Page 147 of One Last Chance

They skidded across the top, and all Flynn could think of were the rapids and how the water had tossed her. Then the waterfall and Axel finding her and?—

“Flynn, can you reel in the tube?”

Oh. He’d slowed the boat, bringing it in to shore, where Eve and Ashley piled off.

Flynn leaned over the back and pulled in the tube.

She refused to think about how Axel had nearly died. She’d leave that for the dark of night, when the nightmares found her despite her attempts to let it go.

She couldn’t be with a man who . . .

What—loved her enough to save her life? To give his for hers?

She held the tube to the boat as Rembrandt maneuvered to the long dock. Eve was there, wearing a sodden T-shirt over her swimsuit, and helped secure the boat.

Flynn pushed the tube onto the dock, then climbed out.

Eve joined her as they walked toward the yard.

The Mulligan family home, a former farmhouse, sat on a half-acre of shoreline, the path from the lake lined on both sides with legacy Hosta. It led to an expansive deck overlooking the lake.

Bets, Eve’s mother, had set a long picnic table and now flung a towel around Ashley’s shoulders. The seven-year-old shivered, her blue eyes big as she bit into a watermelon wedge.

Samson and Asher, Eve’s brothers, played a game of catch-the-football on the lawn.

Smoke tufted from the grill, manned by Eve’s father, Danny, a former police chief. He stood, grilling spatula in hand, talking with Flynn’s dad, Mike. Her father stood, his hands folded across his chest, shadow from his baseball cap casting over his expression, nodding to something Danny said. Probably talking about the game.

Or her.

As if reading her mind, Eve stopped on the path. “You doing okay?”

“I guess.”

“How did your parents take the news?”

“About Kennedy?” Flynn’s mind went to that moment, nearly two weeks ago, when she’d given them the news.

Kennedy is alive. And I found her.

“She’d actually called them before I got there. Out of the blue—they were pretty shocked. And overwhelmed with relief. I think they’re planning on taking a trip to see her.”

As they talked, her mother came out of the house carrying a couple cans of pop. She handed one to her husband, stayed and talked to Danny.

“You going with them?”

Flynn looked at Eve. “What?”

“Back to Alaska.” Eve cocked an eyebrow.

“No. Why would I do that?”

Eve gave her a look. “Four-letter word.”

“Axel?”

“Love. But that works too.”

She’d walked into that one. “No. I knew him for a week. I don’tlovehim.”

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