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Elise Darby got the briefest glimpse of her father, Dean Swartz, there at the Pontiac Trail Head. His brown eyes had this gorgeous glint to them. It was like all the secrets about her, about her mother, were tucked safely back there, away from his children and the rest of Mackinac Island.
Elise opened her lips to say something.
But what could a long-lost daughter say to the father she’d never known?
He looked at her with a vague sense of curiosity. Could he see Allison Darby’s own face, played out across her own? Oh, but he hadn’t seen Allison Darby since she’d been twenty-four years old. Elise was now forty-two. She was an aged-up version of Allison Darby, the in-between of twenty-something Elise and sixty-something Allison.
A middle-aged woman in an in-between life.
Before she could think of what to say, a carriage bolted up between Elise and her father. Elise’s horse bucked forward and clip-clopped in the direction of where Wayne had disappeared. She heard her father bellow, “Hey there! How you doing?” to whoever was in the carriage.
Probably, he’d already forgotten her. She’d just been a passing tourist. Nobody at all.
Elise’s horse nearly tumbled into Wayne’s. Wayne held her gaze for a long time.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
“I feel like I just saw a ghost,” Elise breathed.
“You’re the ghost, though. Aren’t you?” Wayne pointed out.
Elise knew he was right. Still, she didn’t want to face it. She rubbed her heels into the sides of the horse and cut up the path, riding as swiftly as she dared until they reached another high point, overlooking the turquoise waters. The air was perfect, with just the first crispy edge of fall. She yanked the reins slightly, and the horse stopped short. Wayne found his way beside her and made a little noise in his throat.
“You ride pretty good for a novice,” he told her under his breath.
Elise sniffed. After a long pause, she said, “I can’t believe he’s been here all this time—just up here, overlooking the water, so far from Mom and me in California. I’ve dreamed of meeting him for years. I would watch the other girls at school with their fathers and wonder what I was missing. But when I stood in front of him just now, all I felt was fear. I hate it.”
Wayne tilted his head. “I don’t think you should beat yourself up about the fear you had. It makes sense, don’t you think? Especially after Alex broke into your room.”
“I still can’t believe that happened,” Elise said. “I don’t know how we’ll ever come back from that. All these years, I’ve wanted a sibling.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, in my experience, siblings are meant to drive you nuts,” Wayne said, giving her a terribly handsome, crooked smile.
Elise rolled her eyes. “I hate to say it, but you’re right.”
“I know I’m right. I’m always right.”
“And arrogant! Fantastic.” Elise rolled her eyes, turned the horseback toward the Pontiac Trail Head, and leaned forward to pick up speed.
Wayne cackled behind her and followed her lead. Elise loved the feel of this: the wind rushing past her cheeks and whipping at her dark blonde curls, her eyes darting, either from the breeze or from tears at the chaos of the day. She no longer felt like the Elise Darby she’d been back in Los Angeles. You rode a horse? She imagined Mia or Haley demanding, totally shocked.
Life was about surprising yourself.
And Elise hadn’t been surprised by anything in years.
She was grateful that, finally, she was able to feel that again—even if that surprise was lined with dread.
Elise and Wayne continued to ride, sweeping around the side of the Grand Hotel until they reached the edge of the waterline. Sunlight reflected softly across white birch tree bark, and the lake water rolled up across the dark moss that lined the beach. Elise hopped off her horse and tossed off her shoes so she could dip her toes in the edge of the water. Wayne stepped off his horse as well and stood behind her, watching the water.
“You must think I’m crazy,” Elise said, mostly to the air as she extended her arms out on either side of her.
“Maybe a little,” Wayne said.
Elise chuckled. “I don’t blame you. I’ve thought it many times, too. I felt like coming all the way to this island I’d never heard of—Mackinac Island—would be a little adventure in my sad life. I thought it might break my writer’s block, maybe give me a bit of my freedom back, help me feel like a person outside of my children, or my divorce or my career. But instead, I’ve wandered into a huge mess.”
“Do you typically make messes?” Wayne asked.
“No! That’s the funny thing,” Elise said. “Between Mom and I, I was always the organized one. I liked structure. I liked things to be just-so. Unlike Mom, I got married early, had babies early, got a head-start on my career. I felt like if I could just check off all these boxes, then I would be complete. But here I am, in the middle of nowhere.”
Wayne clucked his tongue. “Everywhere is the middle of nowhere, if you think about it.”
Elise laughed. “That sounds like a line I might put in a script.”
“You can have it if you dedicate the film to me,” Wayne said.
Again, he gave her that ridiculous smile.
It was the kind of smile that made her feel punched through the stomach.
“I barely know you, you know? But you’re the only person on this island I trust,” Elise said.
“And you really shouldn’t trust me,” Wayne said. “I could be working on the inside.”
“You’re in cahoots with Alex?” Elise asked. She swept a strand of hair behind her ear and grinned.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I’m a double agent,” Wayne said.
Elise thought, if she’d written this script, this might have been the point when a more confident, more alive woman would have stepped toward Wayne, placed her hands on his cheeks, and kiss him with reckless abandon.
As it stood, she wasn’t that kind of woman.
She barely knew him.
And she hadn’t kissed anyone since way before her divorce.
When had she last kissed someone? She suddenly wanted to know. Had Sean planted a brief one on her lips as he’d rushed out to work one morning? Could that even be counted as a kiss?
“Did I lose you?” Wayne asked.
Elise blinked several times, forcing herself back to reality. At that moment, her eyes turned toward the grounds of the Grand Hotel, where she spotted a little gathering. To her surprise, she recognized them.
“Oh, my gosh!” Elise pressed the reins of her horse in Wayne’s hands and rushed toward the gathering. When she reached the outskirts of it, she made eye contact with the woman from the previous day—the owner of the dress shop, who’d convinced her to buy that gorgeous green dress.
The woman recognized her immediately and grinned. Her eyes were glorious, big and brown, and her hair had been styled beautifully, with long loose curls.
“Look at you!” the woman said.
A few steps away from her stood Anna, the bride from the previous day’s shopping trip, along with several of the other women Elise had spotted in the shop. Anna was every bit the beautiful bride Elise had known she would be. She wore a high-collared lacey wedding dress, the color of ivory, and a pair of earrings she’d clearly picked out from the woman’s shop dangled from her ears. Anna waved, bug-eyed with happiness, toward Elise, before turning back toward one of her friends to say something Elise couldn’t hear.
“What are you doing down here?” the shop owner asked.
“I was just passing by on horseback,” Elise said.
“Well, we were headed down toward the water for a little bit of a party before the wedding itself,” the woman said. “We’re a small but rowdy crowd.” She furrowed her brow, then said, “You’re alone, aren’t you? Why don’t you stay awhile? Hey, Roger? Pour this woman a glass of champagne.”
Elise wanted to protest. After all, she hardly knew these people, and she wasn’t the kind of woman to just barge into someone’s party.
“Oh, you don’t have to invite me,” Elise said. “Really. Like I said, I was just passing by, and I wanted to thank you again for the dress. I wore it last night and, I have to admit, it was a night I’ll never forget.”
“Oh! That sounds suspicious,” the woman said. “I want to hear more. But only if you stick around.”
Elise cast her eyes back toward the beach. She couldn’t quite catch sight of Wayne, who hovered between the two horses.
“What was your name again?” Elise asked the woman, conscious that she’d never asked for it.
“Oh! I’m so sorry. My name is Tracey,” Tracey said.
The name suited her.
“Tracey, it’s so good to meet you,” Elise said. “I’m Elise.”
“Roger! Pour Elise a glass of champagne,” Tracey said, laughing outright now. “I don’t want you to spend this beautiful afternoon by yourself.”
Elise gave a light shrug. “The thing about last night? When I wore that dress? I kind of met someone. I mean, he’s probably nobody, and I don’t know him that well. But. Do you mind if I bring him along?”
“The more, the merrier, I think,” Tracey said. “And Anna is already a little bit tipsy. I don’t think she’ll care at all.”
“Okay. I have to go get him, but I’ll meet you by the water,” Elise said.
“Perfect.”
Elise rushed back toward the horses and appeared between them, the perfect place to peer mischievously up at Wayne’s handsome face.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time?” Wayne asked.
Elise shrugged. “Do you believe in carpe diem?”
“No. Not in the slightest,” Wayne said, teasing her.
“I’ve just been invited to a spontaneous wedding,” Elise told him. “If I was the California version of myself, I would say—oh, no, no. No thanks, I don’t want to intrude. But they seem so nice, and who wouldn’t want to watch a wedding on such a beautiful day? Everyone keeps saying these are the last beautiful days of summer. We should use them, right?”
Wayne made a funny noise in his throat. “How do you know them?”
“I met Tracey yesterday in her dress shop,” Elise affirmed.
“I see.”
There was something strange about Wayne’s eyes. It looked as though he wanted to weigh up the pros and cons of something, yank Elise down a few pegs.
She wasn’t willing to let it happen.
“Where should we put the horses?” Elise asked.
“There’s a stable over there that belongs to the Grand Hotel,” Wayne affirmed, nodding toward the far building between the trees. “I know the owner. He won’t have a problem with it.”
“Cool. Nice to have you around, isn’t it?” Elise said. “You’re Mr. Congeniality around here. Perfect, especially when I have a target on my back.”