It took a while for JT’s heart to settle in his chest after Emma’s display outside of the store. He felt like a zombie walking around the store as they picked out a pie and ice cream. He added a few choice steaks to their basket along with potatoes and carrots for dinner.

He was bummed that she had to carry a bag from Serenity’s as they made their way back towards the docks, but his hands were full and he didn’t want to drop the ice cream.

He settled the food into the built-in cooler and made sure the rest of her bags were stored below deck before releasing the ropes and pushing the boat away.

“Do you want to drive back?” he asked as he kicked the engine on.

“I think this time I can sit and actually enjoy the ride.” She settled down beside him, and he noticed that she didn’t have a death grip on either her life vest or the railing.

When they hit open water, he gunned it to top speed and glanced over to see her smiling as the wind blew her hair around her face. She’d braided it for the first ride over, but short strands had fallen loose around her face.

He shot glances her way while they sped across the open water towards his island. There were other islands around his, most of them too small or too rocky to build on. An occasional home or two sat on the bigger islands and, in the distance, he could make out East Haven. He slowed the boat and let it coast while he pointed it out to Emma.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, standing next to him, shielding the sun from her eyes. “Have you ever stayed there?”

“No, but I’ve spent plenty of time on the island. If you want to take a tour of the place sometime this week, I can ask Sarah.”

“Sarah is… Serenity, correct?”

He nodded. “Her mother, Crystal, owns Serenity’s Attic. Sarah owns East Haven now. Her father originally owned it, but he died when Sarah was young and left it to her, which she didn’t find out until last year.” He shook his head. “The more I talk about the people around me, the more I understand why I write books. There are more stories surrounding me than I know what to do with.” He started the boat again and waited until Emma sat back down. “For instance”—he raised his voice over the sound of the motor—“Lilith, Sarah’s employee, was kidnapped last year.”

“Oh no.” Emma glanced over at him and held a strand of hair away from her face.

“Long story, but she’s okay now. She’s married now to the chef on the island.” He sighed. “Then there’s—” He stopped talking when the boathouse came into view. Something was off, which raised security flags. There, on the dock next to where his boat parked, sat the mug from this morning. At least he assumed it was the remains of his mug, since the dark blue ceramic shards matched his favorite mug perfectly.

“Stay in the boat,” he said before the vessel came to a stop. He tied off the bow ropes and jumped out without tying it off fully. He rushed around the boathouse, calling for Bo.

When the dog came running up to him, panting and wagging his tail, he relaxed slightly and walked back to help Emma out of the craft.

“Is that your mug from this morning?”

He nodded. “Looks like we had a visitor today.” He pulled out his cell phone and called Tom, the local police chief. As he tied off the boat, he filled Tom in on the possibility of an intruder.

His island wasn’t completely marked private land, but there were signs up every so often. It wasn’t the intruder that bothered him, it was the fact that they had taken the mug and then returned it crushed. Was it a sign?

His first thoughts were of Emma. What had happened between her and Mark Rayes? Making a mental note to find out as much as he could online, he hung up the phone with Tom.

“Well?” Emma said from behind him. She was on her knees, petting Bo, who was lying on his back with his legs sticking straight up in the air. The dog was incorrigible.

“He says to keep an eye out. If we see anyone, let him know.”

“That’s no help.” She stood up and Bo groaned as he rolled over to stand.

“Yeah, I figured they weren’t going to be much help.” He jumped back in the boat and grabbed the groceries.

“Then why call?” she asked, watching him.

“Because now it’s officially on record.” He set the bags on the dock. “There’s a cart…” He nodded to the wagon he used to get groceries up to the house.

“Who do you think it was?” she asked, pulling the wagon over towards the boat.

“Did you tell anyone you were coming here?” he asked after a moment.

Her eyes jumped up to his. “You don’t think… Mark wouldn’t…” She shook her head. “I doubt he’d stoop to…”

“I’m not naming names.”

“No, but you’re hinting.” She started putting the bags into the cart.

“No, I’m trying to run through a list of people who could potentially be a danger to you.” He jumped onto the dock again and took her shoulders in his hands. “That broken cup isn’t just a kid playing around. Someone had to have a boat, know where the island is, get past…” He glanced down at the dog, who was chasing his tail, and sighed. “Okay, getting past Bo isn’t hard, but someone took the cup from the beach while I was either swimming or shortly after we left.” He felt her shiver and nodded. “Someone’s watching us.” Her eyes darted around the boathouse. “Who’s to say they aren’t waiting to do something further.”

Her eyes moved up to the house. “You don’t think they broke in?”

He groaned. “Stay here.” He started to leave, but she jerked his arm back.

“You are not going up there alone.”

He looked down. “No, I’m taking Bo with me.”

“And leaving me here all alone?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

He thought about it. “Okay, we’ll go together. Whatever we find…”

“We deal with it together,” she agreed.

* * *

Emma was having a hard time thinking of the broken cup as anything other than a broken cup. But as they made their way back to the house, she glanced around and realized he was right. To get to his island, someone had to have a boat, know which island was his, park the boat somewhere, and… watch them.

She’d lived in the city for the past few years and having people watch her was nothing new. But the more she looked around, the more it creeped her out, knowing someone had possibly watched them on the beach.

Then she remembered JT coming out of the water and understood exactly why he was on edge. If she’d been the one walking out of the ocean wearing nothing but a smile, she’d totally freak out. Like she was now seeing the house in front of them and not knowing what was waiting for them.

She reached for JT’s hand. He dropped the handle of the cart with the groceries in it and took her hand in his.

“You can stay out here with Bo,” he suggested.

She shook her head. “No, we’ll all go in.” She glanced down at Bo, who sat down on his butt.

JT opened the door and smiled. “So far so good,” he said after looking in.

They spent the next half hour going room to room. Nothing looked out of place.

“We lucked out,” he said, and then he groaned. “My office.”

She followed him as they made their way up the hill.

When they opened the door, her heart sank seeing the destruction. Books were tossed everywhere, and his very expensive chair was twisted and broken.

Her hand went to JT’s shoulders to comfort him, but he rushed away as he headed towards his computer. As far as she could tell, it had been left untouched.

Making her way to his side while stepping over the destruction, she watched as he flipped the screen on.

“Is… everything there?”

He glanced over at her. “I save my files on a secure drive… offsite. That doesn’t mean they didn’t mess with my system.”

He moved the mouse around and nodded. “Last login was me.” He shut the system down and pulled out his cell phone. “Looks like Tom has a reason to come out now.”

She stood outside with him as he talked to the police.

“They’ll be here within the hour. We might as well head back to the house and put everything away. Our ice cream is probably starting to melt by now.”

They walked in silence, and she helped him put the groceries away, then carried her bags from Serenity’s Attic upstairs.

When she came down, there was a tall brown-haired man in police uniform standing in the living room talking to JT.

JT glanced up at her and smiled. “Emma, this is Brock. Brock, Emma Wilder.”

“Aren’t you…” Brock started to say but shook his head. “Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, and walked over and shook it.

“Nice to meet you, and yes, I am.” She smiled. “JT was nice enough to put me up for a few days while I’m in town.”

“Lucky man.” Brock smiled. “If you’ll pardon me, I was just going to head on over and assess the damage.” He tipped his head towards her.

“We’ll be back soon. Will you be okay here?” JT asked.

“Yes.” She waved him off. “I’ll start dinner.” She nodded back to the kitchen.

Brock walked to the front door and waited for JT there. JT walked closer to her and whispered.

“This shouldn’t take long, but I’m letting Bo stay with you here.” His hand slid down her arm. “If you need anything…”

She smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

She watched them leave and made her way into the kitchen. It took her a few minutes to find everything she needed. She cleaned the potatoes and put them in the oven once it was heated. Then she started on the rest of dinner.

Deciding she could use a drink to stop herself from glancing out the window every few seconds, she pulled out a bottle of wine and sipped a glass as she worked.

Bo, for his part, lay on his bed that sat in the corner of the kitchen and watched her.

When her cell phone rang, she jumped and answered it before looking at the screen.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Emm?” Mark’s voice caused her shoulders to tense all over again.

“Mark?” She had to take a deep cleansing breath to keep herself from hanging up.

“Who did you think it was?” Mark’s tone turned accusing.

“What do you want?” she asked. It was the first time he’d called her since the fight almost a week ago.

“I called to see if I could come over. I wanted to stop by and… talk.”

“I’m not at home.” She rubbed her hand over her forehead.

“What time will you be back? I can wait.”

“I’m out of town,” she answered, reaching for her wine.

“Where are you? I can…”

“I’m out of the state. What do you want?” she asked again.

The phone was silent for a while.

“I wanted to explain… about the other night.”

“Explain?” She drank a gulp of wine and went back to rubbing her forehead.

“You caught me on a bad night. I was pretty upset that I hadn’t gotten a new part...”

She could tell he was lying, but at this point, she no longer cared. He’d done and said things that could no longer be justified. Especially since the whole deal had been caught on tape and exposed to the entire world.

“Mark, it’s over,” she said once he stopped making excuses.

“You’re just saying that because you’re upset. I’m sure if I come over… where are you? I can drive…” He broke off.

“I’m in Maine,” she blurted out. “Clear across the country. And I don’t want to see you. I think you made yourself very clear…”

“What about the premiere?” he interrupted her.

“I’ll be there and play nice, but as far as you and I are concerned… it’s done.” She pushed the button and tossed her phone down on the table.