Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,16

families were destined to live and breathe and play on Nantucket. It was in their blood.

But that was before, of course. Before everything—everything—went wrong.

“Boggs, you’re distracted,” the chief said. “I’m sending you home. I’m sure you’ve got unpacking to do.”

Cody couldn’t deny he was distracted, not without lying anyway. But the thought of going home to bare walls and unpacked boxes sucked the life right out of him.

“I’m fine, Master Chief.”

“Why don’t you go check on Miss Chambers?”

“What?” The man had his full attention now.

“Listen, I’m not going to get into it all now, Boggs, but the Coast Guard could use a win or two. I’m going to let it slide that you left the deck of your ship to go in after that woman, but only because it’s already helping build morale around here and because it’s got the community talking. Let’s keep the momentum of this going. I want the people on this island to know us, to love us, to respect us. Then maybe they’ll wear life vests when they’re out paddleboarding.”

Cody eyed the other man. “What aren’t you telling me, Master Chief?”

“I want to make our presence on this island known,” he said. “That’s all.”

“But that’s not all,” Cody said. “Why do these boys need a morale boost, and why are we working so hard to look good in this community?”

“That’s not an uncommon goal,” Duncan said. “We’ll go over everything else later, when you’re actually listening. Now go check in with Miss Chambers. It’s the right thing to do.”

Cody didn’t try hard enough to stifle a groan.

Duncan’s eyebrow quirked and the man shifted in his seat. “Problem?”

“I don’t know that Lou—Miss Chambers will welcome a visit from me.”

Duncan didn’t move, but his eyes asked the question he didn’t say. It was at that precise moment that Cody realized he didn’t want to get into the details with his master chief or anyone else. What was he going to say anyway? “We used to be friends until she took my heart and sliced it in two like a slab of beef on the butcher block”?

He’d gotten over this a long time ago. Why would he even think of bringing it back up now?

But it was more than that, wasn’t it? It was more than their silly teenage romance gone wrong. It was everything else that had happened between them and how it changed both of their families forever. That was a little more difficult to get over.

The chief scribbled something on a scrap of paper and handed it to him. “This is her address.”

“You have it memorized?”

“I looked it up while you were daydreaming,” Duncan said. “Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Cody didn’t bother protesting. He walked out of the man’s office and down the hall, aware of the quiet murmurs that followed him as he went. It was as if nobody had ever saved a person from the ocean before. He knew that wasn’t the case. But he supposed it would never get old to hear a story of how one person put their life on the line to save another person.

Maybe the world needed those stories to combat the stories where people purposely hurt each other every day. He should be proud to be a part of the good—why did it make him feel self-conscious?

Outside, Cody got in his Jeep and started the engine. Would Duncan ever find out if he skipped a visit to Louisa? He unfolded the piece of paper and read the address his chief had scrawled on it.

12 North Road.

Cody’s eyes focused, then unfocused as he stared at the handwritten address. Surely it was a mistake.

His mind whirled back years. Decades. And somehow, if he really concentrated, it felt like yesterday.

It was the summer he would turn ten. They’d been vacationing in Nantucket since he was a baby, and Dad’s investments were paying off, thanks to Mr. Chambers, who’d taught Cody’s father how things in the financial world worked.

That summer when they arrived on the island, Cody expected to join Louisa and her family at their big cottage on the water, the one her family had inherited from her grandparents. That’s the way it had always been. Their family took one side of the cottage, and Louisa’s family occupied the other side. The house was big enough, and nobody ever got in anyone else’s way.

It was the perfect setup. At least, he’d always thought so.

He and Louisa liked sneaking out of their rooms at night. They’d trudge out