She took his meaning. The cottage. His cottage. North Road. He’d been so proud of this place that first summer when his family moved in. She’d overheard bits and pieces of their parents’ conversations, enough to know that Daniel Boggs had learned to play the stock market thanks to her father, and he’d had a knack for it. He had, as her dad said, “a brilliant financial mind.”
The best part, Louisa thought, was that Daniel had a kind heart. Cody’s dad hadn’t been raised with money, and having it never seemed to change him. He didn’t hold on to it too tightly.
By contrast, Louisa’s dad’s life seemed to revolve around the stock market. His world was all numbers all the time. And though nobody said so, she had a feeling Warren wasn’t “a brilliant financial mind.”
He’d simply continued in the family business. Done what he was trained to do. But what if her father should’ve been an art teacher or a plumber? What if he’d gotten it wrong all those years ago, and that was why he always seemed to be hurried and neurotic in those days?
“Louisa?”
She glanced up and found Cody watching her, a look of concern lacing his brow.
“You zoned out for a minute.”
“Sorry,” she said. “That’s not because of the accident. That’s just how I am.”
He sat so straight in the chair, she thought he might have a board attached to his back. Stick straight and stock-still, the man seemed unable, or unwilling, to move.
“Did you answer my question?” she asked because she genuinely couldn’t remember.
He shook his head.
“Are you going to?”
“I don’t have a lot of choice where they send me, Louisa.”
Her name on his lips sounded wrong. Cody almost always called her Lou. Hearing him use her full name was like being scolded by a teacher in elementary school.
“So you’re stationed here?”
“That’s usually how it works.”
She glared at him. “You don’t have to be rude. I did almost die today.”
“Whose fault was that?” She didn’t think it was possible, but he turned even more rigid.
She looked away. “I’m sorry. I wanted to try paddleboarding before recommending it to my clients.”
“Did you check the weather before you went? You know better, Louisa.” A pause. “You should, anyway.”
She stilled. She did know better. She knew because of what she’d seen. She knew because of what she’d lived through. Even so, there she was, pushing envelopes and chasing death. Was there something wrong with her? Did she think she deserved a watery grave just like Daniel Boggs’s?
“I’m sorry you had to save me,” she said.
He sighed—a heavy one to let her know he was genuinely annoyed with her.
Why was he here?
“That’s my job,” he said. “Don’t apologize for that. But you have to use your head. You can’t be out there alone in that weather. You know the ocean—it’s not your friend.”
“I know.” It felt like he was on a personal crusade, what with the serious tone and all. She softened. She understood. The ocean had stolen everything from Cody. After a moment, she found his eyes. “So why are you here?”
“I just told—”
“No, here, in my living room.”
He turned the cap around in his hands and stared at the ground.
“Someone made you come?”
“It was suggested, yes.”
“Do you always do what you’re told?” she asked.
“It’s my job to follow orders.” He didn’t look at her.
“So you’re checking in with the woman you saved because some superior officer made you.”
He gave a soft shrug.
Of course. She’d been stupid to hope that he’d come on his own, that he was genuinely interested in her well-being, that he cared. He didn’t care about her—he’d put her out of his mind (and his life) ages ago.
Because she’d been foolish. She’d run him out. That was the truth of it. She might as well have pushed him off a cliff and straight into another dimension. And to think there had been a time she was certain they’d know each other forever.
Funny thing, that. The silly notions of a teenage girl.
The front door opened, and she saw his expression change. There was no sign of the easygoing kid Cody had been. Instead, there was a man who seemed neat and orderly and controlled and without any personality whatsoever. But she also saw a man who did not want to come face-to-face with the past. And she and Maggie represented the past.
“We’re having lobster rolls, and I don’t want to hear another—” Maggie stopped short at the sight of Cody, who now stood (at attention?) in the living room.
Louisa couldn’t help but admire him in that uniform. He made that thing look good. He’d always been a good-looking kid, but this adult version was a whole other level of handsome.
Never mind the tight line that seemed permanently etched in his forehead.
“Oh, my.” Ally practically sighed the words as she drank in the sight of the man in Louisa’s living room. “You’re even more beautiful than Louisa said.”
Louisa shot her a Shut up! look, but Ally seemed not to notice. Her friend was on a roll today.
Cody also seemed unfazed by the comment. Not a great sign, though she supposed he couldn’t break character when he’d committed so fully to playing the angry military man.
Maggie stood a full foot shorter than him, but somehow her presence almost seemed larger. She took him in—all six feet, two inches of him, if Louisa had to guess—then shook her head. “Well, look who it is.”
He gave her a stern nod. “Maggie.”
Louisa knew that just would not do. Not for Maggie.
“You decided to come back to Nantucket, and you didn’t even look me up? How am I supposed to not be offended by that?”
He shifted.
“No hug for your favorite aunt?” Maggie set her grocery bags on the floor.
Cody looked like a sturdy wall that someone was pulling apart, brick by brick.
And that someone was Maggie Fisher.
She stepped toward him, arms open, and he rigidly allowed her to hug him. It was almost painful to watch because the levels of affection seemed to be so mismatched.
Louisa and Alyssa exchanged a quick glance, and Louisa wondered if her friend was hoping for a turn in Cody’s arms.
“You’re staying to eat,” Maggie announced as she slipped out of Cody’s awkward embrace.
“Oh, Mags, that’s not a good idea—” Louisa said at the same time Cody said, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can.”
Maggie harrumphed. “I know you Coasties. You don’t get a lot of home-cooked meals. And you’re here, so you’re obviously off duty.”
“No, Maggie, he was ordered to be here.”
Maggie frowned, and Louisa thought it would be a good idea to convince the old woman to tweeze her eyebrows. If she wasn’t careful, they’d start to look like two fuzzy caterpillars.
“Are you still on duty?”
Cody paused. “No, ma’am.”
“Ma’am?” Maggie laughed. “You can stop that right now.” She picked up her bags and toddled off to the kitchen.