The months passed more quickly than Sarah had anticipated. Summer soon gave way to autumn and the small town of Redwood Cove was taken back by its locals as the tourists dispersed back to their own homes.

Sarah had considered moving back to her hometown in Ohio as well but ultimately decided against it. She’d come to the Gold Coast to build her future, and that’s exactly what she intended to do. Despite the fear and guilt that had propelled her, there was still much she enjoyed about her life. She had gotten many things almost right.

For starters, she loved being a nurse. She’d chosen geriatrics to make amends for her grandmother’s death, but found it too easy to hide in that guilt, to disappear into her patients’ memories rather than making any of her own.

The past couldn’t be changed. Sarah couldn’t go back and undo that fateful day with her grandmother. But she could still shape the future. Her time with Finch had taught her much about herself, for which she would always owe him a debt.

Despite the heinous rule-breaking they’d engaged in at the San Francisco hospital and the lack of intel they’d gained about their mystery, Sarah had learned something very important about herself that day.

She owed that revelation to Finch, but also to a little girl named Sara without an H. It didn’t take Sarah long to realize she wanted to work with children moving forward and that one day in the far-off, distant future she wanted to have children of her own, too.

She thought about it a lot now—the future. She’d once been too terrified to think about life more than a day at a time, but now she found herself both making plans and carrying through with them.

Like today. She’d agreed to go on some new whale-watching tour with Carol and the dogs. She’d always loved the majestic sea creatures, but they’d become even more special now that they also reminded her of her brief time with Finch.

She cherished their past but no longer allowed herself to be held back by it. Instead, she eagerly agreed to join Carol for the chance to experience something new. Besides, Lucky still loved whales, too, and he deserved a fun day out.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Carol squealed, running forward to give Sarah a tight hug before they both boarded the modest-sized tour boat and found an open spot on the deck to stand with the dogs. “How’s the new job?”

“I love it,” Sarah admitted with a huge smile. With a blast of its horn, the boat pulled away from the dock, and a rush of salty sea air whipped Sarah’s long loose waves against her neck.

“You seem so much happier these days,” Carol pointed out, slurping iced coffee through a reusable metal straw.

“I feel so much happier these days,” Sarah admitted as she reached down to pet her Golden Retriever’s head. “I think Lucky is, too.”

“Good, because you really had me worried there for a bit.”

Sarah laughed and looped an arm over her friend’s shoulders. “No more worrying about me. Just keep raising up the best dogs in the whole world. We need more good boys like Lucky.”

Lucky’s tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he sat happily panting beside his parents.

“Now that, I can do,” Carol promised with a wink. “Speaking of, we should have another reunion for all the owners and dogs soon. Will you and Lucky be there?”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Do you promise? Even if you’re mad at me, you’ll still come?”

“Carol, why would I be mad at you?” Sarah bit her lip in confusion. Carol had been her most constant friend since she’d relocated to California, and other than their brief argument over Sarah deleting her Reel Life account, the two had never fought.

“Well, I…” Carol’s cheeks grew bright red as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. All of a sudden, she shouted, “Look, a whale!” She pointed animatedly to the ocean. Still confused, Sarah turned to follow her finger…

But, despite the name of the tour, there was no whale in sight.

And when she turned back toward her friend to demand answers, there was no Carol, either.

Even more flustered now, Sarah turned in the other direction, wondering what in the heck was going on.

And that’s when at last she saw.

Not a whale, but rather Finch Jameson, walking toward her with a bouquet of yellow flowers in his arms and a smile stretched across his unforgettably handsome face.

Oh, how she had missed that face…

Finch’s knees felt weak as he walked across the boat deck toward Sarah. He’d seen her when she boarded with Carol, and it took everything he had not to run to her then.

What ultimately kept him back was the fact he’d planned their grand reunion down to the second and didn’t want to spoil any part of it.

“You,” Sarah said, her bright hazel eyes widening despite the beginnings of tears that threatened to spill.

“Please let those be happy tears,” he mumbled, passing the flowers to her. There was so much he needed to say, it was as if all the words were fighting to come out at once, leaving him in a bumbling mess.

She nodded and inhaled the sweet scent of the bouquet.

“Daffodils for new beginnings,” he explained, gesturing to the flowers. “Figured they couldn’t hurt.”

“Thank you, but what are you doing here?” Sarah asked breathlessly.

He longed to take her in his arms and never let go, to tell her how these past few months without her had been torture—though a necessary one. Mostly he wanted to hear Sarah say they could start again.

Finch chuckled softly, trying not to let the momentousness of the occasion overwhelm him. “Well, you see,” he said with a smile, “this is my boat.”

Carol returned to Sarah’s side and took the flowers from her arms. “Well, you don’t seem mad,” she said with a laugh that matched his own.

“You set me up!” Sarah said, feigning anger but failing to wear anything but a smile on her flushed face.

“It seems I did,” Carol replied, patting Sarah on the shoulder before leaving them again and taking the dogs with her as she crossed to the other side of the deck.

“I needed to see you again,” Finch continued as Sarah’s gaze fell back to him. “To tell you you made the right call back then. I didn’t deserve you then, but I hope with everything I’ve got that I do now.”

“And so you bought a boat?” she asked, her voice cracking and lips smiling. How could he ever convey just how much she’d changed him for the better? How clearly she’d shown him he needed to change for himself, too? Words would never be enough, but hopefully when she learned all he’d done…

He licked his lips and placed a hand on his heart. “Well, like you said, I needed to find me again. I needed to stop hiding from my past and so, yeah, I bought a boat and started a new company. Welcome to Gold Coast Whale Tours. Doesn’t have quite the same ring as Reel Life, but you know—”

Sarah threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in close. The surprise of this gesture caused Finch to fall silent.

“You did this all for me?” she murmured close to his ear.

“No,” he whispered. “I did it for me. You were right all along, Sarah. I needed to get back to my passion. It was never about running some big business, being some hotshot billionaire. It was always about the art, about capturing life frame by frame.”

“And you chose whales because…” Sarah let her words fall away. Was she too shocked to acknowledge the meaning behind his choice? Unwilling to take any credit for what he’d done in her honor? As it turned out his sweet Sarah would always need a little coaxing, would always be a little shy—and he loved her for that.

“Remember on Cliff Walk?” he asked, helping her along. “How time just seemed to stand still when that family of orcas swam past? Everything stopped, everyone stopped, and we just lived for that moment. I want more moments like that, Sarah. I want them for me, and I want them for us. Please tell me there can be an us.”

She answered by bringing her lips to his in a kiss that was as sweet as she’d always been. When she pulled away, she wore a devastatingly gorgeous grin that was meant just for him.

“I missed you. I was always hoping we’d see each other again, but I never imagined…” She shook her head subtly and laughed through freshly flowing tears.

“That I’d get a clue?”

She laughed again and hugged him tighter “Maybe.”

“Hey, I may be slow on the uptake, but luckily there’s this amazing woman who taught me all I needed to know when it came to finding clues and solving mysteries.”

“So you’ve solved the mystery of Sarah, huh?”

“No, you are the one thing that’s always made sense. It was me who was the mystery all along.”

“And did you solve it?”

“It’s a work in progress, but if we wait for all the pieces to line up, we’ll never get to appreciate the beautiful picture forming in front of us.”

“Finch, that’s so…” She stopped and took in a shaky breath. “That’s so corny. You scripted this whole thing out, didn’t you?”

He laughed at himself. “Yeah, maybe I did. But I knew I’d only get one chance to make things right, and I—”

Sarah pressed a finger to his lips. “No. There’s never just one chance. Every day is a new chance, a new beginning.”

“And how about today?” he asked with a slight smirk.

Before Sarah could answer, a crowd of passengers rushed to their side of the deck, whispering and pointing excitedly. Finch and Sarah turned together and watched as a pair of gray whales breeched the surface before disappearing back beneath the ocean in one beautiful, synchronized movement. Everyone stood silent waiting for the whales to surface again.

When at last they did, Sarah pressed her lips to Finch’s cheek and whispered, “Today is the first day of the rest of our lives… together.”