thinking, he’d been trying to protect her by not leading her on when he’d been so confused about so much.

He cleared his throat. “When I left Bluestar, I was confused. I was torn between the life that had been laid out for me in New York and the life I’d come to love in Bluestar.”

Hannah chanced a glance at him. “You love it here?”

He nodded. “I do. How could I not? There’s something so refreshing about waking up to the island breeze, not to mention the friendly residents and the amazing views. And then there’s this baker who creates the most amazing muffins.” He noticed the color that flooded her cheeks. It looked good on her. “Hey, you wouldn’t have any on you, would you?”

She shook her head. “I just gave the last of today’s blueberry muffins to your aunt.”

“Lucky lady. Maybe I should go visit her now.”

When he turned as though to walk toward his aunt’s house, Hannah reached out to him. “Stop. That can wait.” She stopped and stared deep into his eyes as though she were trying to read his thoughts. “This can’t. I don’t understand what you’re doing here.”