“Maybe.” Anne’s voice was quiet. “And maybe I should have tried harder.”
“You can’t go backwards. Don’t torture yourself. You’re here now.”
“I’m here now,” Anne echoed, but with more despair than hope.
The kids came back from Mrs. Kim’s house, filling the yard with happy noise, and Anne hurried to fix her face.
Oakley watched her girls run past. The thought of them growing up without her was too painful to touch. But she had fought tooth and nail for the chance to be a mother, years of blood and tears and excruciating hope.
Finally meeting her daughters, holding two-year-old Hayden and tiny newborn Harper for the first time, had been the fulfillment of everything she had ever wanted. There was no comparing that to the experience of a seventeen-year-old girl who had never wanted to be a mother in the first place.
“Done already?” Anne said suddenly. Oakley turned to see Noah coming down the front steps. She moved a few steps away, giving them space.
“Just need to run to the hardware store,” he said.
“So you’re coming back?”
“Yeah, in a bit.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“Much to Zoe’s dismay.”
“She’ll come around,” Noah said.
Anne let out a huff of breath like,yeah right.
“Give it time,” Noah said.
“People keep saying to give her time. Twenty-seven years is a lot of time.”
“How much of that time did you spend on island?”
Anne paled beneath her freckles.
“Give it time,” he said again. He opened his arms like he wanted to fold her into them, then paused and settled for an awkward pat on the shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”
“Noah Kapono,” Anne breathed when he was out of earshot.
“You liiike him,” Oakley teased in a quiet singsing.
“Shut up!” Anne shoved her arm.
“You love him,” she said in a stage whisper. To her surprise, Anne didn’t put up a fight. Instead she looked… wistful.
Shedidlove him, Oakley realized suddenly.
Instantly, she felt guilty for teasing her. She hadn’t realized that Anne’s first love still had her in a chokehold. Maybe Anne hadn’t realized it either – until she found herself face to face with the man he’d grown into.
Sometimes it seemed like Anne had spent her whole life running from the place that raised her. Oakley could understand her sister’s need to chart her own course, but she’d left a hole in the hearts of everyone who loved her.
Zoe, Noah, Dawn… everyone had felt her absence.
What would their lives look like now that she was home again?
4
Halia
Halia’s mind was busy with work as she drove through town.
