Maddy looked left and then right when she exited The Lighthouse Inn, the cool night air kissing her face in both directions. She’d just left Julia and her sister to get situated in the Oceanside View room, and while she’d remembered meeting Annie years and years ago, somehow the air inside the inn with all three of them there didn’t feel like enough. Like she’d somehow arrived on a space shuttle with only enough beds and oxygen for two, but there were now three of them there.
Outside, she could breathe. Outside, she could think. Outside, she could feel like herself again.
She didn’t see Ben’s motorcycle in the parking lot, but squishy, shifting footsteps met her ears to her right. She looked toward the beach to find the silhouette of a man coming toward her, and a moment later, Ben said,
