She blinks, the salt-kissed light crawling across her skin, and for a moment she just watches the water—listens to the breeze press against the house like an old friend. Even the wind sounds softer here. Even the silence feels sacred.
When she finally rolls over, it’s not to her phone. It’s to him.
Jaxon.
Her anchor. Her impossible miracle.
He’s lying there—face peaceful, lips parted slightly, one arm thrown above his head like he owns the world and doesn’t even know it. “God,” she whispers. “You are one beautiful man.”
She reaches out, fingers brushing the scruff along his cheek.
And just like that, his eyes fly open.
Startled. Haunted.
He bolts upright, chest heaving slightly, as if he’s trying to pull himself out of somewhere far, far away.
Sara freezes. “Jaxon…”
He doesn’t speak. Not yet. His eyes are glassy, lost somewhere she can’t reach.
She knows that look.
“Holy shit,” she whispers. “You had another dream, didn’t you?”
He nods, silent for a beat. “You could say that.”
“Tell me.”
He exhales like it hurts to speak.
“I was sitting on the dock. Same chair. Same spot. Jaqueline was there, playing with that little girl again. Laughing. Running. It was warm. Everything felt… good. Whole.”
He pauses, and Sara doesn’t move—just watches him as he relives it.
“Then I heard footsteps. Same as last time. But this time, they didn’t stop at the edge. I felt the floating dock shift under the weight… and then I heard her voice.”
Sara’s chest tightens.
“‘Your children are beautiful,’ she said.”
He swallows hard.
“I turned around, and it was Claire. Just standing there. Still. Calm. Like she’d been watching us the whole time.”
“What did she do?” Sara asks, her voice barely a whisper.
“She just looked at it all. At Jaq. At me. At the house. Like she needed to see it for herself. I asked if she wanted to say hi to Jaqueline… and she did. They talked for a second—Jaq didn’t even know who she was. She just smiled and said hi back.”
A tear slips down Sara’s cheek.
“Claire looked so grateful. She said she just needed one last moment with her. That it was time.”
“Time for what?”
Jaxon’s eyes drop to the blanket in his lap.
“She told me she appreciated the invite to stay, but she only came to pop in one last time. That she’d be watching. From now on. And then…”
