Chapter 1
Elise
Lookingat the world through the lens of a camera offered some unique views. There was a distance to it that made things easier to put into perspective, but it also offered a closeness that was hard to find with anything else.
I stood on the front porch of the villa we’d rented for the week and a half that we planned to be in Greece, and sighed softly, getting a good shot of the way the sun was sinking down over the white cliffs in the distance.
It was a beautiful country.
When my brother and his wife had suggested we get some friends together and take a big vacation out there before the fall kicked off and we all had to go back to working hard, I'd been skeptical. But they had the right idea.
It was gorgeous and peaceful. The epitome of relaxation.
Our closest 'neighbors' were three miles up the coast, and there was a good amount of distance between our little stretch of the beach and the area where tourists who weren't staying in the villas were allowed to be.
There were no loud parties or random people running by to disturb us, and I had to admit, I was feeling more relaxed by the end of our first day there than I had in a long time.
"Do you ever put that camera down?" I heard a voice tease, and I turned, camera still in hand (to prove a point), to see my brother Dan standing in the front door with his hands on his hips.
I rolled my eyes.
"If you expect me not to document this, then you're crazy. You knew that when you invited me along."
He sighed dramatically. "I did, and I should have made you sign something saying you wouldn't spend the whole trip taking pictures. There's other stuff to do, you know."
"I know," I replied, snapping a picture of his best impression of a stern older brother. "But I like doing this."
He just snorted. Dan was good natured and easy going, like most of the people in our family. We were all independent and self-motivated, but we didn't take things too seriously, for the most part.
He was taller than me by several inches, with dark hair and bright eyes, and a smile that looked just like our dad's. It always made me smile back to see it. Even when he was teasing me.
"Don't stand on the porch all evening," he said. "We're going to be having dinner soon, and the camera goes back to your room before you come to the table."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Excuse you, I don't know who you think you are, giving me orders like I'm five."
"You're my baby sister," he said, darting closer for a second so he could ruffle my hair and then darting back out of reach before I could slap at his hand. "You'll always be five in my eyes."
"I hate you," I grumbled. "You're the worst."
"You love me. Come inside."
Dan walked back in before I could tell him where to shove it, and I stayed on the porch for a bit more, snapping more pictures of the beautiful spread of colors across the sky. The pinks and oranges that melted into the darkening blue, spread out like a watercolor painting.
It was the kind of thing that I knew I'd remember when I looked back at the pictures later, and I smiled, flipping through the shots I'd gotten as I walked back into the house.
Of course, some of these would have to go up on social media.
Britt, Dan's wife, and Tom, one of their friends, were busy in the kitchen as I passed by, and it smelled like warm spices and garlic, making my stomach growl for attention.
I headed up the stairs to the room I'd picked out for myself, stowing my camera and checking my phone for a bit before I went back down.
The house was just as nice as the rest of the little beach we were staying on. It was all white stucco with blue and green accents, decorated with old pictures of tanned, grinning fishermen, and artistic renderings of mermaids.
It was too big to be considered a seaside cottage, sprawling over several acres and boasting seven rooms, and all the amenities anyone could want, but it was secluded enough, and only reachable by ferry.
I trailed my fingers along the wall as I went back downstairs, heading for the kitchen in time to hear the hushed voices of my brother and his wife.
"I think they'd get along," Dan was saying. "I don't want her to be lonely."
