The lighthouse was getting closer and closer. From a distant, toy-size structure, it now stood tall and proud, reaching toward the heavens. I breathed it all in, feeling sea air enter my lungs and puff me with renewed life. It almost put Elodie and Levi out of my mind.

“Babe!”

Shit.

My joy at coming home dissipated like a wisp of candle smoke after the flame had been blown out. I braked, twisting my hips to stare. “Chad?” I hadn’t expected to see him anytime soon.

Chad approached, his stocky frame somehow appearing even more larger-than-life. His bike lay discarded at his feet, tossed down instead of leaning against the kickstand.

“Hi,” he said, voice breathless. Before I could formulate a thought and get my mouth to follow through, Chad was embracing me. His bear hugs used to feel safe, like they were holding me close, but now they felt claustrophobic. It felt like his arms were a vise around me, much like the way a snake strangled its prey before swallowing it whole.

“How the hell are you?” he asked, releasing me at last. “I’m so sorry. After what happened … I didn’t think you’d want to see me. I had no idea what to say.”

“Why are you here now?” I folded my arms over my chest and stared at him.

I should have been overjoyed to see him, but all I could think about was Penny’s soft, dreamy eyes and Chad’s tanned, freckled face. Back together again. The fact that the two of them fit together so much better when I wasn’t there.

I closed my eyes against the image—and accompanying nausea—and took a step backward.

Chad’s face twisted into something wounded and grotesque. “Babe…”

I had the sudden, wild thought of getting back on my bike—of never having stopped for Chad in the first place—and spinning away too fast to care about anyone.

“Uh, earlier.” He rubbed his nose, not looking at me. “Don’t think I haven’t been trying to talk Penny ’round. Because I have. She’s just … being stubborn. I know she misses you.” Then, in those familiar, fateful words that shattered me, “I miss the three of us, too.”

Me, Penny, Chad. The three of us.

My heart squeezed, sharp and tart and bitter.

He waved a hand at the lighthouse. “Can we go inside?” he asked. His eyes roved with a beady scan I could only describe as rodent fear.

A vise clamped around my chest. Understanding flushed through me, hot and sharp. He was afraid of being seen with me.

“Seriously, Chad?” I scoffed.

I didn’t buy the guile in his voice as he said, “What?”

“You … Did you come up here only because you won’t run into anyone from town?” I dropped my voice to a scathing note. “Like Penny?”

Chad’s cheeks reddened into splotchy patches. “Wha—no, what?”

“Oh my God.”