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Our time in Ocracoke had been an adjustment, to say the least.
So many nights spent alone in this bed.
The job Daniel had taken to make this possible came at a steep price.
Of course, neither of us had realized just how steep…
He’d called me from the airport that day, telling me he was going to miss his flight. I was so angry. It was our anniversary weekend, and he was going to miss it.
He had driven all night just to catch that last ferry.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here, Daniel,” I said softly, looking around the room, thinking of all the what-ifs.
What if I hadn’t gotten mad at him?
What if he’d just waited for the next flight?
What if we’d never moved here?
The silence gave way until the sound of soft sobs echoed throughout the room.
It had only been a day, and I was already sick of crying.
I sucked in a deep breath, pulling myself together as I took one last glance around the room and rose to my feet.
I needed to find that flashlight. The luggage wasn’t going to carry itself in, and I needed to sleep.
But the second I started to head for the nightstand, I heard a noise.
My body froze at the sound of the front door creaking open. I’d always bugged Daniel to fix it, hating the sound it made whenever we used it, but now, I was thanking my lucky stars that I’d had a husband proficient in procrastination.
Because I was pretty sure I had an intruder.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Do you have a new neighbor?” I asked, peering out the window like a damn Peeping Tom.
If I could shut off that part of my brain—the one that had been trained to notice everything and anything—I would. But I couldn’t. So, the moment I saw those headlights pull up to the curb outside Billy’s house, all I could do was stare out his window.
I hadn’t heard a word he’d said since.
“Uh, not that I know of,” Billy answered, caught off guard by my question. “The house has been vacant since—” He averted his eyes, as his words cut off mid-sentence.
“Yeah, I know,” I answered. “I know whose house it is.”
Ever since he had bought this house a couple of years ago, I’d tried to pretend like I didn’t know who lived next door. Like it wasn’t this sad, vacant reminder of the life I’d ruined. Billy knew I hated talking about that day. He probably assumed it was the normal kind of guilt cops felt when they couldn’t find a cause for such a senseless accident.
If only it were that simple.
We both got up and went to the window, putting our movie on pause to see if we could catch a glimpse of who had parked outside. But whoever it was, they were nowhere to be seen.
“Do you think they finally sold it?” he asked.
I just shook my head, my phone already in hand. “No houses have sold in Ocracoke this month. Or the month before.”
“How do you know that?” he asked, looking seriously impressed.
I gave him a wry smile. “Zillow, dumbass.”
