Heather was thankful for the distraction of picking her guests up from the airport. To her relief, the plane was on time. She sat and waited while the passengers disembarked. Mostly backpacker types, but there was a mix of resort vacationers as well. There were more and more all-inclusive resorts popping up around Bocas, attracting an upper-scale clientele. The mixture of people was almost comical, but Heather was not in the mood for laughing. She watched carefully, and picked out the foursome she assumed to be her new guests.

There were two men and two women, but they weren’t couples. The email hadn’t given her a lot of details, except that they worked together and had a short work break to enjoy some downtime. She waited until they grabbed their backpacks and duffel bags from the baggage area before she approached them.

“Hi and welcome to Bocas del Toro.” She forced a smile she certainly didn’t feel and introduced herself to the group.

“Mason Wells.” The bigger, darker man held out his hand and shook with a strength that didn’t surprise her, given the muscles on the man. “This is Eric, the beautiful Layla, and the equally beautiful Phoebe.”

Heather said her hellos, greeting each of them before setting off for the dock. They were an easy bunch, and agreeable to walking the short distance down the road to where she’d left Luis and the boats. Heather had already decided to ask Luis to pick up a few supplies for her and she’d take her own boat back with the guests. Ash could figure out some other way to get around. It couldn’t be her problem.

She wanted to get away as soon as she could and if she could avoid Ash in the process, all the better. Her plan was slightly derailed when she got back to the dock to find Luis, and the young boy she recognized as the kid who was with Ash the day she met him. Luis’s boat was loaded with what looked like all the groceries she needed, plus some items from the clinic. Supplies for Sherri. Of course. She likely needed something and she hadn’t even thought to ask. She was way too wrapped up in her own drama. That would have to change. At once.

“Señorita. Are you ready?”

“What’s all this, Luis?”

He looked to the boy, who answered. “Señor Ash asked me to bring this for you.”

Ash.

She bit her tongue to keep from asking where Ash was. She didn’t want to know.

“He said you’d take the boat back, señorita.” The boy looked so eager to please, she couldn’t be mad at him. It wasn’t his fault that the man he worked for had taken her heart and stomped on it. She gave him the biggest smile she could manage. “Thank you…”

“Miguel.”

“Thank you, Miguel.” Heather reached into her pocket and handed the boy a few dollars, but he shook his head.

“No, señorita. Estoy buen.”

She withdrew the money. Of course Ash would have taken care of him, but as Miguel was busy helping her guests into the boat and loading their bags safely in the bow, Heather slipped the bills into the boy’s bag. Luis gave her a wink and the simple act helped lift her spirits a little bit.

“All done, señorita.” Miguel beamed at her from the dock when the last of the bags was loaded.

“Gracias, Miguel.”

“Are you guys ready?” Heather turned to her guests, who were excitedly chatting among themselves. All but one. An extremely beautiful young woman. Her long, dark hair was twisted up into a messy bun. Her oversized mirrored sunglasses covered half of her face, but Heather could still tell the woman had the type of easy beauty of a movie star. She sat off to the side of the boat, gazing out across the water and the buildings that lined the shore, while the other woman and two men joked and laughed.

They were all good-looking in that beyond gorgeous movie star way. They had the easy, carefree mannerisms Heather imagined celebrities must have. But where the brunette seemed a little more breakable somehow, the others looked a bit tougher, all of them sporting smooth, sleek muscles, even the blonde.

The brunette, Phoebe, looked at her and smiled. “I think we have everything.”

“Are you sure you got all your bathing suits in that bag?” The bigger of the two men, Mason, teased her and she blushed.

“Just one,” she said. “And my script.”

Script? “Are you guys working on a play?”

“Not since high school.” The other man laughed. “We’re working on the new Dean Harrison movie.”

“A movie?” Heather quickly checked the engine line and started up the boat. Miguel threw her the bow line and she started to move slowly away from the dock. “That’s really cool. I’m sorry for asking, but…are you—”

“Movie stars?” The blonde, Layla, saved her from herself. “No. We’re stunt doubles. Well, all of us except Phoebe Flynn. This is her first film. She’s the lead.”

“Well, not the lead.” Phoebe, obviously uncomfortable with the attention, blushed and shook her head. “I’m just the female—”

“Lead,” Mason finished for her. “It’s okay. You’re going to be huge after this and you won’t want to hang out with us anymore.” He looked at Heather. “Remember the name—Phoebe Flynn. She’s going to be huge.”

It didn’t look to Heather as though she was totally comfortable hanging with them as it was, but she didn’t say anything. It was likely the girl was just shy. She was clearly uncomfortable with attention, which made her career choice an interesting one. “Well, I think it’s cool,” she said. “We haven’t had any celebrities or movie people at Casa del Sol. At least not while I’ve been in charge. I’m excited to have you stay with us.”

“We’re excited to be here. It’s always an unexpected bonus when we get to take a little break.” Eric spoke up. He was leaner than his friend, but clearly extremely fit. He had a scruff of facial hair. In a different light, he might be confused with—

“Are you Dean Harrison’s stunt double?” she asked, making the connection.

“Guilty.” His smile was bright with a hint of cockiness. Heather instantly liked him.

“Very cool.” Heather had never been the fan-girl type, but it was pretty cool to have celebrities of a sort staying with her. “Where are you filming that you were able to come down for a bit?”

“This is kind of a cool film because it’s mostly being filmed on site instead of a studio. My favorite kind of shoot,” Eric said.

“Because Panama is way more beautiful than LA,” Layla chimed in.

“It’s true,” Eric agreed. “We’re filming mostly in the San Blas Islands and our home base is a little marina a few hours outside of Panama City.”

Heather felt a strange tug of familiarity. “Shelter Bay?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“Have I ever.” She smiled. But the mention of her old home didn’t cause any sore feelings, the way it might have a month ago. A lot had changed. She had changed. “So how did you hear of Casa del Sol? I haven’t had a chance to get it up on the Airbnb site yet.”

“Archer told us.” Layla all but swooned when she said Archer’s name. The mountain man had that effect on women. “He’s so great,” she told Heather. “He has this boat and we’re using it for some of the shots.”

“The Cassiopeia.”

“You know it?”

“I do.” Heather tried to hide her grin. “It’s Cass’s boat. His girlfriend. You must have met her, too.”

Layla’s face fell, twisting into a frown. “Yup.”

“Cass is great.” It was Phoebe who spoke up. “She’s just so sweet and her boat is…it would be nice to live on a boat, don’t you think?”

“Phoebs, you just wait till this flick comes out. You’ll have enough money to buy us all a boat.”

“And if you play your cards right, I’ll let you all come visit.” Phoebe laughed. It was the first time Heather had seen her open up with the group and joke. Judging by the way the rest of them ran with it, Heather guessed it didn’t happen all that often.

She urged the boat faster as they left Bocas Town behind, but she didn’t open up the throttle to full speed, choosing instead to get to know her new guests a little bit. They turned out to be fun, friendly, and super interesting to talk to. And they had the added benefit of distracting Heather from the ache in her chest and the realization that when she got back to Casa del Sol, Ash wouldn’t be there.

* * *

By the time Heather got to the dock, Luis had already arrived and was unloading the supplies. Camila—and surprisingly, her mother—helped him.

She tied up the boat quickly and before she could even get to the dock to help her guests, they were already jumping up, excited to get their vacation started. “Welcome to Casa del Sol!” She spread her arms. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll go mix up a jug of drinks and then we can get you all settled into your rooms.”

“No hurry, Heather.” Layla stripped her tank top off to reveal a tight, toned body in a string bikini. “I’ve been dying to get in the water.”

“Have you now?” Mason pulled his T-shirt off to reveal an impressive eight-pack of rippling abs, and before anyone could say anything, grabbed Layla’s hand and pulled her with him into the ocean.

With her new guests happily entertained, Heather grabbed their bags and headed into grande casa. Her mother was behind the bar, mixing something in a large pitcher. “Mom, you don’t have to—”

“Nonsense. Camila showed me the garden out back. Did you know there’s bushes and bushes of mint out there?”

Heather smiled. “I did.”

“I thought I could help you out. You’ve been gone so long and—” She stopped herself and looked around. “Where’s Ash?”

Heather felt something in her gut twist and she bit her bottom lip. “I assume he stayed in town.”

“You found him then? What was he doing in town? Camila said something about picking up something or other, but I have no idea what she’s saying half the time. I was thinking of learning Spanish.”

Heather’s head spun, trying to keep up with her mother’s train of thought. It was as if she’d left one version of her mom and returned to a completely different, more relaxed version. Of course, Panama did seem to have that effect on people.

“You’re going to learn Spanish in a week or two?” Heather moved around the bar and grabbed a few glasses and a tray to stack everything on. “You are going home, right?”

They’d had a good evening and mended a lot of bridges in the last twenty-four hours, but it was going to take a lot more than one night to mend them all.

Her mother waved a hand. “Of course I’m going home. Eventually. But right now you need me here. So I’ll stay.”

It was an argument she wasn’t going to have. She didn’t have the energy. Besides, maybe she’d be able to use the help with Ash gone.

With Ash gone.

She just assumed he’d be gone now that they’d…what? Broken up? There wasn’t really another word for what happened between them. Even if they hadn’t technically been dating, it was a breakup.

“You didn’t answer me, Heather.”

She’d totally forgotten her mother was still standing there. “What?”

“Did you find Ash?”

She nodded.

“Where is he then? I wanted to ask him about showing me another beach. He told me about another place where he could find sand dollars in the shallows. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Sand dollars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sand dollar before. Have you? You must have. Living here for so long and all. I thought maybe I could—”

“Mom!”

Heather instantly felt bad when her mother’s face fell. She’d never seen her mom so animated and excited about anything and she didn’t want to stifle that, but at the same time she absolutely couldn’t handle listening to her mom for one more minute.

“Sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s been a long day. Do you think maybe you could take our new guests those drinks you just made? I think you’re going to like them. They’re all working on a movie.”

“A movie?” Heather knew that would catch her mother’s interest. “Like movie stars?”

She nodded. “And stunt doubles. Cool, huh?”

“I would say so.” Her mom grabbed the tray, put the jug on it and moved around the bar before she stopped and looked back at Heather. “Are you okay, sweetie? You look…sad.”

“I am sad.” She answered honestly because she just didn’t have the energy for anything else. “But I’ll be okay.” She nodded. “Yes. I’ll be okay.”

Her mother’s smile was so genuine and familiar, Heather felt it in her heart. “You will be okay, Heather. If there’s one thing I know about my daughter, it’s that she’s a strong woman. It may have taken you a little bit of time to get there, but you know who you are and what you need. Whatever’s making you sad, you will be okay.”

Heather bit her lip to keep from blubbering. It was the sweetest thing her mother had ever said to her. “Thanks, Mom.”

Her mother nodded. “And in the meantime, if you want to talk, I’ll be rubbing noses with our celebrity guests.”

“Elbows, Mom. You’ll be rubbing elbows.”

She winked. “Maybe those, too.”

Heather chuckled and shook her head, as her mother walked out to the dock. Only a few days in Panama, and the change in the woman was incredible. Maybe it was the place? Maybe it was being in Panama, and more specifically, Casa del Sol that changed people?

She couldn’t be sure. But she did know her mother was right. Heather did know who she was and what she needed. She would be okay.

But she couldn’t help but think that she’d be even more okay with Ash standing next to her.