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Chapter One
TINA
“Ow, Teddy. Stop pulling my hair.”I hoisted my four-year-old son higher on my hip. The bulky life vest he wore made the task a little awkward. “You know I don’t like that.”
“I sorry.”
Maybe he was. But it wouldn’t stop him from doing it again. We’d had a good day, the three of us, with minimal crying and pouting. Now I hoped to make it home without another tantrum.
Doing my best to hold on to my patience, I set him on the seat at the back of the boat.
“Mom?” Behind me, my daughter was probably still sitting onthe cushions at the front of the boat. It was her favorite spot.
Teddy tugged at his Puddle Jumper, trying to free an arm. “Imma take this off now?”
Luckily, he didn’t know how to get himself out of it. He wasn’t a fan of the water and had no interest in getting in the lake, but that didn’t stop me from ensuring that he was strapped in tight while on the boat.
“Not until we’re off the pier. Remember?” I tapped the turtle on the front of the floatie. “You love Thomas the turtle. You don’t want him to be sad, right?”
He looked down, contemplating my question, and huffed. “Okay.”
“Mom, I can’t find it.” Callie’s voice rose two octaves.
I turned, finding her wide, tear-filled eyes on me. I wasn’t sure what had happened in the last five minutes to cause this reaction, but with Callie, I had to piece together what caused her emotional swings. Just last week, she burst into tears at the park because a little boy was playing with army men.
I glanced over my shoulder at Teddy. He was still sitting, waiting patiently for me, so I took a deep breath and headed for my daughter. We’d had two good hours on the lake, but now that we were back at the dock, I was ready to get off this boat.
I took her hands in mine and kept my voice calm. “Callie, look at me, baby. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find my bracelet.” Her eyes swung from me to the cushion beside her to the floor, then back to the cushion like she hoped it would magically appear. “I lost it.”
“It’s okay.” She had it when we got on the boat, so it had to be here somewhere. “We’ll find it.”
Showing her I wasn’t worried was the first step in preventing her from spiraling.
“It’s the paracord one.” She shook her wrist in my face like Iwasn’t familiar with the bracelet she’d worn every day for the last six years. “The one daddy made me.”
I smiled at the thought of it. She never took it off. She even slept with the dang thing. Something we had in common. My gaze instinctively moved to the matching one I wore on my right wrist.
“Okay, let’s look for it. Did you check inside your bag?” I nodded to the mermaid tote at her feet.
“No.” She sniffled.
“You look in your bag, and I’ll check the cushions and floor. Deal?”
She nodded and slid to the floor, and I turned and searched the seats. Almost instantly, my fingers brushed against it as I ran a hand between two cushions.
Thank goodness. Another crisis averted.
“Found it,” I called, holding it out to her.
Over her shoulder, movement caught my attention. A tall man was rushing down the pier, a scowl on his face.
I glanced over at the other slips, searching for the source of his intense frustration. But I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Did that mean it was directed at me? What could I have done to cause his irritation?
Kyle freaking Williams hadn’t so much as looked my way since we’d moved to Half Moon Lake almost two months ago. And now he seemed intent on burning a hole through me with that glare of his.
When people around here found out we’d moved from Fort Bragg, the first question they asked was whether I knew Kyle Williams. Apparently, he had been stationed there as well. Clearly, they didn’t realize that Fort Bragg had the largest population of any army base in the US. Over a hundred thousand soldiers and families lived and worked on that base. Regardless, my answer was always no. I did not know the town’s grumpy army vet.
