They stopped and faced each other. Liam continued on.

“I bet there’s panic behind those sunglasses,” Maggie said.

Quinn nodded. Maggie knew her well.

“Listen,” Maggie said, “I’m not going to put this heavy-ass box down to give you a hug, but I hope you can feel my support. You are stronger than you think. Damn, you stood up to Ethan for the first time in your life. So I know you can do this. We can do this.”

“Okay.” Quinn kept her eyes locked on Maggie’s, taking every bit of bravery she could from them. She flashed back to when she and Maggie were about to enter the school gym for prom. The prom where no one had asked her out, and Maggie had dumped her date to go with Quinn. Behind those doors was every guy who had never given her a chance.

Quinn had felt the same sort of panic then, but Maggie had pushed her through it, and it had turned out well. They’d had the night of their lives, laughing and dancing, and by the end of it, several boys had asked her to dance.

Of course, this was much more monumental, but she would cling to that memory. With Maggie, she could do it.

And Liam was the icing on the cake of courage.

“Let’s go,” Maggie said, then turned back and led the way to where Liam now stood at a table, chatting with a man.

He looked their way and waved them over.

“These are my friends Maggie and Quinn,” he said to the man as they approached.

Quinn forgot to look where she was walking and tripped over a huge tree root. Before she could recover, she catapulted forward, dropping the box and scattering everything in it in a wide radius around her.

“Oh no!” Maggie exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

A few guys rushed over. One gathered up the ziplock bags while the other held out a hand to help her to her feet. Quinn had lost her sunglasses, and she took the hand and looked straight up into the man’s face.

He wore a baseball cap, and when she saw his face, a sense of familiarity washed over her. She’d seen him before.

She flashed back to the Sea House and remembered that he was the one she almost bulldozed over when she came out of the bathroom. The hat guy.

When she had her feet under her, she let go of him, and Maggie handed her the sunglasses. Quinn put them on quickly, but she was shaking when they finally approached the table. The other rescuer set her box on the table, so Quinn stood there, not knowing what to do. Maggie put her box down too.

“This is Noah,” Liam said.

Noah held a hand out to Quinn, and though she was supposed to be the one holding back, somehow she was there and felt like she had to take it.