Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,46

it had always been her dream to found an organization to help underprivileged children. Maggie wanted to share Nantucket with everybody she could, and the charity would make that possible. When had she given up on that idea?

He gave her a firm nod; then Maggie leaned back on the love seat. “What brings you by today?”

Louisa had been wondering that herself. Was he here to talk about the fundraiser? Maggie’s party? To tell Louisa he forgave her and wanted to rekindle all the love they once had?

What a stupid idea. She didn’t need a man to be happy. Eric had taught her that. Eric, the crusher of dreams. She was far better off on her own.

Remember that, Louisa.

“I see you dressed your best to come calling.” Maggie chuckled.

“I was out for a run.”

The image of him running alongside the ocean, like a model in a commercial for men’s aftershave, sprang to Louisa’s mind.

“Why?” Maggie asked. “You only get a handful of years on this planet. Running seems like such a torturous way to spend them.”

He smiled. A real smile. It was lovely. And it made Louisa’s toes tingle. For the briefest moment she wondered what the stubble on his chin would feel like underneath her fingertips.

We are not believers in love, Lou, the sensible part of her brain reminded her.

She shoved thoughts of his skin aside while simultaneously wondering how his face smelled after he shaved.

“You look like you have something on your mind,” Maggie said, focused on Cody.

Did he? Louisa studied him for a moment while he was looking at Maggie—tough job, but someone had to do it.

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and stared at the ground.

Oh. Maggie was right. He did look like he had something on his mind. Maggie always had a sixth sense about the people she loved. She supposed Cody still fell into that category even though he’d been gone a long time.

It had to be difficult being back here after all these years. As far as Louisa knew, this was his first time back since his dad died.

How sad.

All at once his crabbiness seemed less about her and more about something much bigger. Her heart softened toward him. Was it wrong that she wanted to take him in her arms and hug that look right off his face? Or kiss him. Maybe she really just wanted to kiss him.

She shook the thought away and tried to stay in the room instead of daydreaming about something that was never going to happen.

“Out with it,” Maggie said.

He shifted, then reached inside the pocket of his gym shorts (gym shorts had pockets?) and pulled out a small white business card.

Probably McKenzie Palmer’s phone number and a request for him to call her.

He handed it to Maggie, and Louisa tried not to peek. But then she got so curious, she scooted closer and read the handwritten message, scrawled in black marker.

Miss you, Danny. IOU.

Louisa took the card and turned it over. Blank on the other side except for the spots where the marker had bled through. She scanned the card again. “Where’d you find this?”

Cody looked tense and out of sorts. Maybe he should request a transfer. This couldn’t be good for him.

“Do either of you know anything about a memorial down at the spot where my dad died?”

“The cross?” Louisa asked, and when he nodded, she said, “Not really. It kind of just showed up at the end of one summer.”

“When?”

Louisa’s mind ran through the years. It had been odd when that cross went up because it wasn’t something that happened immediately after Daniel’s death. “It was about two years ago.”

“So ten years after he died.”

“Right.” How had she not put that together? The cross went up around the tenth anniversary of Daniel’s death. Nobody knew who put it there.

“Was it you?” Cody asked, eyes trained on Maggie.

Maggie stilled. “I wish it had been. I wish I’d thought to do that for your father. He deserves to be remembered.”

He turned to Louisa. “You?”

She shook her head, longing for answers to soften that line of worry across his forehead.

It was strange. Daniel had known everyone on the island. He was charming and friendly and kind. He helped people whenever he could. But to see a memorial go up in the spot where he’d died without a single word—it had struck her as odd. She’d called her parents to tell them about it, and bringing it up seemed to upset her father. He and Daniel had been