Charlotte woke to the chirping of birds and the rushing sound of water. She wasn’t in her house on Cinder Road, that was for sure. No, this place was much more tropical and remote. Exactly what she wanted to try to get herself put back together.

After her phone call with Dawson where she’d blurted out a break up, she’d packed a bag as quickly as she could and got on the first flight leaving Getaway Bay. It happened to be going to Oahu, and she’d landed and found a tropical getaway where she could have her own bungalow in the forests near the Manoa waterfalls.

It was beautiful here, and Charlotte had been able to find a way to breathe. But she felt unsettled, and nothing about the rainfall showerhead was going to change that.

“That’s because you’ve run away again,” she said into the hot spray of the shower. And she had.

“It’s only for a week,” she tried to rationalize. After all, Claudia’s wedding was next week, and Charlotte couldn’t just up and leave Getaway Bay completely. She didn’t even want to do that. The possibility of running into Dawson was slim. If he hadn’t been squatting in her house, she never would’ve met him in the first place.

Around and around her mind went. Maybe it was fate he’d been under her kitchen sink at the exact moment she’d arrived at the house. Maybe she should answer his texts and calls. Maybe she shouldn’t let Hunter dictate what she did in her life—not anymore. Never again.

She washed her hair twice, because she wasn’t entirely sure she’d done it the first time. By the time she had a cup of coffee and took a seat on the deck that overlooked the jungle, she felt a bit more settled. Not enough to call Dawson, but enough to think through their relationship.

“I do want a relationship with him.”

That was the bottom line, and though Charlotte knew she’d spoken true—she wasn’t ready—she wanted to get ready.

She picked up her phone and opened her messaging app. She’d been deleting texts she didn’t want to deal with—running from them.

“Time to stop running,” she told herself and the chattering birds around her. She closed the app and opened her phonebook. She’d start easy. Call her mother and tell her where she was and that she’d started to fall for a gorgeous helicopter pilot who was as sweet as he was strong.

Tears pricked her eyes at the truthfulness in that thought too. She had started to fall for Dawson, and she didn’t want to lose him because Hunter had stirred up all her old emotions and insecurities, her frustrations, pains, and beliefs that all love was false. Fake. Pretend, the way theirs had been.

“Charlotte?” Her mom sounded shocked.

“Hey, Mom.” Her voice broke, and while Charlotte was really tired of crying, she also allowed herself the opportunity to express her emotions. After all, keeping everything bottled up had never worked particularly well for her.

“Chris!” her mom shouted. “Chris, it’s Charlotte!” The joy and wonder in her mom’s voice awakened Charlotte to the pain and worry she’d caused them. “Honey, are you all right? Where are you?”

She took a deep breath, ready to take this first step toward healing herself, healing those she’d hurt albeit unintentionally. “I’m on Oahu right now,” she said. “But I found this great house in Getaway Bay, and I’ve been fixing it up.”

“Charlotte?” Her dad came on the line.

“I’m looking up Getaway Bay,” her mom said, her voice getting a little more distant. “We’ll come visit.”

Charlotte didn’t immediately recoil from the idea, and she smiled as tears ran down her face. “Hey, Dad. How’s the golf in Miami?” Her parents had retired there after her dad’s long career in business administration.

“It’s so good to hear your voice, sweetheart,” he said, which only made Charlotte cry harder.

“Oh, Getaway Bay looks nice, honey,” her mom said, and Charlotte got a little whiplashed by having both of them on the phone. “Big island of Hawaii. Lots to do there. What are you doing there?”

“I’m working for a wedding planning company,” she said. “I do their custom weddings.”

“When’s a good time to come? Maybe for Christmas.”

“The airfare will be outrageous,” her father said.

“We’ll use our miles,” her mom countered. “I know it’s only a couple of weeks away, but we’re not doing anything here.”

“No?” Charlotte asked, basking in their back-and-forth conversation. Her parents loved each other with a real love, a strong commitment. Maybe it was possible. “Wilma’s not coming? Harold?”

“Harold’s in-laws gave them a cruise. Wilma was going to come, but if we tell her now, she can do something else.”

Charlotte couldn’t imagine that would fly very well for Wilma. She’d only spoken to her the one time since coming to Getaway Bay, and it had been a disaster. “I don’t want to cause problems,” Charlotte said. “But I’d love to see you guys. I can’t come to Miami—I have weddings and work to do. You could come anytime, really. Doesn’t have to be for Christmas.”

“We haven’t heard from you for five months,” her dad said with a rough edge in his voice. “Your mother is looking at airfare right now.”

“I have a wedding on the twentieth,” she said. “A big one. After that would be best.”

“After the twentieth, Nina…the twentieth!” He shouted the last word, and Charlotte grinned into the foliage.

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered, realizing that she still knew and believed in familial love.

“We love you, too, Charlotte. Tell us everything you’ve been doing.”

The next morning, Charlotte faced her to-do list: Call Wilma. It was literally the only thing she’d put down, and she could not make herself do it. By now, her sister would’ve been notified that their parents were cancelling Christmas in Miami and going to see Charlotte. She’d asked them not to tell Wilma where she was, but that she’d call her herself to do that.

And yet, she couldn’t dial the number. She didn’t even have to dial it. All she had to do was press a button.

Instead, she pulled up Sammy’s name and number and called her. She didn’t understand why that call was easier than her own sister, but it was.

“Charlotte Ence,” Sammy said with so much glee in her voice that Charlotte could picture the smile on her friend’s face. “How are you?”

Charlotte hadn’t been using her married name, but she didn’t correct her friend. “Is this a good time? You have a few minutes?”

“Of course, of course.” Sammy didn’t do much during the day, but surely she’d be planning a huge holiday shindig for all the posh residents of Carter’s Cove. She did every year, with huge prize packages she and her husband gave away.

“I just…wanted to talk for a minute,” she said. She wasn’t exactly sure what she needed to say to Sammy, so she just took a leap of faith and opened her mouth. “You guys really hurt me when you sided with Hunter. And when Vivian posted those pictures of all of you with him and his new girlfriend, that was devastating.”

Her chest felt like someone had scrubbed it out with steel wool and then poured bleach in it.

“Char—”

“I mean, I’d already lost him, and then I had to lose everyone else too.” She wouldn’t cry—her eyes were completely dry. But she’d carried around this weight for too long. “So I left. Surely you can understand that. And you guys—all my friends. Rosie, Vivian, Tanya—contributed to that. I just wanted you to know that, whether you care or not.”

She exhaled, her hand shaking as she held her phone to her ear. As she stared at the tropical fish in the tank in the kitchen of the bungalow she’d rented, she realized she had real friends in Getaway Bay.

Ash had texted three times that week, and only one of them had been about work. The other two messages wanted to know if Charlotte was okay and if she needed anything. Hope had readily given her the week off—the week right before the biggest wedding the island would ever see.

“Charlotte,” Sammy said. “Of course I care.”

“Not enough to tell Hunter that he’s a despicable human being.”

When Sammy didn’t deny it, Charlotte’s heart sank. “It’s fine,” she said. “I understand the politics in Carter’s Cove. But it’s a horrible game you’re playing, and you might find yourself on the outside one day. It’s not a nice or fun place to be. Maybe then you’ll understand.”

“I understand more than you know.” Sammy’s voice wasn’t anywhere near her usual, cheery tone.

Charlotte cocked her head, trying to hear something more between the words.

“I hope you can forgive me one day,” Sammy said. “I can’t speak for the other girls, but I really am sorry and I miss you.”

Charlotte didn’t know what to do with sentences like that. She’d half-expected Sammy to act as aloof and smug as she had when the divorce proceedings first began and Hunter moved out. But this compassion and apology wasn’t the Sammy Charlotte knew.

Because she didn’t truly know Sammy at all. They’d been playing a high-society game of dodge ball, and Charlotte had been the first one out.

“Anyway,” Charlotte said. “I hope you have a Merry Christmas.”

“You too.”

The call ended, and her shoulders lifted. She breathed in, and it was ten times easier than before. She didn’t need to call anyone else. Sammy would get the message out, and Charlotte plugged in her phone, that to-do item still not crossed out.

Tomorrow, she told herself as she bent to put on the hiking boots she’d bought upon her arrival on Oahu. Today, she was going to hike to the waterfalls and enjoy the December sun in Hawaii.

Even Wilma couldn’t ruin that.

Turned out, Dawson could, as every step up the trail was laden with his name, his face, the way he’d come into her life and changed it.

“What do I do about Dawson Dane?” she asked the water as it tumbled over the cliffs. It just roared back at her, almost syllables in the sound somewhere, but Charlotte couldn’t grasp onto them.

She didn’t call Wilma before her week ended. Simply couldn’t do it, especially after her sister sent her a nasty text about how she’d ruined her family’s Christmas plans.

Charlotte returned to her house on Cinder Road and then to work at Your Tidal Forever. With Claudia’s wedding in only two days, she had a lot to get done. Phone calls to make. Details to arrange. Flowers to staple to trellises and bows to tie around chairs.

Through it all, Dawson stayed close to her heart, and on the morning of the wedding, she found herself standing at the door to Nuts About Dough at five a.m.

When Wes unlocked the door, she looked right into his eyes, so much like Hunter’s. “Charlotte?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

Like it was unusual to have customers lined up outside the door. But it wasn’t, as at least eight people streamed past her into the shop.

She couldn’t say anything as she let every negative emotion stream through her. She finally croaked, “You look just like my ex-husband.”

Wes clearly wasn’t expecting that, if the surprise on his face were any indication. His wife called his name from somewhere inside, and Charlotte’s guilt hit her. “I’m just wondering if you’ve talked to Dawson.”

“Not since he left for San Diego,” Wes said, waving to his wife that he’d be right there.

“San Diego?” Charlotte couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. Everything he’d told her about his family had led her to believe he’d never go visit them.

“Yeah, he left yesterday.” Wes took a couple of steps away and then turned back. “I’m sorry about you guys. I know he really liked you.”

Charlotte stood on the sidewalk in the pre-dawn light, an incredibly busy day ahead of her. Dawson had gone to San Diego.

No wonder the entire island felt differently. He wasn’t here.

She turned away, wondering if she was different now too, and if Dawson would pick up the phone if she called.