“Thanks,” I said with a startled laugh. The laughter grew until tears were streaming down my face, and my friends were looking at me as if they were slightly concerned for my mental state. “This is going to be a disaster.” More bubbled laughter escaped. “But I have to do it because Frank and Kara need both their sons around. And Ford can’t run the bar alone. He hasn’t been here in years.” My gaze jumped from Kenna to Caelyn and back again. “Did Caelyn tell you I dumped a beer on Ford’s head? There’s a chance I could cause him real bodily harm before this is all over.”

Caelyn stifled a laugh, but Kenna raised her hand for a high five. “That’s my girl.” I didn’t take the offered hand. She shrugged and lowered it.

I let out a long breath. “It’s going to kill every time I have to see him. It just—it brings everything back. I thought I’d done such a great job of dealing with it all. Of making peace. I’ve been happy. But when I looked up and saw his face…every shored-up wall I’d built seemed to crumble around me.”

“Oh, Bell.” Caelyn wrapped me in a hard hug. “You have done a great job of dealing with everything, and you are happy. Ford being around isn’t going to steal all that away. It was just a shock, that’s all.”

Simply the mention of his name made me wince, and Kenna caught the action. “Maybe you can schedule him to work opposite your hours so you don’t have to see him.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip. “I don’t even know if I’ll still be in charge of the schedule. He runs all those fancy bars back in LA. I’ll bet Hunter wants him to run the show here, too. It is his family’s place, after all.” My heart clenched. Over the years, I’d started to think of The Catch as my place, the Hardys as my family. Somehow, I’d slipped into the vacancy Ford had left. But now he was back, and that spot didn’t feel like mine anymore.

Kenna grumbled a colorful insult under her breath. “If Hunter hands everything over to Ford, he’s more of an idiot than I thought. That man may be God’s gift in Hollywood, but these are the islands. It’s different up here, and he’s been gone a long time. You know this community better than anyone, and you’ve seen that damn bar through more ups and downs than I can count. You’re the one who’s kept it afloat.”

I flipped a stone over and over between my fingers. “But we’ve been struggling.”

“Everyone has,” Caelyn interjected.