I was going through my day on autopilot. It was a miracle I hadn’t burned myself or put real bacon in a vegan BLT. But all I could think about was the fact that I could finally breathe. The burning in my eyes was back, but I forced the tears down. Tears of happiness and joy and relief.

I would be able to handle the increase in rent and Mia’s gymnastics. I’d be able to put something away for Will’s college tuition. I might even be able to start saving for those culinary classes, after all. I gripped the edge of the counter and grinned down at the sandwich makings in front of me. I couldn’t wait to tell the kids.

A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see a slender man hovering in the aisle. His eyes darted about, this way and that, and his fingers moved in rapid, nonsensical patterns. Shit. I did not need to deal with this today.

I slowly pulled open my kitchen junk drawer, grabbing my cell phone and my pepper spray. Our island was small, only fifteen hundred people in off-season, but that didn’t mean we were crime-free. And I was a woman who worked mostly alone until summer hit. The biggest issue on our small chain of islands was drugs. And I knew better than most all of the insidious ways it could infect your life.

I cleared my throat. “Can I help you, sir?”

The man jumped. “Uh. I need, uh, I need some smokes.”

“We don’t sell those here. You’ll have to go to the gas station.”

He gave a jerky nod and tore out of the store so fast, he almost knocked over a customer coming in. “Frick,” I muttered and rounded the counter of my station to make sure the person was okay.

“Whoa,” Shay said. “Shoplifter?”

I shook my head. “I think he was high. What he thought he was going to find in a grocery store to feed his addiction, I’m not sure.”

Shay glanced over her shoulder with a worried look. “And you were in here with him all alone? That’s not safe, Caelyn.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve got my pepper spray and the sheriff’s station on speed dial.”

Shay didn’t seem appeased. “You should think about carrying a taser. Maybe even a gun.”

My eyes widened. “No way. No guns.” Too many kids came in and out of the store—mine included. I didn’t want anything around them that could end in the loss of life.

“A taser, then,” she pressed.