I kept right on walking as she gasped in outrage. Normally, I would’ve let it get to me. I would’ve felt the pull to retreat to the farmhouse, the attention and judgment making my skin feel too tight for my body. But this woman was ridiculous. The fact that she saw Caelyn as less than was all I needed to know about the ugliness of her soul.

I wasn’t going to let that infect me. If people chose to believe the lies that had been told about me over the years, so be it. I would just keep living my life.

I pulled open the door to the store and was relieved to see a secondary cashier at the front of the shop. The woman gave me a smile and a wave. “Let me know if you need help finding anything.”

I nodded and made my way back towards Caelyn’s station. She stood in the center of her little kitchen space, staring out the window towards the docks. She looked so incredibly lost in that moment. I had to fight the urge to round the counter and pull her into my arms. To promise her that everything would be okay. Instead, I slid onto one of the stools in front of her. “You ready to tell me what the hell is going on?”

Caelyn jumped and whirled. “Geez, make a little noise when you move, would you? You’re like Kenna with her ninja training.”

I wanted to laugh but I couldn’t because I was too focused on the dark circles rimming Caelyn’s eyes. “Something happened. Tell me.” I couldn’t help, couldn’t protect her, if she didn’t tell me what was going on. “Did you get another note?”

Caelyn shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I just—I’m ninety-seven percent sure I saw my mother yesterday.”

I stiffened. “Where?”

“Outside Second Chances. I was walking out with the girls and I saw someone rounding the corner across the street.”

“Did you call Parker?”

Caelyn leaned against the counter. “And tell him what? That I think I saw my mother, who I haven’t set eyes on in over six years? Besides, there’s nothing he can do. It’s not like we have a restraining order or anything.”

A powerlessness seemed to radiate through Caelyn’s entire body. I hated everything about the set of her frame. It was the opposite of everything that had drawn me to Caelyn from the moment I saw her in this very store. Her vitality, fire, light. All of it seemed to have seeped out of her.

I stood and rounded the counter, pulling her into my arms. I held her tight against me as if I could infuse life back into her. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“But what if it’s not?” she mumbled into my chest. “We both know that things don’t always work out.”