RAINA NEEDED MEDICAL ATTENTION, maybe a therapist to help her figure out this annoying attraction to the Christiansen men.

It wasn’t like she went looking for them. They motored right up to the door of her heart and knocked. But what was her problem that she kept letting them in? A girl who’d been burned, who’d watched her pride walk out the door in arrogant Owen Christiansen’s back pocket, should be a little more savvy. Should actually pay attention to the warning signs when her heart gave an extra thump at the sound of a motorcycle.

She shouldn’t even give Casper a second look after her behavior with Owen. In fact, she’d tried to put it out of her mind, tried not to think about the humiliation, the fact that she’d so completely stepped over her own rules, the ones she’d recently set in her desire to start over. But could she help it if Casper could charm an audience with his laughter, his rousing anthem to victory over this upcoming oversize canoe race?

She hadn’t a clue what a dragon boat was, or why it might be so important to win the annual Deep Haven dragon boat race, but she felt the battle cry form deep in her chest. So when Casper had turned to her and said, “You’ll paddle for us, right?” she couldn’t help but nod. Really, what else could she say?

I’ve never touched a paddle? I can barely swim? No, those words hadn’t breached her lips. Just a swift, enthusiastic nod.

Yep, she needed medication, or perhaps a quick, rousing slap to wake her up to her own terrible addiction to men with curly hair and mesmerizing blue eyes who rode motorcycles.

She refused to walk back into her too-vivid mistakes. But something about Casper’s chivalry, getting her out of the mud, not betraying her pizza thievery, had spoken to her. She could give him a chance not to break her heart.

A small, tentative chance.

Raina looked in the mirror at her outfit. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been wearing a pizza uniform, so certainly anything would be an improvement. She wore a yellow athletic shirt and a short black workout skirt. She’d pilfered Liza’s closet for swim shoes and a white tennis visor.

Yes, she appeared a bona fide athlete, a picture of paddling perfection.

Grabbing an over-the-shoulder bag, she shoved a towel in —he did mention water, right? —and headed toward the door.

Maybe she didn’t have to steer clear of the Christiansens just because she’d made one mistake. A mistake no one would ever have to know about. Sure, she’d mentioned Owen once when she’d mistaken Casper for his brother, but she’d kept quiet after that. Maybe the Owen mistake could leave town with Owen.

“Hey, Raina, are you leaving?”

Her name from Liza’s mouth stopped her on the stoop, and she went back inside, where she found her aunt sketching at the kitchen table.

“Working on some new designs?” Raina said, leaning over her shoulder. Liza had built a tidy business and now shipped her one-of-a-kind pottery around the nation. She’d set up a kiln and throwing bench in the garage of her former home, an apartment above the Footstep of Heaven Bookstore and Coffee Shop. Now she displayed her work at the local gallery and art fairs and held occasional open houses in her quaint, story-and-a-half bungalow just off Main Street.

“Yes. How do you like this?” She showed Raina a rainbow of colors against a red clay background, the word Abundance etched into the rainbow.

“Beautiful.”

“I’m basing everything on John 10:10, the idea that Jesus came to give us life and to give it in abundance.”

Raina smiled. Liza had this way of working God into everyday conversation. As if she actually believed God cared about her. Raina didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. Although if God really existed, maybe He did care about somebody like Liza, a good person who spent her time investing in other people. A person without Raina’s mistakes, her past. Yeah, maybe that verse worked for people like Liza who had earned the right to ask. To live abundantly.

A girl like Raina had to make her own future.

“I’m headed out to . . . uh, dragon boat practice, and I’ll be back —”

Liza put the sketchpad down. “Since when do you dragon boat?”

“Since I got invited to be on the Evergreen Resort team.”

Liza nodded, a smile in her eyes. “The Christiansen team. Is Darek leading it this year?”

“Darek? No, it’s Casper.”

Liza went back to her drawing. “He’s a charmer, that one.”

Oh? Raina sat at the table, the smile in her day dimming.

“It’s not that he’s a womanizer. It’s just that, out of all the Christiansens, Casper inherited the Casanova gene. He’s dated a small population of Deep Haven girls, and although none of them would speak a word against him, I fear he’s left too many pining.”

Raina swallowed down the darkness pitching her throat.

Liza got up, went to the fridge, and opened it. “Not that he does it on purpose. I’ve seen that smile. Oh, boy, right?”

She gave a small nod as Liza pulled out a bag of baby carrots.

“Casper is a great guy, raised by this wonderful Deep Haven legacy family. I’m just saying . . . guard your heart, honey.”

Raina stared down at those silly swim shoes, wishing she wasn’t so needy, so terribly gullible. Wasn’t the girl who gave her heart away with the slightest hint of attention.

“But you’ll love dragon boating. It’s a blast.” Liza had put some carrots in a baggie and now handed them to her. “Just don’t go in the drink. It’s still pretty cold.”

Cold. Yes, well, she probably needed to put her emotions in deep freeze anyway. Just until they could find a cure for her addiction to heartbreak.

“Who else is on the team?” Liza sat down again.

“Um. This deputy guy, Kyle, and a cute girl named Claire —”

“Ah, I’ll bet Jensen is paddling also. And Emma?”

Raina lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know.”

Liza leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. “But you will, Raina. You’ll make friends, and you’ll see —you belong in Deep Haven. We’re a family here, and it won’t be long before you’re one of us.”

Raina tried to answer with a smile.

But she hadn’t belonged anywhere, hadn’t had a family for so long, that she’d forgotten what it felt like.

And frankly, she wasn’t getting her hopes up.

Today he reclaimed the helm of his life.

Casper stood along the long, low pier that anchored his dragon boat in the Deep Haven harbor and imagined himself crossing the finish line, leading his boat of twenty paddlers to victory.

The sun sparkled on the deep-indigo water of Lake Superior, droplets turning to diamonds, the air cool and tangy with the scent of fresh-cut lawn. Seagulls cried greeting, and a hint of campfire smoke from the harbor campground tinged the air.

He wasn’t sure why winning this year’s race had surfaced such an inexpressible need in him, but he could almost taste the success.

Finally.

He went down to the boat, checking the seats, the drum. He’d already tested the rudder and repainted the head and tail last week, after he transferred the boat to the cement slab that had once held the resort’s garage. Thankfully, they’d stored the Evergreen vessel with other local dragon boats in community storage or they would have lost it to last year’s fire.

But it emerged, fierce and bold, armed with a fresh coat of paint and ready for victory.

Just like Casper.

He climbed out of the boat, gathered up the life jackets and paddles, and set them on the grassy shoreline, then looked up at the sound of a couple car doors slamming.

Kyle and his wife, Emma, walked across the parking lot, dressed in shorts and T-shirts, water shoes. Behind them were Kyle’s parents, Eli and Noelle, similarly attired.

He’d dug deep for this year’s team —it wasn’t easy to cajole twenty people into giving up their time to practice, especially on a Saturday. He’d cast the net wide, starting with his own family, then out to his father’s best pal, Nathan, and his family, and then to Jensen, Darek’s best man, and his wife. Then wider to Emma and Kyle, who played in Claire’s band. Finally, he’d roped in Pastor Dan and Joe Michaels and their wives.

Nineteen. He was short one paddler.

And then he’d come upon pizza girl Raina Beaumont. Eating his pizza, no less, and he had to smile at that.

She’d mustered up with them, joining in their plans to paddle to victory. He’d invited her to practice today, and a big part of him hoped she showed up.

And not just because he needed people. Yes, it might have something to do with her long, raven hair and golden-brown eyes, but also the way she seemed to adopt his enthusiasm for the race.

If he could inspire a stranger, maybe he could inspire the team.

Although she didn’t seem like a stranger. He’d seen her around town, and she’d looked familiar —and then it came to him. The wedding.

He couldn’t dig out of his mind the memory of her words as he’d walked up to the car: Oh, for pete’s sake, I know, okay? Go away, Owen!

Clearly Owen had done something stupid. Maybe even hit on her.

What Casper did know, however, was that he wasn’t Owen. And he would erase whatever bad impression Owen had left.

Casper heard more car doors slamming and saw more of his team arriving. Claire and Jensen, his parents with Amelia, Nathan and his wife and oldest two kids. Even Tucker Newman had shown up, taking a break from his snowboarding training.

He sat on the edge of a picnic table as they gathered round, found paddles and life jackets. No Raina. He tried not to let that bother him.

“Okay, gang. I know Darek isn’t here yet —he’ll be back once he and Ivy return from their honeymoon. But he’s put me in charge of practice, and we need to get the hang of paddling together, so we’ll start without him. I know that many of you have done this before, but for some of you, it’s new.” He picked up a paddle. “Just a few paddling basics. You start with the reach. You’ll be extending your paddle as far as you can —ideally ahead of the bench of the paddler in front of you. By doing this, you’ll maximize the amount of time you pull through the water, and thereby increase your force. The farther our reach, the stronger our pull.”

He demonstrated, reaching out. It was then that he saw Raina walk up, quietly, in the back. She had her pretty black hair in a ponytail, wore a cheerful yellow shirt. For a second, the sun broke through the clouds.

He cleared his throat. “Then you want to catch the water. This is done by digging in, like you would with a shovel, all the way to the top of the blade.”

Raina had picked up a paddle, was mimicking him.

“Now you pull back through the water. Keep your stroke as straight as possible.”

Again, he demonstrated, glancing back at her. She met his eyes but didn’t smile.

He offered one anyway.

“Keep the stroke short. This isn’t a canoe paddle action, but rather a quick stroke in front of the body. The power of your stroke is through the trunk action of your body, moving it from the reach, through your knee and thigh, and then a quick exit out of the water.”

He demonstrated again from his seated position on the table. “It’ll be easier to understand when we get into the boat. The key is to stay together, and that means we need to listen to our drummer.” He gestured to Emma, who held up a mallet.

“Let’s jump in the boat and see if we can get this.”

As his crew dispersed, he caught up to Raina. “Hey. I’m glad you made it.”

She gave him a cool smile. “Sounds fun.” But then she moved away, and he couldn’t quite ignore the unsettling stab of disappointment.

He put Noelle Hueston and Annalise Decker, his parents’ friends, at the bow, the first row. “You’ll set the pace. Listen to Emma’s call.”

“You just want us here because you think we’re the weakest,” Annalise said. She wore her blonde hair in a braid, under a hat that said Decker Real Estate.

“You won’t say that after five minutes of paddling at top speed,” he promised, but yes, he prayed they didn’t quit on him.

Emma sat at the bow, facing the crew, a barrel tom-tom between her knees, keeping rhythm with a long mallet, not unlike the coxswain of a crew team. Although Casper would be the one to steer the boat from his position at the stern.

He directed people into position, trying to balance the narrow boat for weight, then climbed into the back to man the rudder. The two empty places in the vessel would be filled when Darek and Ivy returned.

He held out his hand for Raina, but she managed to get into the boat without his help, not looking at him. Again, he couldn’t shake the odd feeling he’d done something to offend her.

“Push us off, Dad.”

After John shoved them away from the dock, Emma began to beat on the drum slowly as the two pacesetters, or strokers, led them out into the harbor.

Casper loved gliding over the water, the keen sense of flying. The quiet hush of eighteen people working as one as their paddles dipped. He steered them away from the dock, parallel with the shore, then around to the future starting line.

“When the gun goes off, we’ll start with twenty strong, fast strokes, then get into our rhythm. I’ll start us with a whistle. Paddles up —”

He blew the whistle, and as one, they dug in, surging ahead. At the bow, Emma hit her drum swiftly, then at twenty, began to slow, establishing a beat.

Except his mother, on the port side, had gotten off rhythm a half beat, and now her entire side, in order to keep from hitting her paddle, slowed, readjusting their rhythm. Instead of rowing as one unit, half his paddlers dipped down into the water while the other half lifted their paddles in the reach.

The boat began to sway in the water.

Casper glanced at Emma as the rocking lurched the boat, and panic lit across her face one second before she shouted, “Stop!”

But the starboard side, led by Annalise, injected too much power into their strokes to stop, and they dug in hard.

The boat rocked low, and then, just as Casper thought it might right itself, Claire lost her balance. Jensen, her husband, grabbed for her as she tipped over, and the action surged the boat farther to the side.

They took on water, and with Titanic-style certainty, the boat swamped.

The temperature of Lake Superior, even in June, could scrape the breath from a polar bear; it slicked all thought from Casper as the boat overturned, trapping him underneath. On instinct, he pushed away, surfaced fast, and searched for heads.

He spotted his father treading water. “Dad!”

“I’m fine! I have your mother!”

Casper ducked back under the boat, checking for trapped paddlers. Please —

He came up again, the cold like daggers against his skin.

Jensen was pushing the boat toward shore while Kyle grabbed paddles. Casper put his feet down and realized he could touch bottom.

He did a quick count and came up with the right numbers. Ahead of him Raina carried two paddles, wading in. Beside her, Nathan held Annalise’s arm. She fell, got back up.

Casper came around behind the back of the boat. “Jensen —let’s tip it over.”

Jensen stood at the head, and Kyle manned the middle as they flipped the boat. Jensen towed it in to shore.

The cold had numbed Casper’s legs and he fell, too, as he waded in. His crew sat on the shore, some of them in towels. They eyed him with a look that might make him turn around and head back out to sea.

“I gotta get out of these clothes,” Nathan said, holding a shivering Annalise in his arms. “Sorry, Casper. I’m not sure we’re quite cut out for this.”

“Mr. Decker —”

“I’m with Nathan,” Eli Hueston said. “I think I’m too old for the polar bear plunge.” He took Noelle’s hand and headed toward their car.

In a moment, Casper’s crew had dispersed. Even Jensen abandoned him in favor of hot cocoa with his wife.

Casper, his hands shaking, stood on the shore, staring at the dragon boat, the seats soggy, paddles and wet life preservers in a heap.

“Now what?”

He looked over at the voice. Found Raina, a towel wrapped around her, shivering.

“Are you just going to let them give up?”

“I don’t know. I mean —we were a disaster. Darek always organized the team. We won two years ago.”

“And we will this year too.” She said it through chattering teeth, but something about the fire in her eyes found the few still-lukewarm spots inside Casper.

“We will?”

“Listen. You got me all excited about this dragon boat thing, and now I’m wet and cold, and you’re telling me you’re going to give up?” She turned and began to walk away. “I should have guessed.”

“What’s that mean?” He ran to catch up with her.

She just kept stalking across the shore.

“Raina. What did I do? I thought we were getting along the other night.”

She pursed her lips, sighed, looked away. Then finally back at him. “We were.”

He raised an eyebrow, hoping for more.

“It’s just that I’ve had an epidemic of people —guys —letting me down lately, and I’m kicking myself for believing this might be different.”

Oh. Wow. She knew how to hit a man in the throat.

You’re the poster boy for the Christiansen family. He didn’t know why Amelia’s words latched on to him at that moment or why his body moved almost without thought. But he darted after Raina, catching up, then standing in front of her.

She stopped, frowning. “Hey —”

“I’m not giving up. You’re right. I started this, and I’m not going to let one mistake shoot me down.” He glanced at their wounded dragon boat, moored like a Viking ship on the rocky shore. “We can win this if we learn to paddle in sync.”

She made a sound that resembled laughter, or maybe disbelief, but her face was solemn.

So maybe the sound had come from him, something deep inside he’d been trying to escape.

Would escape, someday, once he figured out how.

He looked at her, at the way she held her towel nearly over her head, gripping it at the base. “Can I buy you a coffee?”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Please?”

She sighed again, seemed to consider him, and then said, “Okay. But if you offer me a ride on your motorcycle, I’m outta here.”

Huh?

But she was already stalking toward the coffee shop.