Chapter One
Two Years Later
Watching someone die changed a person. Charlotte was not the same woman she’d been on that cold Manhattan morning.
For starters, she no longer lived in Queens, or in New York, for that matter.
As she sat facing her dad in a little café near the Northshire University campus in Middleton, Vermont, she tried to summon some enthusiasm for their conversation.
The truth was, sometimes she felt like a part of her had died that morning too. And yes, the woman from the bus had definitely died. Charlotte had found an article on a local news site that confirmed a pedestrian fatality in the financial district that morning.
Charlotte had always felt somewhat adrift in her life, moving from place to place, boyfriend to boyfriend, but after watching that woman die, she was more lost than ever.
At the time, Charlotte had taken it as a sign to find purpose in her life, but she’d spent the last two years chasing one dead end after another.
Now here she was, back in the town she’d grown up in, the town she’d sworn she would never return to after she left twenty-two years ago.
Famous last words. The truth was, Charlotte was getting desperate.
When her most recent attempt at finding purpose ended in yet another failure, she’d found herself unexpectedly drawn to the place she’d spent most of her life running from.
It was time to face her past. Thirty years ago, Charlotte’s mother vanished without a trace, defining her childhood and shaping the adult she would become.
Yes, she had enough self-awareness to realize her wandering lifestyle was likely rooted in a search for answers she might never find, but she was going to try anyway, dammit.
So here she was, back in Vermont and determined to finally find out what happened to her mom.
And while she was at it, she also hoped to reconcile with her dad.
Their relationship was a work in progress, but that was more than she could have said a few months ago.
“. . . so I’d really appreciate it if you came.” Her dad gave her an expectant look, drawing her back into the conversation.
“I’ll think about it.” But Charlotte knew she wouldn’t be attending the faculty friends-and-family gathering he hosted every year at his home. The university was a bit of a sore spot for her, and they both knew it.
“I really hope you do.” His smile was somewhat forced, as if he’d read the “no” in her expression.
“I’ll let you know, but right now, I have to get going. I’m about to meet a new client to show her a house. She just moved to the area for a job at the university.” Because everything in this town revolved around Northshire University.
“Oh yeah? What does she teach?”
Charlotte shrugged. “No idea. I’m just here to help her find a house.”
“Okay. See you next week.” Hope glimmered in his eyes.
He wanted her back in his life too. Since her return, they’d met for lunch every Sunday after he got out of church, and slowly, things were starting to feel less awkward between them, but they still had a lot of lost time and hurt feelings to make up for.
“Yep. Bye, Dad.” She walked outside, where a cold breeze whipped through her hair, tossing it in her face. Maybe it was time for a haircut. She’d worn it long her whole adult life. Maybe she should get a bob. Or something even more drastic? Like a pixie cut.
It was January, after all. New year, new Charlotte?
The problem was, she’d tried out a “new Charlotte” so many times, she almost didn’t know who she was anymore.
Had there really been no lesson to learn from that fateful day on the bus?
Charlotte had thought that watching someone lose their life was a sign to find purpose in hers, except she’d tried everything she could think of, and nothing had panned out.
She’d gone after a big promotion at work, only to end up hating the new responsibilities she was given.
So, she’d quit her job and left New York to chase a second chance with “the one that got away,” her college boyfriend, Darren.
Charlotte had tried out a new life in Washington, DC, with him, but they’d quickly fallen into old patterns, fighting constantly, so in the end, she’d left him . . . again.
Starting over in her hometown might be her last stab at figuring out what she was supposed to be doing with her life. Charlotte had moved back to Vermont four months ago, and it hadn’t taken long for certain habits to reappear, like not putting on her coat if she was just running out to her car.
Luckily, the weather today was fairly mild, by Vermont standards.
It was about thirty degrees and partly sunny.
She slid behind the wheel, grateful for her gloves, since the steering wheel was absolutely freezing.
As she drove, her thoughts meandered in an attempt to distract herself when the campus came into view.
There was a reason she hadn’t attended Northshire University.
It was a petty one, but it was hers. Both her parents had taught there.
Her dad still did. Charlotte had spent countless hours as a child running around the campus, observing the college students as she dreamed of what her life would be like at that age, so mature and worldly.
But her mother’s disappearance and her subsequently strained relationship with her dad had tainted all her memories of the campus.
It lost its magic, feeling instead like a prison she’d been desperate to escape.
When the time came, she’d chosen to leave Vermont, attending college in New Hampshire instead.
She’d sworn she’d never come back, and yet, here she was.
Today’s showing was at a small colonial just past the main campus.
This was the perfect location for a professor, but Charlotte had concerns about the house itself.
It seemed dated, and not in a charming way.
It needed enough work that it might even be considered a fixer-upper, which wasn’t what her new client was looking for.
The driveway was empty when Charlotte reached the small beige house. She parked at the curb and consulted the listing notes on her phone while she waited for her client, a woman named Marin Easterly. A few minutes later, a black Subaru Outback pulled up. This must be her.
Charlotte put on her coat, shut off her car, and stepped outside, flinching as the cold air gusted against her. A tall brunette was getting out of the Outback as Charlotte headed up the walkway to meet her at the front door.
“Hi, you must be Marin. I’m Charlotte. It’s so nice to meet—” She froze with her hand extended in greeting as she got a good look at the woman in front of her. Everything seemed to stop as adrenaline punched through her system, making her heart race and her stomach tingle, because it was her.
The woman she’d watched die two years ago was standing right in front of her. Which wasn’t possible, of course. Charlotte blinked, giving her head a slight shake. They said everyone had a doppelg?nger . . .
“It’s you.” The woman’s eyes widened as she stared at Charlotte with an expression of wonder. “It’s really you.”
This can’t be happening.
“But . . .” Charlotte spluttered. “I watched you die.”
For a moment, Marin could have sworn her heart stopped for the second time. But it was still beating. Racing, in fact. The woman who’d comforted her as she lay dying in the street, who’d shaken her out of the fog that had shrouded her for so much of her life, was standing in front of her.
That fateful day, Marin had felt such a strong connection to her that she hadn’t paid enough attention to her surroundings as she crossed the street. She’d looked back over her shoulder, hoping for one last glimpse of the woman on the bus, a decision that had nearly cost Marin her life.
Now she knew that woman’s name. Charlotte Danton. Her new Realtor. What were the chances? If this wasn’t fate, she didn’t know what was. Tears pricked behind Marin’s eyes, and she felt the uncharacteristic urge to hug this woman she barely knew.
Charlotte’s eyes looked suspiciously glossy, suggesting she was just as affected by their reunion.
Her hair had gotten longer, blond curls falling halfway down her back.
And her scarf . . . the pink-and-green scarf.
She’d been wearing it on the bus. Marin had the inappropriate urge to touch that too.
It had caught her eye that day, and it did again now.
Those colors looked fantastic on Charlotte.
“I don’t understand,” Charlotte said. “How are you here? And in Vermont? I have so many questions.”
“I’ll answer them all, but let’s go inside first, shall we?
It’s freezing out here.” Her body had a lot of aches and pains these days, and the cold certainly didn’t help.
Perhaps she should have relocated to Florida instead of Vermont, but she’d had her reasons for coming here, reasons she never could have imagined would lead to this moment.
Charlotte reached for the lockbox on the front door and entered the code, then motioned Marin in ahead of her.
She kept staring at Marin as if she’d seen a ghost, and she probably felt like she had, if she thought Marin had died that day.
Obviously that accident had changed Marin’s entire life, but she’d never really stopped to imagine its impact on Charlotte.
“Okay, Marin Easterly.” Charlotte gave her an incredulous look. “You know, I always regretted not getting your name that day. It was hard to mourn you, not knowing. Now here you are, alive . . . and in my hometown, no less.”
Marin’s hands were shaking, and her heart pounded. “This feels like one of those ‘small world’ moments.”
“For me, it feels like an impossibility because I watched your heart stop,” Charlotte said. “And then I read a news article that said a woman died in that accident.”