Falmouth Echoes (A Cape Cod Series Book 2)

Prologue

A few months ago

Sophia huffed and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She set the box down on the kitchen counter, spun around to face Darren, and placed both hands on her hips. “Why do you have to make this harder than it already is?”

Darren finished taping up the side of the box and glanced up at her, a furrow appearing between his brows. “I’m not trying to make this harder. You’re the one who’s talking about renting out the cottage.”

She frowned and raised an eyebrow. “Well, what else do you suggest we do? It’s better than leaving it empty.”

And she already knew that she wasn’t going to move into the cottage.

Not even for a short amount of time.

There were far too many memories here, too many summers spent out on the back porch playing card games and too many late nights where she and Darren had stayed up in their bed, giggling and laughing like teenagers.

Sophia wasn’t even sure why she’d suggested they pack the place together. Since their divorce two years ago, their relationship had been anything but smooth sailing, owing to the fact that there were still a lot of unresolved feelings between them, but Sophia had believed that Darren had the right to be there, too.

They were his memories as well.

Darren stood up, wiped his hands on the back of his jeans, and fixed his gray eyes on hers. “I think it would be better to leave it empty, actually.”

“You can’t preserve it like some kind of shrine,” Sophie replied with a shake of her head. “Anyway, it’s just until I figure out what to do next.”

Darren frowned. “You’re not honestly considering that guy’s offer to sell, are you? He’ll level the place and build some stupid condo.”

Sophia broke eye contact and cleared her throat. “Maybe it would be for the best. I haven’t used this cottage in years.”

Darren exhaled. “You’re not the only one having a hard time with this, Soph. I love this place, too.”

They both had since the minute her father gifted her the place for their tenth anniversary. Situated in the middle of Falmouth, atop a gentle cliff, the brick cottage had always been something of a refuge for them, particularly when they wanted to get away from the routine of their everyday life in Provincetown. While a part of her dreaded the thought of having someone else walk the same halls and invade their sacred space, she had no idea what else she was meant to do with the place.

Because she knew she couldn’t keep it, not when ghosts of what could’ve been lingered around every corner. Even now, she was beginning to regret asking Darren to come out and help her pack up the rest of their things. In the two years since their divorce, they’d gotten a lot better at being in the same room without it turning into a fight, but there were still days when it was hard.

Like today.

Sophia could barely stand in the room with him, especially not in the cottage. Each minute in his presence brought it all back, every smile, every kiss, every whispered promise that never saw the light of day.

With a slight shake of her head, Sophia pushed the thoughts away and returned to the box in the middle of the open-floor kitchen. Wordlessly, she set it down on the other side of the counter and rummaged through it. When she was done, she picked up her marker, labeled the box, and took a step back.

She felt Darren’s eyes on her the whole time.

Would things ever be stable between them?

“How about we rent it out for a little while until we decide what we’re going to do?”

Sophia wheeled around to face him, a lump rising in the back of her throat. “Okay.”

Darren nodded, mostly to himself. “I’ll ask around and see what I can come up with.”

In silence, they finished packing the rest of the cottage, dancing around each other as they did. When they were finished, Sophia was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and her heart hadn’t stopped thudding painfully in her ex’s presence. Darren, on the other hand, didn’t look the least bit fazed in her presence. On the contrary, he looked completely in his element, in a shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips.

He still gave her an odd little twinge in her stomach, even after being apart for two years.

Sophia wondered if she was ever not going to be in love with her ex.

“I’ve got to get going because I’ve got my shift in a few hours,” Darren announced after carrying a few of the boxes out to his car. “I’ll drop these off at the house before I head out.”

Without looking at him, Sophia brushed past, carrying her own box out to the car. “I can ask Ian to stop by.”

Darren shook his head and materialized next to her. Wordlessly, he helped her move around some of the boxes to make room for one more. When his hand touched hers, a jolt of electricity raced up her arm. She ignored it and slammed the trunk shut with a loud thud. Then she spun around to face Darren, studying his smooth, angular face in the dying light.

Behind him, the sun was beginning its descent below the horizon, bathing the world in hues of pink and purple. For a while, the two of them stood at the end of the cobblestoned path, sneaking glances at each other and not saying anything. As soon as Darren’s phone rang, she took a few steps back and ran a hand over her face.

Darren hung up the call a few moments later and cleared his throat. “And that’s my cue. Let me know if you need my help with anything else.”

Sophia shoved both hands into the pocket of her jeans. “Sure.”

“Soph?”

“Hmm?”

Darren blew out a breath. “I really am sorry things worked out this way. I know I keep saying it, but I do mean it.”

Sophia nodded and avoided looking at him.

She waited until Darren got in his car before turning back around and watching him leave. Sophia watched until his car turned into a speck before rounding the corner and disappearing altogether. Then she shuffled back into the cottage, heart twisting painfully as she stood in the doorway and regarded the empty living room. With a sigh, she kicked the door shut with the back of her leg and then started to remove the last of the picture frames.

Once she was done, she leaned against the wall and let her eyes sweep over the place.

It was so empty and barren, devoid of the usual life and laughter she’d grown used to. Suddenly, she saw the cottage through the same lens she saw the house they’d shared together in Provincetown. Without their kids keeping them together, Sophia and Darren had drifted apart, finding less and less to talk about with each passing day.

Their marriage had died a slow and painful death, and Sophia had fought it all along, but when it eventually became too much, she knew it was time to call it a day. Walking away from Darren was one of the hardest decisions she’d ever had to make, but she did it anyway.

As much for his sake as for hers.

They both deserved to be happy.

And at least the two of them were getting better at dealing with each other and shielding their problems from their kids. Although Zoe, their youngest, seemed to be taking their divorce well and often teased her mom about it, Zac, on the other hand, was a completely different matter.

He’d quit his internship and moved to another continent shortly after the divorce was finalized. Since then, Sophia had felt him drifting further and further away, and nothing she said or did seemed to bridge the gap between them.

She still clung to the hope that she could fix things with her son.

As soon as the last of the boxes were arranged in her car, Sophia took one final look around the cottage and ignored the twinge in her heart. Then she hurried down the narrow path and into her car. Once her seatbelt clicked into place, Ian’s name flashed across the screen. Slowly, she backed out onto the main street and paused to swipe right, allowing her brother’s voice to fill the car.

“You on your way back already?”

Sophia relaxed against the seat and secured her grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would, and I did tell you I’d be back by the end of the day.”

“Yeah, but isn’t it better to stay in the cottage? It’s the weekend anyway, so it’s not like you need to rush back.”

Sophia’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “I can’t stay there, Ian. The last time we were there was as a family. It was the day we told Zoe and Zac we were going to separate.”

“I’m sorry, Soph. Did Darren give you a hard time today?”

Sophia sighed. “No, he’s getting better at keeping himself in check. So am I.”

“Good. I would hate to have to give him another stern talking to.”

“Like the one you gave my ninth-grade boyfriend. I still don’t think I’ve ever seen someone laugh so hard that they cracked a rib.”

Ian grumbled something under his breath.

“At least it was better than the speech I gave your eleventh-grade girlfriend. I don’t even remember what I told her.”

“Something about how scientists can clone people. I think she got the impression you’d make her disappear and replace her with a clone if she ever hurt me.”

Sophia chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like me. How are things with Lucy, by the way?”

“I don’t know, Soph. I know something’s wrong, but she won’t talk to me. First, she wouldn’t organize that big wedding, and now, she’s barely talking to me. I have no idea what’s going on.”

Sophia paused. “Look, I know you don’t believe in stuff like this, but you should consider therapy. It’s not too late to save your marriage. Don’t wait too long like I did, okay?”

“I’ll think about it.”

For the rest of the ride, they talked about nothing in particular, with Ian’s voice comforting her as she drove through the empty streets. An hour and a half later, when Sophia pulled up outside of her father’s two-story Victorian-style house on the outskirts of Provincetown, Sophia felt a familiar twinge in the center of her chest.

The same twinge she’d been getting on and off for the past two years.

A part of her hated having to return home with her tail between her legs after her divorce, but the other part of her knew that moving into another rental wasn’t the smart choice. Having never invested in their own home, Darren and Sophia had lived in the same rental for most of their marriage, and Sophia had never seen the harm in it.

Until now.

She killed the engine, leaned forward in her seat, and thought about everything in her life that led to her moving back home into the apartment above her father’s garage. While she knew her father loved having her there, going out of his way to make her feel comfortable, moving back had still been difficult.

It was like trying to put on a pair of shoes that didn’t fit anymore.

Yet, Sophia took comfort in the fact that it was temporary, a reprieve until she got back on her feet and figured out what to do next.

Sighing, Sophia stepped out of the car and stretched her arms up over her head. Moments later, the front door opened, and her father stepped out in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. He covered the distance between them and pulled her in for a hug.

When they drew apart, she felt better than she had all day.