The Tides Between Us

Margot Thackeray left Saltwood Cove three years ago with nothing but a duffel bag and the ghost of her sister's last breath. She swore she wouldn't return, not to the harbor that smelled of brine and diesel, not to the crumbling Victorian on Widow's Head, and not to Evander Cole, who stood on the pier the morning she fled and said nothing at all. Now a letter from the town's lawyer, Ellis Dane, drags her back: her sister Iris has left her the lighthouse, the saltbox house, and an inheritance shrouded in conditions no one will explain. Margot arrives to find her father's health failing, the harbor master circling with questions, and a lobsterman named Tom Briskett who knew Iris's secrets better than her own blood. Worse, Evander is back too, older, steadier, and unwilling to let the past stay buried. As Margot sifts through Iris's letters and the town's long memories, she uncovers a final wish her sister hid in the dark: a confession that could rewrite everything Margot thought she knew about her family, her marriage, and the night the lighthouse last shone. To honor Iris's last request, Margot must open the door she has kept locked for three years. To do that, she will have to face Evander, and admit the reason she really left.