Her screams had damaged her throat for weeks afterward. It had taken a full year for her fingernails to grow back. “There was an inquest. The ruling was that Jace had followed the only reasonable course open to him under the circumstances. He sacrificed himself to avoid taking me down with him.”

Finn was silent for several moments. He took both her hands in his. “What a nightmare. I’m sorry, Camille. I’m sorry you went through that.”

She forced herself to look at him—that face, those eyes and lips—and she wavered. Then she reminded herself that she didn’t want anyone to love her that much again, so much that he would die for her. “So that’s it. That’s why I’m going home.”

“It was a one-in-a-million freak accident.”

“Yesterday was a horrible reminder that it could happen again. I’m done, Finn. You asked for an explanation, and that’s it.”

“Have you ever told this to Julie? I mean, the details . . .”

“No. She knows the rope failed and her dad fell.”

“Guess what else she knows,” Finn said. “She knows the world ended that day.”

“What?”

“She told me that last night. After you freaked out and dragged her home from the beach, I talked to her about it. And like you pointed out, I don’t know what it’s like to have a kid, but it’s probably not the best idea for her to think everything was over when you lost the guy.”

Camille felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Somehow she found her voice. “She doesn’t think that.”

“Maybe not,” he conceded. “Kids tend to exaggerate. But are you sure she understands that even after the nightmare you went through, life can be good again? Doesn’t your kid deserve to know that?”

Camille opened her mouth to object. Then she closed it. His words made clear, devastating sense. What message had she been sending to Julie all these years? All of Julie’s young life? Dear God, what if he was right? “So in your expert opinion, I’ve been so mired in my own grief that I missed out on the last five years.”

“You tell me. I wasn’t there for it.”

She pictured her daughter growing and changing from a little girl in pigtails and a pink backpack, skipping off to school, to a high school freshman, filled with equal parts bravado and uncertainty. Did Camille savor life enough, or was she too frightened and sad to let Julie feel the joy of living? She got up from the bench and walked away, though she couldn’t escape her own doubts.

“You know what drives me batshit crazy?” Finn asked. “You push me away when I get close.”

“That’s not—” Oh, but it was. He’d nailed it. This was never going to work. All she wanted was a quiet, stable life. Finn got in the way of that by igniting a whirlwind of emotion and reminding her of her own burning needs.

“You claim you already found the love of your life,” he said, standing up, glaring at her. “And that you already lost him. What if—just what if you get another chance? What if you allow for that possibility? What if I’m your second chance?”