Page 12 of Sometimes You Stay

“You’re telling me there’s nowhere on the island I can replace my things?”

Marie shook her head slowly. “You might be able to get something at a box store, but they don’t carry large supplies. Usually they have to order what you want. Especially if it’s a high-end item.”

Cretia swallowed hard against a suddenly dry mouth. All of her information was accessible—so long as she had some sort of device. Without one, she had no record of her plane tickets. No reservation number at her hotel, whose name she couldn’t even remember. And no way to navigate the island, let alone get off of it.

A rope around her lungs pulled tight, and she gasped for breath.

She’d been in some sticky situations, even had her backpack and the laptop within it stolen once. But she’d never felt quite so helpless before. She’d always had something—usually her phone. Her most important tool. Her lifeline.

Without it, she was stranded. In a foreign country.

When she’d been robbed before, she’d gone to the US embassy. They’d managed to get her a new passport. Yes, there had been enough bureaucratic red tape to cover a house. But at the end of the day, she’d had her passport shortly after the local police were able to retrieve her electronics.She’d never been more thankful for the Find My Device feature.

This time, she knew where her things were.

On a mudroom floor.

In a bucket.

Covered in rice.

And highly unlikely to ever function again.

Cretia cleared her throat. “Do you know where the local US embassy is?”

Finn and Marie made eye contact, a knowing look passing between them.

“The embassy?” Marie said after a long silence. “It’s probably in Ottawa.”

Cretia let out a heavy breath. She hadn’t gotten an A+ in geography, but she knew Ottawa wasn’t on PEI—and Canada was huge. She wasn’t bebopping across Europe right now.

“But there’s a US consulate in Halifax.” Marie’s words rose in tone and hope. “That’s where I went to begin my paperwork when I decided to stay on the island.”

“Halifax?”

“Nova Scotia,” Finn supplied with a small shrug.

“How far away is it?”

“About a four-hour drive.” Marie frowned. “Each way.”

And in a completely different province. Cretia hadn’t rented her car to leave PEI. She’d barely rented it for another day.

She was completely on her own.

Stranded.

Suddenly she felt like she might be sick, her stomach twisting painfully on the once delicious grilled cheese. Her hands began to shake, and the throbbing in her ankle found its wayto her temples, each beat of her heart pounding another nail into her skull.

When she swayed, a large hand—a familiar one—cupped her elbow, and Finn slipped to her side. “Hey, it’s gonna be all right. We’ll figure it out.”

Easy for you to say.

Maybe her facial features betrayed the direction of her thoughts because Marie swooped in with her own promise. “So, here’s the thing. I owe Finn here a favor for letting my toddler terrorize his animals.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” he said with barely a glance up. “I wouldn’t let anyone—even Jessie—terrorizethose animals.”

Marie raised her eyebrows in a knowing motion that all mothers seem to have mastered.

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