I didn’t know much about him. All Mom had told me was that our renter was in Oar’s Rest on an eight-week grant sponsored by the local artist colony and the historical society. Since the house was empty after I’d moved into the lighthouse, Mom decided to rent it out for some extra cash. Levi would be the first one to stay there.

Wait. I knew his name from somewhere. I rifled through my memories, hunting him down. The answer pressed gently against my mind, and I grasped at it, pulling tight. Cotton candy perfume and a laugh like a fairy tale. The bouncy, natural curls falling across her brown shoulders as she leaned forward, snatching the macaron from my hand.

One day I’ll be in Paris for an art show and I’ll eat these every day.

If Ladurée’s are better than mine, you’d better not tell me, El.

C’est impossible! Your macaron is magnifique!

I remembered her feigning a look of total horror that any macaron could be better than mine, even if they came from the most famous pâtisserie in Paris. At the time, I’d glided past her Paris-for-one future, even though it was pretty much the most glaring writing on the wall I could have asked for.

I was trying to be cool and unaffected, but inside, my heart hammered in relentless beats. How had I missed this? Levi Keller. It had been a name I’d heard on and off when I’d been with Elodie, but it had faded from my mind in the last year we’d been apart. I sneaked a covert look at Levi. Was it him?

I could remember El lounging on my couch, scrolling through his Instagram feed on so many of our secret dates that it felt like she was in a relationship with the wrong person. The last time she’d done it, I’d dragged my head up from her lap and asked her to come back to me, please. She’d kissed me, quick and sweet, said “Just a sec,” and gone back to her phone. It was only when I got up that she snagged my wrist and let her phone slide into the gap between the cushions. I’m right here, Babe. I’m not going anywhere. C’mon, don’t be mad. And I couldn’t be. Not at her, and not for long. At least back then.

Levi took a delicate sniff, then crinkled his nose like he was about to sneeze.