Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,129

there was no answer. If he was back on the island, he wasn’t here.

She heaved a sigh, then hopped back on her scooter and motored back to her own house. After parking, she headed next door to Maggie’s, which, at first glance, also seemed to be deserted. She walked up the steps and onto the porch, fishing her key from her purse. She pushed open the door and called out into the darkness, but there was no answer.

He wasn’t here either.

She was starting to feel discouraged—maybe she should check the party one more time? Or maybe Cody wasn’t on the island like Marissa thought. Maybe he’d planned to come, then realized it would be better not to. Maybe he’d put her behind him once and for all.

There was only one other place she could think to look without launching an all-out search in every restaurant and bar downtown.

Odds were, if he wasn’t home, he was at the station. But that meant driving out to Brant Point and being faced with the realization that their pact was now part of their past—and nothing had come of it. All it was now was a broken promise.

She tried not to think about it as she drove through town, down Beach Street, past Children’s Beach. She arrived at the station, parked, and went inside. She found a few of the guys in the common area.

“Louisa!” Carlos Delgado, one of the guys from the auction, grinned at her.

“Hey, Carlos.” She looked around the station, growing sadder by the minute. “You haven’t seen Cody, have you?”

Carlos frowned. “Oh. He’s gone. Didn’t you know?”

The other guys were staring at her now, and she wondered if she appeared as frantic and frazzled as she felt. “I heard he might be back.”

They exchanged glances and shrugs across the room.

“Sorry; we haven’t seen him,” Carlos said. “If he shows up, do you want me to tell him you stopped by?”

Louisa felt like the air had been sucked straight out of her lungs. Was she suffocating? Was she back underwater, just one wave away from certain death?

“Louisa?”

She shook the memory away, angry that it still haunted her at all. But losing him felt a lot like flailing around in that water. It felt a lot like drowning.

“Sorry,” she said. “No, you don’t have to tell him anything.”

“Okay. Have a good night.” They resumed their chatter, and the sound of laughter filled the space behind her as she walked toward the door.

It was almost like walking in slow motion through quicksand, knowing that her own choices were the reason she was here. She’d pushed him away—she’d given up her second chance. Did she really feel entitled to a third?

She stepped outside into the darkness, the moon casting a yellowish hue over the ocean, over the lighthouse. The memory of her own laughter mixing with Cody’s echoed through her mind. They’d loved each other so wholly, yet they’d given up so easily.

She’d spent years wishing for—praying for—a second chance. How could she have discarded it with such ease? And why? Because there were challenges to overcome?

She walked in the shadows toward the lighthouse, as if it beckoned her over in spite of her sorrow. She’d been meant to spend her birthday right in that very spot, and now here she was—alone.

That cruel realization stung.

The night was warm, but there was a breeze coming off the ocean. The sound of the waves drew her in. Louisa loved this island. She’d loved and lost here on these shores. She found Cody’s number in her phone. She opened a new text message and was instantly reminded her last three messages had gone unanswered. She almost clicked it off without texting, but something stopped her.

Quickly, before she changed her mind, she typed, Happy birthday! and hit Send.

Seconds later, she saw a light just a few yards away.

She followed it and discovered the light was coming from a phone, held by a person, sitting in the sand near the ocean. The light went out, and the person didn’t move.

She opened her phone again and typed Cody? into a new text, then saw the phone light up again. She could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness, but she was certain that was him. He sat with his knees up, leaning on them, perfectly still.

Her heart leaped. He was here? He was at the lighthouse—at their spot? How long had he been here, and why hadn’t she come?

She started walking toward him but stopped. He hadn’t responded to