I rubbed my hand on the back of my neck. “Yeah, I’m not sure I can get her to do that. I’ve tried once already, but she’s on the hermit career path at the moment. I swear she’s amazing.”

“So, you want me to go by her place and actually creep her out?” She stared me down.

“Pretty much. Next week, maybe? She’s right next door to us! Thanks!” I hopped into the Land Cruiser and started her up.

“Uh-huh,” she said through the open window. “You’ve got it bad!” she called out.

“Just my neighbor!” I answered as I pulled out of the small parking lot. After what I’d learned about her past, that was all she’d ever let me be.

We turned onto our street a few minutes later. Best part of living on an island was the almost nonexistent commute. Fin slipped her hand out of the window, letting it ride the wind for the last half mile.

Yeah, we were going to be all right, even if Claire never got her shit together in the parenting department.

I noticed two things simultaneously as I pulled into our driveway. The first was that Morgan was home, or at least her Mini was.

The second? Vivian was here.

This had the potential to get really awkward.

I parked, and Fin had already unsnapped her buckles by the time I opened her door. She jumped into my arms, and I shifted her onto my side, shutting the garage behind us as I carried her around the front of the house.

“Morgan!” Fin called out over the sound of men climbing down from Morgan’s almost-finished roof. They’d made a huge amount of progress compared to when I’d left this morning. Half the roof was shingled, and it looked like they were quitting for the day. They even managed to save that old weathervane, which two of the roofers were anchoring back in its original position.

There was no sign of Vivian, which meant she was probably in the house.

“Fin!” Morgan waved from next to Steve and subsequently lost her grip on the paperback she’d been holding. She bent quickly to retrieve it, then set it on the drafting table as we walked over.

I was struck by the strangest urge to get a copy of whatever she was reading. In my experience, what someone read told you almost everything you needed to know about them. Claire had preferred drama, anything that fired up her imagination. Garrett liked war biographies. Sawyer enjoyed not reading. Ever. Me? I went for Griffin, Clancy, or anything that pulled me out of my life for a minute.

What was Morgan into? Did she read chick lit? Romance? Nonfiction? Was she into horror? Or was comedy more her thing?