“It’s impossible,” she whispered. “That’s all. I can’t go into all the reasons, but you just have to trust me.”
“I don’t think I’m the one you have to convince,” Olivia said.
Juliet let out another sob, then seemed to square her shoulders. “I told Henry we need to take a break from each other. He didn’t like it but he will honor my wishes. That’s the kind of man he is.”
While she might have wanted to argue with her mother, Olivia also knew Juliet could be stubborn.
She must have her reasons. Nothing she had said seemed compelling, but Olivia sensed there were things her mother wasn’t saying.
“Let’s get you inside. It’s chilly out here and you should be in bed. You’ll feel better after you’ve washed your face and changed into your pajamas,” she said, as gently as if Juliet were a child.
“I won’t be able to sleep.”
She had a feeling Juliet was far more exhausted than she wanted to admit. She opened the door and pushed the wheelchair over the threshold and into the house.
“Is Caitlin home? I don’t want her to see me like this. I’m such a mess.”
From Olivia’s perspective, Juliet looked as she always did, elegant, lovely, ageless, if a little red-eyed right now.
“She was in her room when I got home about an hour ago and hasn’t come out. She did her typical grunt when I knocked on the door and said she was fine.”
Now wasn’t the time to mention to Juliet her worry about her niece. Caitlin seemed troubled, but Juliet didn’t need another burden right now while she was dealing with her own problems.
28
OLIVIA
Over the years, she had become used to thinking of Cape Sanctuary as the place she couldn’t wait to leave, a place filled with sad memories of her father and of Natalie. Heartbreak, loss, resentment. All the tangled emotions of her youth.
Somehow, she hadn’t left enough room in her memories for the things she had loved about her hometown.
The things she still loved.
As Olivia walked into the fire station early the following Saturday, she couldn’t help but remember. This was a town where people cared about each other. The firefighters had removed all but one of their trucks from inside the station in preparation for the fund-raiser for Chief Gallegos. Instead of trucks, the fire station was now filled with row after row of long white tables and chairs.
An hour from now, those tables would be filled with families. Judging from the social media posts filling up the city’s feed, the entire town was planning to come out to support one of their own.
Cape Sanctuary was a tourist town. During some busy summer weekends, tourists could outnumber locals three to one. But when one of the locals needed help, everyone rallied around.
After her father died, people had been so kind and supportive. She could remember now how meals had filled their freezer, how neighbors would stop often to check on them, how they hadn’t had to mow the lawn at Sea Glass Cottage for at least a year because random neighborhood youths had stepped up to take care of it without being asked.
The town wasn’t perfect. It had its share of problems. Suicide, drugs, alcohol, divorce, domestic abuse. Any social problem could be found here. But there was goodness, too. In Cape Sanctuary, people came together to lift and help each other, regardless of demographics, religion, social status.
While she enjoyed the unique flavor and vibrancy of her neighborhood in Seattle and had made good friends there, Cape Sanctuary was home. It always would be.
Inside the modern-looking fire station, new since her father had been a volunteer here, Cooper seemed to be directing traffic. He appeared to be setting up a camp grill in the middle of a group of people in fire department T-shirts.
He appeared completely at home, a true leader in the middle of the craziness.
Was he as comfortable here as he appeared? Olivia had thought he would never come home again. His reasons to stay away were far stronger than her own. While Olivia’s family had always been beloved, supported by the community, Cooper’s home life had been very different. His mother, like Natalie, had been an addict. Olivia didn’t think she’d ever held down a job.
The family hadn’t been destitute. Cooper’s mother had family who helped them, including the aunt and uncle who had taken in Melody for her last few years of high school.
Life could not have been easy for them. Had it been difficult for