“Sure,” Michael agreed, standing.
He reached out to take it, his fingers brushing her palm and sending a warm spark up her arm. Maggie turned her back to him and lifted her hair with both hands. Michael stepped closer. She could feel the heat of him behind her, the quiet steadiness of his presence. His fingers were gentle as he fastened the clasp at the back of her neck. The locket settled cool and perfect against her skin, right over her heart.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Maggie turned slowly to face him. The locket rested warm against her collarbone, a piece of the past brought back to life by the man standing in front of her.
“How does it look?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Michael’s eyes moved from the locket to her face. His voice dipped low and rough.
“Beautiful,” he said.
Their eyes locked. The air between them grew thick and still. Maggie felt her heart hammering against the locket. Michael’s gaze dropped to her lips for the briefest second. He leaned in just a fraction, and Maggie found herself leaning too, drawn by the same pull that had lived between them for forty years.
A sharp knock sounded on the office door.
Maggie startled and stepped back. Michael did the same, clearing his throat.
“Come in,” Maggie called, her voice not quite steady.
Diane, one of her assistants, stepped inside, looking annoyed. “Sorry to interrupt, Maggie, but Vanessa came back after you went into the office. She dropped these off.” Diane held up two cream envelopes with Michael’s and Linda’s names written on them in elegant script. “And she snuck a few photos of the sale rack before I could stop her. I’m sorry. She was fast.”
Maggie let out a tired breath. “Thank you, Diane. It’s not your fault. Vanessa is… Vanessa.”
Diane nodded and left, closing the door behind her.
Maggie looked at Michael. The almost-kiss still hung in the air between them, warm and unfinished. She touched the locket at her throat, feeling the weight of it, the weight of everything.
Michael’s eyes followed her fingers to the locket, then lifted to meet hers again. The emotion in them made her heart ache in the best and most terrifying way.
DARIUS
Darius came down the wide stairs of Bay View Beach House and stopped halfway because he could hear his sister laughing.
He hadn’t heard Isabel laugh like that in years. Not the careful social laugh she had used at galas. Not the small grateful one she had managed since Robert had died. This was the open, easy laugh she had carried as a younger woman, before life had asked too much of her. The laughter rolled out of the open living room doors and met him on the staircase like something he had quietly stopped believing he would hear again.
He stood with his hand on the banister for a long moment and let himself listen. He could pick out fragments of the conversation. They were talking about how they would renovate the house, and although it was beautiful, it needed some upgrades because it had so much potential.
His heart froze at his sister’s next words.
“I would love to move here. Since we’ve arrived…” Isabel told Penny. “Emma has just come alive again.”
“I know,” Penny agreed with her. “It's so great to see.”
“I love it here, too,” Isabel admitted. “Whenever we came here with our parents, before they passed away, it was like I could breathe again. I felt free. In Miami, even though it’s a lot bigger than here, it felt so crowded and…”
“Claustrophobic,” Penny finished for her. “I’ve only been to Sweet Blossom Bay a few times in my life, but each time I came here I felt the same way.” There was a pause. “Right now, just like you, I’m thinking how nice it would be to live the rest of my life here.”
“Penny!” Isabel exclaimed. “Are you thinking of retiring?”
“Maybe,” Penny said with a soft laugh.
“Well, I don’t know what my brother is going to do without you,” Isabel said. “But it’s about time you lived your life for you. Especially after your divorce and what your husband did.”
“Thank you, Isabel,” Penny said. “Can we keep this between us? I haven’t decided anything yet.”
“Of course,” Isabel agreed. “But, whatever you decide, know that I’ll stand by it. Like Emma and me, I think a complete break from Miami is what we all need.”
