“I know, right? As if that’s the best I could do!” All of a sudden her sister’s eyes flooded with tears. “I’m so tired of fighting with him,” she whispered. “It’s all we do.” She pressed her hands to her eyes, probably hoping to stem the flood. “I can’t do it anymore, Maddie. I just can’t.”

Tiffany and her husband Jim had been having problems for years now, but she’d never heard such resignation from her sister before. “What will you do?”

“I think we need to separate.”

“Aw, Tiff. What about Ashleigh?”

“I’ve stayed with him this long because of her, but all the fighting isn’t good for her. I can’t stand living like this—always wondering where he is, what he’s doing, who he’s doing it with. And then to have him accuse me! That was it, you know?”

Maddie took her sister’s hand. “I hate to see you so unhappy.”

A knock on the door startled the sisters.

Still in uniform, Blaine Taylor, the Gansett Island police chief, stood in the doorway. “Um, hi, Maddie. Sorry to interrupt. Is Mac still around, by any chance?”

“You just missed him, Blaine. He went to pick up Thomas.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll catch him in the morning.”

“He’s going to call me when he gets home. Can I give him a message?”

“I wanted to let him know the captain of the boat has been arraigned on operating under the influence, and we discovered an outstanding warrant for failing to pay child support. Officers from the mainland are coming over tomorrow to pick him up.”

“Mac and his family will be glad to hear that. Thanks for coming over to let us know.”

“I wanted to check on Mr. McCarthy, too. He was my Boy Scout leader when I was a kid. Such a great guy.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Well, I won’t keep you. Hope you’re feeling better soon.”

Tiffany sent Maddie a meaningful look.

“Blaine, do you know my sister, Tiffany?”

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Tiffany said with a smile for the handsome officer.

“Good to meet you, Tiffany. You ladies have a nice evening.”

After he walked away, Tiffany made a big show of fanning herself. “If I were going to have an affair, that’d be more like it. Is he single?”

Frowning at her sister, Maddie said, “You need to talk to your husband.”

Tiffany sighed. “I know.”

“Knock, knock,” Francine said from the doorway.

“There you are,” Maddie said. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d heard I was in here.”

“I heard,” Francine said. “Is everything all right with the baby?”

“Just fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

“When were you going to tell us you’ve gotten yourself a boyfriend, Ma?” Tiffany asked.