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Right here to Wild Rose Point. To Staff Sergeant Noah Kendrick, who was one of the only things she remembered from her brother’s service.

He was the one who had stood up and spoken of William, not just as the man who had sent him on the detail that had been his last, but as someone who’d known him. That was what still stood out to Raemy all this time later. Unlike some of the people who knew what William had done, but not who he was, it had been clear to her that Noah Kendrick knew exactly who her brother had been.

That had felt like a lifeline, then. She’d thought of it—of him—often since.

And now that she’d worked through the kind of grief that didn’t need an audience, and had chosen to keep living this beautiful life that her brother had died for, she had decided that it was time to celebrate. Who better to celebrate William with than this man who’d known him while he’d done the hardest thing he’d ever tried to accomplish?

So she really couldn’t understand why this man was looking at her the way he was now. That dark scowl on his face, talking about fault and forgiveness.

Raemy also couldn’t understand how, even in her most bereaved state back then, she had somehow failed to notice how outrageously attractive the man was.

Maybe that had been a blessing. She doubted very much that she would have been able to handle how glorious of a specimen he was back then. Well. Clearly she couldn’t—because she hadn’t registered it at all.

That wasn’t an option today.

Noah Kendrick was wearing a black t-shirt that seemed specifically designed to draw attention to how fit he was. Those biceps—God help her, but she was just a girl. That chest she could see beneath the fabric. And he had facial hair now, covering what she knew was an extraordinary jawline, but somehow the close-cropped beard made it...worse.

Maybe she meant better.

Because everything about him was scowly, gruff, and mind-alteringly hot, and she didn’t think her ability to perceive his hotness had anything to do with how long she’d been driving around by herself.

He just really was that gorgeous.

Not the reason you’re here, Raemy, she told herself sternly.

“I’m not here to accuse you of anything,” she said, once she stopped laughing. “I heard about this diner, so I knew you were here, and I’ve always wanted to talk to you. Ever since you gave that beautiful speech at⁠—”

“It was the least I could do,” Noah bit out, gruffly.

It was not really a tone that invited more conversation.

Raemy chose to ignore that. “Oh, don’t say that. There’s always something less that you could do. Some people live their whole lives doing as little as possible. But you stood up and said those beautiful things about my brother.” She smiled at him. “It meant so much to us. My parents and I have talked about it ever since.”

For some reason, that made the inconvenient Staff Sergeant smoke show Noah Kendrick look as if he was considering picking up one of the utensils on the table and stabbing himself with it.

“I appreciate you saying that,” he said, in a dark tone that did not sound in any way appreciative. “If there’s anything I could ever do to pay the debt I owe to your family, all you have to do is ask.” He paused, as if expecting she might ask for some kind of repayment on the spot. When she only gazed back at him, he nodded. “Thank you for stopping by.”

Like he expected her to bolt out the door immediately.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Raemy said, laughing again. “I told you I was hungry, first of all. And this is such a cute little town. I want to stay.”

“That’s out of the question.”

He looked so serious. And so scowly. And she didn’t know why she found that... well, perhaps not delightful. But there was something in her, like a kind of itch. She couldn’t seem to stop wanting to just poke at him. There was something about how furious he looked that just made her want to⁠—

Well. It made her want to do a lot of things, but poking would have to do.

“I wasn’t asking your permission, Sergeant Surly,” she replied, keeping it light and airy since she was calling him names. She’d learned this particular tone with her third graders. “I’m a grown woman who can do whatever I want, and I want to stay in the most magical little beach town I’ve ever seen.” She reached over and made a small pageant of picking up one of the menus from their holder, and placing it before her on the table. “What I want right now is a very large plate of delicious food to fortify me while I look for a suitably charming inn or bed and breakfast, preferably one that encourages a lot of gazing at the ocean.”

She looked up at him then and sure enough, that scowl had deepened, which shouldn’t have been physically possible. “And I really would like to talk with you about my brother.”

That did not make the scowl any better. If anything, Noah got stiffer. His dark eyes got darker. “You can ask me anything you want. I’ll answer it if I can.”

Like he was on trial.

Raemy ignored the weirdness, another thing she’d learned teaching third grade. “I want to hear what he was like in the Marines.” When that didn’t make the man across from her do anything but stare back at her, she pushed on. “He loved it. To tell you the truth, none of us wanted him to join, but he couldn’t be talked out of it. William wanted to do good in the world. He didn’t think of himself as a hero, ever, but that’s what he was. To me, I mean, even before he joined.” Her smile wasn’t dire, the way it had been for years, but it was a little shaky. “And now, I guess, always.”

“Corporal Miller was a hero,” Noah agreed, though his voice seemed rougher than before. “There’s no doubting that.”