“He can’t,” Harper replied. “I mean, I guess he could, but he can’t sell his house, and he can’t really afford the upkeep on two places, especially on an island like this.”

“Why can’t he sell his house?” Daniel asked.

“He has, like, three mortgages on it,” Harper explained. “Nine years ago my mom and I were in a car accident, and she had a ton of medical bills. It was a drunk driver with no money or insurance, so all the bills fell on my dad.”

“Wow.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s just the way things are.”

She’d filled the garbage bag, so she stopped to survey the house. They hadn’t even been cleaning that long, and it already looked so much better. It almost looked like when Bernie had lived here.

“It will be so weird to think of somebody else living here,” Harper said, more to herself than to Daniel. “I mean, this is Bernie’s Island.”

“It’ll always be Bernie’s Island,” Daniel assured her. “No matter who lives here, this will always be Bernie’s.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the place as best they could. If Brian did sell it, they would eventually have to get rid of all Bernie’s possessions, but Harper didn’t want to do that right now. She just wanted to get it clean.

The sun was starting to set when Harper flopped on the couch and called it quits.

“I think we did a good job,” she said.

“Are you kidding?” Daniel asked, grinning down at her. “We did an amazing job. You scrubbed a ring out from the bathtub that I’m certain had been there since that tub was installed.”

Harper laughed, but she didn’t argue with him. “Hey, when I do something, I do it right.”

“That you do.”

Daniel sat down on the couch next to her, closer than he needed to, but Harper didn’t say anything. There had been little moments like this all day long, and she didn’t know how to react to them. When he’d hand her something, his touch seemed to linger a little too long. Or when he helped her lift something, he’d reach around her, nearly hugging her in the process.

She kept telling herself that he was just being helpful, the little touches meant nothing, or it was all in her head. But still, every time he brushed up against her she found her heart beating a bit faster.

There were more than a few times when she’d meant only to glance over at him and she found her gaze lingering. Especially when he’d been working in the bedroom.