Emily Times stared down at her toes curled around the red sand and wished she could really enjoy being in Maui. Flicking her gaze up, she studied the unbelievable shoreline. The waves crashed into red, dried lava. It was gorgeous scenery.

Too bad all she could think about was her boyfriend of six months, Brett. The jerkface who had ditched her at the last second. She cringed and thought of the text she’d gotten from Brett as she waited for him at the airport yesterday. Sorry, babe. Can’t come. Gotta work.

He was supposed to accompany her to Maui for the wedding of Mr. Owens, her mentor and a partner at the firm. It was a big deal. Granted, it was Mr. Owens’s third marriage, but he’d made it pretty clear she had better come. Heck, she’d had to help plan it with the bimbo he was marrying, spending precious hours at work with said bimbo going through the designs.

Blinking hard, Emily bit back on the emotion clustering in her throat. Typical. Brett liked to promise something and then claim he couldn’t get away from a trial. News flash: she was an attorney too. She also had important stuff to juggle, but she didn’t leave him high and dry for important events. Problem was, he didn’t consider this wedding an important event.

Dang. It was important for her career. She was up for junior partner, and she had a gut feeling that if she didn’t attend this wedding, Mr. Owens wouldn’t give her the recommendation she needed. And the bonus. She thought of her mother in that care facility; she needed the money.

Resentment simmered within her. Brett was a jerk. She’d put up with his lack of attention for far too long. The truth was that she’d been wanting to break things off with him for a few weeks, but strategically, she hadn’t wanted to show up without a date. Dang it!

Raking a hand through her hair as if banishing her whirlwind of thoughts, she took her cell phone out of her pocket and called her younger sister, Trina.

Trina answered on the first ring. “How’s Maui?” she asked in an excited voice.

“Sucks.”

Trina tsked her tongue. “Of course, you’re missing out on ‘billables.’ How tragic.” She said it without mirth and with her voice slightly raised. There was noise in the background, like she was outside somewhere.

“Where are you?” Emily asked, wishing she’d just had Trina come with her.

“In between Advanced Chem and Advanced Psych.” Trina sighed. “It’s rough to be a nontraditional student. All these young kids are staying up all night to finish classes, and I’m trying to take care of a toddler and work a part-time job.”

Emily thought about how her sister had recently gotten divorced and was rediscovering her life. “How’s little Elliot?”

Her sister sighed again. “Busy.”

Emily wished she lived closer so she could help her sister. “You’re doing good, sis.”

There was more noise, and Emily pictured her sister milling through other students on CSU’s campus. “So what’s up?” Trina asked.

“Brett ditched me.” She blurted it out, meandering up to her knees in the ocean, unable to enjoy the soothing waves.

“Ouch. Can’t say you didn’t see it coming, though, can you?”

“Yeah.” Emily winced. Honestly, between seeing it coming and learning that her sister had picked up on it too, the whole thing just felt worse.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Do?” Emily took a couple of paces out of the water as a bigger wave came in. She had worn her red halter swimsuit with a swim skirt, thinking she might get in the water. Now, she wasn’t in the mood to be wet.

Trina laughed. “Hey, you’re on freaking Maui. Why don’t you find another date to Mr. Bigwig’s wedding?”

Emily smiled at the way Trina called Mr. Owens Mr. Bigwig. “Stop.”

“Find a date, Em. You’re gorgeous. And don’t pretend you don’t know it.” Trina sputtered. “You know you could have been the next Mrs. Owens if you wanted it.”

“He’s like my father! Stop.” This wasn’t what Emily wanted to talk about.

Her sister laughed. “I’m sure he would have changed that status if you would have wanted to.”

“Trina …”

“All I’m saying is I’m sure there’s some local you can convince to go to the wedding with you.”

Emily rolled her eyes. She could be charming when she wanted, but she hated playing the dating game. There was no way she would ask some random local guy. “What—I just go up to a random guy and ask him to join me for a wedding? That wouldn’t be desperate or weird.”

“Em, you’re the last person I would even associate with words like desperate or weird. No, you’re more along the lines of gorgeous and breathtaking. Also, overly cautious and serious. Do something fun!”

Emily’s chest filled with warmth. This was why she called her sister. “Stop,” she said again, but she was smiling this time.

“What? It’s true, and you know it. Emily Times, attorney at one of the largest law offices in New York, is always put together and often wins the case because counsel gets lost in her pools of green eyes.”

Reflexively, she laughed. “You’re silly and dramatic.” While it did make Emily feel better to hear her sister say nice, funny things, she still hadn’t recovered from being ditched. “Yeah, I think I’m condemned to attending the wedding stag.” Dang. It was soaking in. She would have to face all the people at the firm and be the loser. “I’m so breaking things off with Brett for good. He’s always pulling this crap.”

Her sister had the gall to laugh. “Maybe you picked him because he’s this way.”

“What, pray tell, is so funny?” It annoyed her when her sister laughed at her pain. Which she did often.

“Calm yourself, Captain Crunch Queen.”

The side of Emily’s lip curved up. Her sister also had a knack for cracking her up. She was referring to the night they’d had a contest to see who could eat the most Captain Crunch, and Emily had won. Eight bowls, measured out. Needless to say, she had barfed that night. But she had still won.

“Okay, I recently read this book on how to have a meaningful relationship.”

Emily hesitated, thinking of how the paperwork had just gone through on the divorce.

“If you laugh, I’ll punch you through the phone.”

Emily smiled fully now, her heart easing and the desire to laugh bubbling inside of her. Her sister was a wreck in relationships and was always trying to psychoanalyze them. “O-kay.”

Her sister paused. “Anyway, one of the things it talks about is the fact that the very things that attract us to a certain person are usually the same things that drive us crazy later on.”

“What do you mean?” Emily’s mind whirled in confusion. “You think I like to have Brett stand me up on trips?”

“No.” Trina grunted. “Think of the reason he stands you up.”

Emily was at a loss. “Because of work?”

“Em, he defends people on death row.”

She winced. “I know.” Of course his job was important, but wasn’t she important too? Shame washed through her. “I guess it’s always important because it’s someone’s life.”

Trina laughed again. “Like the guy in jail might end up electrocuted, right?”

Emily sighed. “It’s always how it goes.”

“Right. And you picked Brett knowing what his work would mean.”

Everything Trina was saying was true, but how did Emily explain that it never ended with Brett? There was always more justice to mete out. “I see your point,” she said softly, still not letting it go.

“It was just like your whole breakup with Tom.”

This got Emily’s attention. “Tom?” His gorgeous face flashed through her mind. She pushed away the fact that she’d recently read one of the articles in People magazine that had come out about the Kent brothers. The article had shown a picture of Tom in firefighter pants, his shirt off, sweat glistening off of him in the midst of smoke. Attraction wove through her just thinking about it.

Trina continued, unfazed. “Yeah, Tom, the guy you’ve been in love with your whole life.”

“Stop.” Emily had to shut down this conversation. She knew it was dangerous to start thinking about Tom and analyzing everything that had gone wrong in that relationship. “I’m not talking about Tom.”

“Let me finish, counselor,” she said, using the last word to sound like a judge.

Emily sighed, annoyed that now all she could think about was Tom.

“Tom was good.” Trina paused, as if to give Emily the room to admit that was true. “He was the jock who actually stood up for guys who were picked on.”

“Judge, please strike the comment. It is leading the witness.”

Her sister laughed.

“Your point?” Emily said, waiting.

“Not to mention he was easy on the eyes, but all he could talk about was serving his country and firefighting. All he could think about was being strong so he was ready to save someone’s life. Don’t you remember seeing Will a couple of months ago? He mentioned Tom was single then. I wonder if he still is.”

Baffled, Emily asked, “How did we get to this point?”

“My point is that you were cuckoo brain in love with Tom, but the thing that finally ended it was the same reason you were in love with him—his goodness. He was too good. He had to serve his country, and that terrified you.”

Emily balked. She’d overthought Tom Kent for far too many years. “Whatever.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve tension that was building. “Don’t psychoanalyze me.”

“All your dad issues.” Trina sounded frustrated. “You ended things with Tom because you couldn’t stand losing him. He was leaving you. I think you lump it in the same category with Dad. Hey, I have dad issues too, so it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Exactly,” Emily grumbled. Her sister didn’t have to say it like she’d won at Jeopardy.

“You need to face facts. You dumped him before he could dump you or die on you.”

The truth of her sister’s words hit her like a dagger to the heart. There wasn’t pain anymore. Not after ten years. Just smoldering embers. “It doesn’t serve me to dwell on the past.” This was what she told herself. These were the words the therapist she’d started seeing last year had given her.

Silence reigned between them. The waves lapping at her feet seemed far away, somehow.

Eventually, Emily shifted topics. “How’s Mom?”

Her sister sighed. “The same.”

“How is she?” Emily insisted, knowing sometimes her sister didn’t tell her things.

“The same,” Trina snapped.

Worry about her mother circled Emily’s mind like a vulture. During the past ten years, her mother had had more mental breakdowns and been on some pretty intense medication. A year ago, the doctors had told them she had early onset dementia.

“Hey, sis, I’m grateful for you. I know that we couldn’t afford to put Mom in that place if you weren’t paying for it. Since my divorce and college …” Trina trailed off.

“It’s fine.” The truth was that Emily did take care of the financial side of things. Her mother. Her sister. A major reason she needed to become junior partner was for the raise.

“I want you to know I appreciate it.”

Emily swallowed the lump in her throat. “I love all of you. It’s worth it.” Her thoughts flashed back to the case of Tom Kent. Distracted, she wondered if Tom ever thought of her.

An image of the future they’d talked about flashed through her mind, of living in Greeley, Colorado, down the street from both of their mothers. The house with a white picket fence. There was Tom, fixing it up while little kids darted around his feet. With an aching heart, she pushed it away. That life was way in the rearview mirror.

“I guess I should mention one more teensy thing.” Her sister’s voice was hesitant. “I wanted to wait until you were back from Maui.”

“What?” Nervous energy pulsed through her.

“Um, the care center is saying we owe fifteen thousand because of when Mom got sick last month and all the extra care they had to put in place.”

“What?” Emily nearly dropped her phone, and she fumbled to keep it from slipping. Their mother had gotten a cold, and it had turned into pneumonia. Emily thought of the contracts she’d scoured dealing with the facility her mother was in. She couldn’t remember seeing anything about extra charges. “I’ll have to look at it all when I get home.” Fifteen thousand! She swallowed and tried not to let herself panic, but she didn’t have fifteen thousand at the moment.

“Sorry, sis. One day, I’ll help you pay for stuff, and I’ll pay you back. One day, when I’m as famous of an actor as St. George Rahab Kent.”

Reflexively, she laughed, thinking of how they had teased Grant Kent, Tom’s brother, when they were growing up. “Yes.” Emily massaged the soft spot next to her eye, feeling a headache coming on. “You take care of yourself and my little nephew. Tell him auntie loves him.”

“Hey, sorry about your awful time in the most beautiful place in the world, but I gotta run. Love you! And ask that random guy to go to the wedding! Do something crazy, sis! You only live once.”

“Love you.” Emily held on to her phone and took in the beauty she was looking at. The surf, crashing against rocks. The palm trees closer to the shore. The way the foliage covered the earth. It was amazing here.

The emotional lump in her throat was loosening. Yes, she was okay. She sucked in a breath and held it, then let it go. She could do this. But it was an extra fifteen thousand! Where would she get that money? Squeezing her eyes shut, all she knew was that she had to make junior partner.

Watching the waves crash against the rocks, she thought about the popular guidebook her boss had given to all his guests on Maui. She was here. She wasn’t going to let Brett ruin this trip at all. She would hit every cool thing in this guidebook, and she wouldn’t think about facing everyone from work. Next stop, Seven Sacred Pools! She started back up the trail toward the parking lot.

“You here alone?” A tall guy with dark hair and brown eyes smiled back at her.

Emily’s insides fluttered with worry. Not just worry, but unease. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t noticed the guy passing her on the trail. “Uh. No.” After living in New York the past three years, she never told anyone when she was alone. “My boyfriend’s up ahead.”

Looking doubtful, the guy nodded. “That’s good. A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be alone.”

Her clairvoyance was in full force, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Not liking the attention, and knowing she couldn’t outpace him to the top, she stopped on the far side of the rail and let herself get caught in the middle of a large tour group. She ignored the guy, pulling out her phone and taking a picture to distract herself.

“See you, blondie,” she heard the guy call out.

Annoyed, she stayed there for a few moments while others passed her.

When she turned to see if the guy was still there, he wasn’t. Relieved, she filed into the line to climb out. This was stupid. The guy had just been making conversation. Wasn’t that the very thing Trina had wanted her to do? She shivered again as she got to the visitor’s center and saw a crowd of people getting onto a tour bus next to the restroom. She couldn’t see the guy, but something about the interaction still bothered her.

“Emily!”

Spinning, she surveyed the area, but no one seemed to be looking at her. The hair on the back of her neck was still standing. Blood rushed into her ears, and she took in a huge breath, trying to calm herself. No one was after her. She was fine.