If for Any Reason (Nantucket Love Story #1) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,80

walked upstairs. The first room was empty, so he moved down the hall to the next bedroom, where he found Jack, sitting at a desk in the corner, staring at something in his hand. The man didn’t stir when Hollis entered the room. It was as if he was in another world.

“Hey,” Hollis said.

The look on Jack’s face said, Caught, and Hollis took a step closer, a poor attempt to make sense of the scene in front of him. As he did, Jack tucked whatever he was holding into his shirt pocket.

“Sorry, Hollis. Going over some figures.” He turned away, rubbed his hands over his face and eyes.

“Some figures?” It was an odd place to crunch numbers.

“Uh, yeah, for the remodel.”

“Do you have bad news?”

“No, no, not at all. I just get caught up in it sometimes.” Jack stood. “How are things going outside? Looked like you were making a lot of progress.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Hollis said. “I came up to tell you I’m going to take a few hours off this afternoon to take Jolie to the beach.”

“Good,” Jack said. “That’s a great idea. Spend as much time with your daughter as you can.”

Hollis stood in silence, sizing up the man Emily had hired to remodel her house—a man they knew nothing about. A man who was spending hours alone and unchecked in Emily’s house.

“What are you working on in here?” Hollis asked. “Emily mentioned the bedrooms were in pretty good shape.”

“Oh, they are,” Jack said. “I came up here to make a quick phone call and got sidetracked by the figures.”

“Maybe I could take a look at them. Do we need to cut down somewhere, make more room in the budget?”

Jack stuck his hands on his hips and affixed a nonchalant expression on his face. “No, it’s nothing to worry about. Have a great time at the beach.”

Jack left, leaving Hollis alone in the quiet of a bedroom that had once belonged to the most important person in Emily’s life.

He walked to the desk and gave it a once-over.

Nothing looked particularly out of place, except for two photographs that seemed to have been pulled off the bulletin board and laid on the desk.

Hollis picked them up. In one, Isabelle held a baby Emily in front of a Christmas tree and in the other, Isabelle and Emily stood side by side on the beach behind the cottage.

Their beach.

Hollis could see two empty spots where the photos had been on the bulletin board. Why would Jack have them out? And what had he stuck in his pocket?

Hollis didn’t have a good feeling about this guy.

What if Emily was in danger?

“Dad, where have you been?” Jolie’s voice spun him around. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Sorry, JoJo. I got distracted.”

“Whoa, is this Emily’s mom’s room?” Jolie walked over to the bulletin board and looked carefully at each photo pinned to it, which gave Hollis a chance to do the same. There was Emily, just as he remembered her, grinning back at him.

“Is this you?” Jolie pulled a photo off the board and showed it to Hollis.

There, captured in grainy, faded color, was an image of him, Emily, and Hayes sitting on the dock, toes touching the water. Their arms were draped around each other, Hayes was missing a few teeth, and Hollis looked, as he generally did in adolescent photos, awkward. Emily was radiant, as she often was in real life. It was like there was a light inside her that glowed a little brighter than everyone else’s.

She commanded a room. She turned heads. She made people happy to be alive.

And yet, thinking about her now, he knew something had happened to dim that light. Oh, she still played the part beautifully, but Emily—his Emily—was more cautious, more withdrawn. Unhappy, maybe?

Did she have anyone to talk to? Was he the only person in her life who could sense her discontent?

“Is it?” Jolie nudged him with her shoulder. For a moment, he’d forgotten she’d asked a question.

“Yeah, me and Uncle Hayes,” he said.

“You guys were so young.”

“About your age, I think.”

“Emily’s beautiful,” Jolie said.

And this time it didn’t sound like a trap, so Hollis had no problem uttering a thoughtful “She sure is.”

Beautiful and broken, like so many people. And all he wanted to do was help put her back together.

CHAPTER 29

EMILY WAS SCHEDULED TO SPEND all of Sunday at the arts center with her team. Nothing about those hours felt like work. She was supposed to be the one casting the vision,