Fifteen
After another four-day round of wind and rain, Hope was glad to see the sun again. She’d spent much of the day out on the deck of the cottage writing by hand while Daphne alternately read books and built elaborate cities with the set of wooden blocks her father had given her during their visit.
If she was relieved to see the sun, she was even happier to finally feel the last of her anxiety over Dan’s admissions slipping away. A picnic dinner on the beach with Owen, some sand castle building, and plenty of scavenging the shore for treasures washed in by the storms were sure to lift her the rest of the way out of it.
With that thought, she smiled and checked her watch. Then she closed her notebook and hooked her pen in its wire spiral.
“Time to demolish your empire, baby girl,” s
