“Nothing as far as I know,” Lindsey said. “I mean, Sully and I don’t talk that much anymore, so it’s not like I mentioned to him that I’ve been reading articles about Robbie to see if they shed any light on who might have a vendetta against him.”

“So, are you and Sully really over?” Charlene asked.

Lindsey glanced down the stairs and across the small dock to the boat where Charlie and Heathcliff sat waiting. Was her relationship with Sully done for good? The thought was a tough one to process. She didn’t like it but she didn’t see much hope for them if Sully didn’t learn to better communicate.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good,” she said.

Charlene glanced over her shoulder at the cabin as if to be sure that the kids were all right and then back at Lindsey. She studied her for moment and then asked, “Do you think you would have dated Robbie, you know, if—”

“If he hadn’t been murdered?” Lindsey clarified. “Hard to say, but I did like him. Yes, I’m admitting it; I really, really liked him, despite my good sense. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering,” Charlene said. “If Robbie hadn’t, well, if things had been different and you fell for each other, then Robbie would have stayed here and we could all have lived happily ever after.”

“Yeah, his wife might have had something to say about that . . . oh, and his girlfriend, too,” Lindsey said.

She could feel her face get warm at the thought of having Robbie Vine for a boyfriend—which was ridiculous, since he was gone—but the thought that she never got to have him be something more in her life made her sad.

“Yeah, well, it would have been nice,” Charlene said. “Don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Lindsey said. She suspected Charlene just needed to hear that Robbie’s story could have had an alternate ending. “I am so sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks,” Charlene said, and she hugged Lindsey close. “For everything.”

“That’s what friends are for,” she said. “Call me if you need me.”

“I promise,” Charlene said.

Lindsey hurried down the stairs and untied the boat. She gave the boat a shove and scrambled aboard while Charlie fired up the engine.

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up to the dock. Lindsey was about to hustle out when she recognized the tall figure standing on the dock waiting for them. Sully.

Heathcliff went right into spasms of joy, and Lindsey felt her own heart do a skip and a jump. Why was it whenever she thought she was getting over him, he showed up and she was knocked flat all over again?