THE SECOND CHANCE AT FOREVER

Emma Sinclair had always believed that some places remembered you. You could leave for ten years, change your hair, your clothes, your dreams, even your name if you wanted—but a hometown had a way of recognizing the person you used to be. As Emma drove down the familiar coastal road, the ocean appeared between the trees. She slowed. For a moment, she was twenty years old again. Bare feet in the sand. Salt in her hair. A boy laughing beside her. Daniel. Emma tightened her hands around the steering wheel. "No," she whispered to herself. "Not today." She had returned to Bellmere for one reason: her grandmother had died. Nothing else. Not memories. Not Daniel Carter. And definitely not the feelings she had spent ten years trying to bury. Her grandmother's cottage stood at the end of Rosewood Lane, exactly as Emma remembered it. White walls. Blue shutters. Roses climbing around the porch. Emma parked and sat in the car for several seconds. The house felt strangely quiet without her grandmother. She finally stepped outside. The front door opened before she reached it. "Emma?" She turned. Mrs. Carter, Daniel's mother, stood on the porch. Emma smiled despite the ache in her chest. "Mrs. Carter." The older woman walked toward her and wrapped her in a hug. "You've grown up." Emma laughed softly. "It's been ten years." "I know." Mrs. Carter pulled back and studied her face. "You look happy." Emma hesitated. "I am." It was the easiest lie she had ever told. Then Mrs. Carter looked toward the road. Emma followed her gaze. A black SUV had stopped outside the cottage. The driver's door opened. And Daniel Carter stepped out. Emma forgot how to breathe. He looked different. Older. Broader. His dark hair was shorter, his jaw covered with light stubble. He wore a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. But his eyes were exactly the same. Daniel saw her. Neither of them moved. Ten years disappeared in a single heartbeat. "Emma." Her name sounded different coming from him. Dangerous. Familiar. Beautiful. "Daniel." Mrs. Carter looked between them and smiled. "I'll let you two catch up." She disappeared inside. Emma wished she could follow. Daniel walked toward her. "I heard you were coming." "You did?" "Bellmere isn't exactly a place where secrets stay secret." She gave him a small smile. "Apparently not." His eyes moved over her face. "You look good." "So do you." Silence. Ten years of words sat between them. Finally Daniel said, "I'm sorry about your grandmother." "Thank you." "I loved her." "I know." Another silence. Then Daniel looked toward the cottage. "She left the house to you." Emma nodded. "There's something else." "What?" "She left instructions." Emma frowned. "What kind of instructions?" Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "She wanted us to restore the cottage together." Emma stared at him. "Together?" "Apparently." She opened the envelope. Inside was a handwritten note. Emma recognized her grandmother's handwriting immediately. Emma, If you're reading this, then you've finally come home. There are some things in life we lose because we are foolish. And some things we lose because we are afraid. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering which one you lost. Give the cottage one summer. And give Daniel one honest conversation. Love, Grandma. Emma slowly lowered the letter. "She knew." Daniel looked at her. "She always knew." Emma swallowed. "One summer." Daniel nodded. "One summer." Neither of them realized it yet, but that summer would change everything.