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“Maybe I could fly up sometime, surprise you?”

“Really?!” She wiped her cheeks.

He nodded. “I want you with me always.”

Then Evie had a thought.

She reached behind her neck and beneath her hair, unfastening her necklace. She held up her favorite piece of jewelry, its open chain a silver smile between them. “Wear this and a part of me will be with you…”

His watery eyes widened. “You want me to wear it?”

Embarrassment pooled in her gut. She fisted the chain and looked away. “I know. It’s a stupid idea—”

“No!” Nick clutched her hand, prying her fingers open. “It’s lovely.” He rescued the silver Evie from her palm.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I only asked because you never take it off!” Nick draped it around his neck and fastened it closed. His fingers slid down the chain and across the swirly script of her name. “But are you sure you trust me with it?”

Like she trusted him with her heart? Evie sniffed. “One hundred percent.”

TWENTY

NICK

Now, Tuesday, July 25

Five days following the orca rescue, Nick’s heart taunted and teased. Not even a quick jaunt down to London and back for several urgent meetings nor their pending job offer could compete with the soft warmth of Evie in his arms. Soaked and shivering, it reminded him of their first summer as a couple: swimming at Evie Beach, snogging in the shadows of Stromness, and making plans for a future together.

A future that never materialized.

And you only have yourself to blame.

Scolding himself as he left Kirkwall’s Tesco with a bag of snacks, Nick slipped further into his Sanday reverie: how Evie softened in his embrace, how she ogled his lips as if they were something she craved. She seemed more relaxed, more open, the closest she’d been to the old Evie he knew and loved.

Well, at least that’s what Nick perceived. Whether he was reading more into what had transpired on that remote beach was a worrisome question, one that stole sleep and fucked up budget calculations. Seeing Evie would hopefully dispel his fears.

Or confirm them.

Cutting across the parking lot, Nick spotted a familiar face exiting a small terraced house on West Tankerness Lane. Fondness swelling in his chest, he tucked his phone into his jacket and jogged toward her. “Hey! Just the person I was coming to see.” His appreciative gaze pored over Evie’s denim jacket and the daisy-patterned knee-length dress underneath. Recalling the flowery frock she wore when she comforted him during a panic attack as a teen, his heart did a nostalgic somersault.

Evie slowed to a stop. “Don’t tell me—three days in London and you wanna add a full English to tomorrow’s breakfast options?” She cocked a brow, a grin rising.

“Ooh, now that you mention it…” His seriousness cracked with a laugh. “Actually, no. I was wondering if we could hang out.” The production was taking a rare midweek day off before a laborious stretch of filming on the southern island of Hoy.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” Evie adjusted the canvas tote on her shoulder, an oatmeal-hued carry-all emblazoned with an Orkney Library & Archive logo in purple. “I have errands to run before I relieve Fi and Jamie in the shop.”

“Let me help, then. Many hands make light work.”

Evie jutted out a hip. “It’s nothing glam, Nick. You’ll be bored within seconds.”

“If I am, I’ll buy you lunch.”

She motioned toward Great Western Road. “Well, you better have deep pockets ’cause I skipped breakfast and could gobble up all of Kirkwall.”

“Hold that thought…” Nick rooted around his shopping bag and pulled out a packet of Tunnock’s Snowballs. “I saw these and thought of you.”

A slow smile tugged the corners of her mouth. “You remember?”