He turned the corner, out of sight of Margo’s front door, and stood in the shadows for a few minutes, listening. When enoughtime had passed that he would not look like a man loitering under a porch light because he had lost all common sense over a woman, he eased back the way he had come.
He stayed hidden behind the hedge line near the side path and looked toward the cottage windows. Rad could see Margo was inside.
He saw her silhouette pass through the living room, then stop at the front window. She tested the latch, then moved to the next one. A moment later, she pulled the drapes closed with brisk, efficient movements. She was still being careful, which was good and made Rad feel a little better.
A smile touched his mouth before he could stop it.
Rad’s lips still tingled from the brush of her cheek.
It had taken everything he had not to pull her into his arms and kiss her properly. Not because he doubted what he felt, and not because he thought she would slap him, though he would have deserved it if he had overstepped. It was because tonight was already too full with too much fear, too much damage, and too much raw feeling. Margo did not need a man adding to the pile of confusion just because he could not keep his own pulse under control.
Still, it was getting harder to pretend he didn’t have feelings for her.
Rad had wanted to ask her out before all this trouble in town started. He had been working up to it, waiting for the right moment, trying not to look like a man in his forties who had somehow turned shy over a woman’s smile, her sharp tongue, and the way she loved people with her whole heart. Then the fires had escalated, the threats had sharpened, Teacups hadburned, and asking her to dinner had started to feel like trying to schedule a picnic in the middle of a hurricane.
He looked at the now-dark window one last time, then forced himself to turn away.
June was waiting in Carmen’s car.
When he slid back into the driver’s seat, June looked at him, her expression knowing enough to make him wonder if he’d taken longer than he thought.
“Is Margo all locked up?” June asked.
“Yes,” Rad said, buckling his seat belt. “I waited a few minutes to make sure.”
June’s mouth softened. “Margo is one of the most wonderful people I know. She always fights for everything and everyone she loves.”
Rad started the engine and pulled away from the inn. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I saw that after meeting her only a few times when Tyler and I first arrived in Sandpiper Shores.” He hesitated, then glanced toward June. “What can you tell me about her late fiancé?”
June grew quiet for a moment, as if she were choosing where to begin.
“His name was Travis Markham,” she said. “He was a lieutenant in the fire department. He worked under Captain Shaun Parker.”
Rad nodded. “He lost his life alongside your son-in-law ten years ago.”
“Yes.” June looked out through the windshield for a second before continuing. “Travis was killed in the same fire that took Shaun’s life.”
Rad’s hands tightened slightly on the wheel. “I did hear that.”
“You can’t move here without learning about the four brave men who died that day,” June said. “And like Willa, Margo never really moved on from it. She kept going, of course. She had to. She poured herself into her family, her friends, and Teacups. But she guarded her heart very carefully after that.”
Rad understood that more than he wanted to.
“I can understand that,” he said.
June didn’t interrupt. She just watched him intently.
Rad kept his eyes on the road. The town was quiet at this hour, but after everything that had happened lately, he was watching every intersection and mirror with more attention than usual.
“After my ex-wife and I divorced,” he said, “I met another detective. Estella López. We worked together for a while before we started dating. By the time we’d been together about a year, we were talking seriously about taking the next step.”
Pain moved through him with such clean precision that it felt almost new again.
“I hadn’t introduced her to anyone in my family yet, including Tyler,” Rad continued. “And she had twins whom I hadn’t met either. We both agreed we wanted to make sure it was real before involving the kids and the rest of the family. We were being careful. Thoughtful. Responsible.” He gave a small, humorless laugh. “At least that was the plan.”
June didn’t interrupt him.
“She went undercover on a drug bust,” Rad said. “It was supposed to be tightly controlled. It went wrong. Estella was killed the week before we planned to take our families away for a weekend and introduce everyone.”
