Chapter 2
Note to Self: Missing what you lost doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice
The Sable Cove town limits sign welcomed Tessa to the cozy seaside town.
She’d never heard of Sable Cove before her life imploded two days ago, but when she’d searched for rental homes, she’d somehow wound up on a beachfront rental site, and there she’d seen a charming cottage on the water, near a working lighthouse, and with a private path to the local beach.
Not only was it quite far from her former home and had entailed a long drive and a stay in a hotel overnight, but it seemed like a good place for a fresh start.
She’d paid the deposit sight unseen, and the landlord had left the keys in the mailbox.
She pulled into the gravel drive after getting the keys from the mailbox and stopped next to the quaint, fully furnished cottage. She got out of her car and stretched with a squeak, her back protesting the last four-hour leg of the journey. But she was here now. Safe and sound.
Whatever sound meant.
She unlocked the front door and walked inside the two-bedroom house. It was decorated in beach-chic, with turquoise throw pillows, seashells on every flat surface, and a large, framed painting of the lighthouse at sunset, waves crashing against the shore.
The house was a little musty, so she first opened the windows and then went back outside to grab her bags.
Her whole life was stuffed into two large suitcases and her favorite purse.
She wasn’t going to reflect on what she’d left behind.
Because as she paused and turned toward the sound of the water, she felt relief for the first time in a long time.
There was peace here, and space to figure out her life.
She hadn’t had any plans when she’d stopped at her boyfriend’s place after work on Wednesday and found him and her best friend in bed together.
Her world had quietly shattered as the two most important people in her life had betrayed her, flinging blame at each other before eventually turning the blame to Tessa.
She went to her apartment and packed her bags, canceling a planned move-in with her boyfriend by text, and quitting her job that she’d never really found fulfilling anyway. Once she’d found the rental cottage, the next step had been to head to Sable Cove.
A place where no one knew her or what she’d endured.
Where she could be as introverted or extroverted as she wanted.
And where, maybe, the fresh start she was hoping for was within reach.
After taking her things into the house, she decided to go for a drive into town to stock the kitchen. On the way back from the nearest grocery, she noticed a bookstore, and her bookish self cheered at the thought of finding a few good books to read.
The Ember she hadn’t been in danger. She’d walked away to save her sanity, her tears more for the time she’d wasted trusting in people who’d clearly not cared about her.
Breathing deeply along with the ebb and flow of the waves, she felt calmer and more centered than she had in ages.
As she took another drink of tea and pondered the day ahead, movement on the other side of the beach caught her attention.
She turned to watch someone approaching.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing the dark uniform of a police officer, his badge catching the morning sunlight like a diamond.
Curiosity flickered inside her.
And then he drew close enough that she could make out his features more clearly.
He had the casually ruffled blond hair and tanned skin of a California boy fresh from the surf, and something inside her sparked to life.
Who was this man?