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CHAPTER ONE
Caitlin Lewis heaved a sigh as she looked down at the mountains of clothes stacked on her hotel room’s bed. One hill had her clothes and the other had her six-year-old daughter Caitlin’s. The longer she looked at the piles, the more intimidating it became. How had she fit all of this in her huge suitcases when they’d moved out of the house she shared with her now ex-husband James?
She pushed some of the clothes to the side to give herself space to sit and fold the clothes into neat piles. Pearl was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, watching a mindless TV show that Caitlin rarely ever let her watch so much of back in their old home. But Caitlin was too exhausted to change the TV to something more educational.
The entire process of putting the house she and James had lived in for the entirety of their marriage up for sale, moving out, splitting their belongings, putting things in storage, preparing for the move… .just thinking about all she had done and all she had to do made Caitlin’s energy dip more.
At least the house had sold relatively quickly. She and James had decided to split the money from the sale, which she was using to help her and Pearl restart. Staying there never crossed her mind. The home was way too big and was filled with memories, good ones that slowly turned sour over the years. Being there would have felt like keeping one foot in the past.
She and James had been growing apart for years, slowly at first until the gaps in their relationship were too wide to sew back together. Caitlin had tried. She’d gone to Blueberry Bay to visit her twin sister, Alissa Lewis, the previous year to clear her head. It had done the trick, and she’d come back to give her marriage another shot, starting with marriage counseling.
But the counseling that Caitlin thought would bring them back together only shined a light on the differences between them. She wanted him to be home more with her and Pearl. He wanted to open up more restaurants in addition to the one they already had. Their one restaurant took up nearly all of his time, and Caitlin knew that adding more would only worsen the problem. On top of that, he had admitted to having an emotional affair with another woman, and that revelation had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. They had agreed to separate and move toward divorce, and the paperwork had recently been finalized.
“Mommy, can I help?” Pearl asked, standing up.
“Sure, sweetheart,” Caitlin said. She was going to have to refold everything Pearl did, but she was glad her daughter had asked to help. It was the thought that counted. “Grab a t-shirt and I’ll show you how.”
Pearl dug through the clothing mountain, reaching deep inside the hill and making more of a mess than before. Finally she emerged with one of her favorite t-shirts and held it up.
“Okay, come over here.” Caitlin ushered Pearl over to the space where she was folding clothes, pushing over the clothing pile to give her space. “Lay the shirt out flat.”
Pearl laid her t-shirt out with flourish, making Caitlin suppress a smile.
“Now fold it in half like this…” Caitlin demonstrated. “Then tuck the sleeves in like this, and fold it in half again.”
Pearl did as Caitlin showed her. “Like this?”
“Perfect!” Caitlin set the shirt she’d folded aside and found a long-sleeved one in the pile. “Long-sleeved shirts are the same, but you fold the sleeves in like this.”
Caitlin showed her, taking care to line up each sleeve.
“Got it!” Pearl stacked the shirt she’d folded next to Caitlin’s and grabbed another one.
She folded each shirt with determination, her little brow furrowed. Caitlin’s heart ached. She was such a sweet little girl, even during this tumultuous time. Explaining why she had to pack up all her things and leave the room she’d just painted the perfect shade of pale purple was hard enough, but seeing Pearl’s confusion and sadness made it hurt even more.
Plus, there were all the small things that she had to explain—that she couldn’t start dance lessons at the place where she thought she would, or that they wouldn’t be able to go to the Denver Aquarium anymore, or that her dad wouldn’t be there on her first day of first grade in the fall. Each time Caitlin had to dig into the well of courage she’d had to depend on since her marriage started to fall apart.
“Why do we have to put all the clothes away?” Pearl asked. “Are we going home?”
“We’re going on an adventure,” Caitlin said, injecting cheerfulness into her voice. She didn’t have the heart to tell Pearl that ‘home’ was a complicated thing at the moment. “We’ll get to fly on a plane to Blueberry Bay tomorrow, so we have to gather up all of our things. Aunt Alissa will be there waiting for us.”
Pearl grinned, abandoning the shirt she was folding. “We get to go on a plane? And see Aunt Alissa?”
Pearl adored her aunt. She hadn’t seen her since the holidays and they always had fun. That was yet another reason why Caitlin was drawn to Blueberry Bay—she wanted Pearl to be around some family, especially if they didn’t know many other people.
“Yup! We’re going to be flying all the way to Rhode Island. Do you remember where that is?” Caitlin pulled her phone out of the pocket of her leggings.
“No.” Pearl came over to see what Caitlin was pulling up on her phone.
“It’s way over here.” Caitlin showed Pearl a map of the United States, pointing out Rhode Island. “So we’ll get to see everything between from the window.”
“I get the window seat?” Pearl’s eyes widened with excitement.
“You will.” Caitlin had made sure of it since the last time they’d flown, Pearl had been stuck in the aisle seat. “It’ll be fun. And we can watch a movie too.”
“What will we do when we get there?” Pearl picked up a shirt again, flinging it useless into a higher spot in the pile.
“I’m not sure yet,” Caitlin admitted. “But we’ll be staying with Aunt Alissa for a while.”
