“Yes, sir. I’ll look into rentals and do some public record checks anyway, see if I come across anything.” Martin disappeared into the suite, leaving Alexander alone with his thoughts, the sun now shining brightly over the Atlantic Ocean.

~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia saw her beach house appear as she rounded the corner and began sprinting, glancing back to see Cam far behind her. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that Alexander was on the island. But how? And why? Would he really track her credit card? Of course he would. She knew that.

Quickly retreating into her house, she grabbed two glasses, filled them with chocolate milk, and brought them outside, sitting down on her front steps. A few minutes later, Cam ran up, panting.

“Fuck, Libby. You’re an animal.” He exhaled loudly. “Remind me to never take you up on another challenge. Jesus…”

“It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?” she smirked.

“Whoever said it looked easy?”

Olivia shrugged, handing Cam a glass of chocolate milk. He eyed it suspiciously. “It’s chocolate milk,” she explained. “It will help your muscles recover. Trust me.”

“Okay,” he said cautiously, taking a sip of his drink. “I take it back. That’s actually really good after a run.”

“Told you,” she replied, bringing her own glass to her lips as Cam watched, sitting down on the front steps next to her.

Olivia looked out over the sand dunes, wondering why she had a feeling that Alexander was on the island. She had seen him everywhere but, this time, there was an electricity in the air, as if he had found her.

“I can tell the wheels are turning in that head of yours. You have that look.”

Olivia whipped her head back toward Cam. “What look?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“You know. That look. The one that, last night, I said was so fucking cute that I wanted to die. That’s your ‘thinking’ look, and it’s adorable. But I wonder what’s going through that head of yours. I know you’re not thinking about me, and that’s okay.” He grasped Olivia’s chin, bringing her face toward his. “But I really wish you would think about me, and forget about whatever or whoever did all this to you.”

“Did what?” Olivia asked softly, her breathing increasing along with her heart rate.

“This,” he responded quietly. “I know there’s a spirited, energetic, and passionate young woman in there somewhere, desperately screaming to get out. And I’m going to do everything I can to bring that person back.”

“Oh, Cam,” she exhaled, looking to the sky for her answer as she watched the seagulls swoop into the ocean, searching for their next meal. “I wish it was that easy. I think that girl stayed in Boston.”

“AHA!” he exclaimed. “Boston.” A huge grin crept across his face.

“What?” Olivia looked at him skeptically.

“Nothing. I’m just hungry for information about you, but I’m not going to press you. At least now I know where you came from, beautiful.” He winked.

“Yeah. Boston…”

“Do you miss it?” he asked.

Olivia thought about it. Did she miss Boston? Or was it something more? She shrugged as a truck pulled up along Ocean Avenue, a bunch of surfers getting out to catch some morning waves. Cam nodded a greeting. Of course he knew them.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, Libby,” he said, turning his attention back to her.

“No. It’s okay. I mean, it’s hard to say if I miss it or not. When I got in my car with the few possessions I chose to bring, a strange feeling overtook me. I wasn’t just leaving my friends, but I was also leaving behind the girl that I was at that time in my life. Leaving Boston was so much more than saying good-bye to the city that I had grown to love over the last ten years or so of my life. It was also saying good-bye to the person the city turned me into.” A tear escaped as she thought about the girl she was back then.

When Olivia first moved to Boston right after she finished high school, she was shy and scared, her only outlet being music. She still remembered the day she met Kiera like it was yesterday. She had just gotten back from a run around the Charles River late one evening and there were quite a few people hanging outside the small three-story apartment building in the Allston section of the city.

Olivia lowered her head, trying to avoid eye contact as she made her way up the steps. “Hey!” she heard as she unlocked the front door to the building. “You’re the girl that just moved in, aren’t you? The new tenant in 1B?”

She turned around to see a petite girl with soft red hair, tons of freckles, and fiery green eyes. She looked far more sophisticated than Olivia. She guessed the girl had to be in her mid-twenties. Her smile was contagious and Olivia knew immediately that she could trust her. There was something about her that was so open and honest and she felt, for lack of a better word, comfortable.

“Yes. That’s me. I’m Libby,” she said, extending her hand to the redhead.

“Libby! So happy to finally meet you.” She wrapped her arms around Olivia, obviously not caring that she was drenched in sweat from a long run around the river during the humid August heat. “I’m Kiera!” she exclaimed after releasing her.

“Hi, Kiera. Nice to meet you.” Olivia retreated into the building, heading toward her apartment.

“Hey, Libby!” Kiera shouted, running down the short hallway to Olivia’s left rear apartment. “I’m having people over tonight, as you can tell. You should come, too. My boss sent a shit ton of liquor over, and I need someone to help drink it!”

“I don’t know,” Olivia responded, facing Kiera, noticing the hordes of people in the apartment across the hall.

“Oh, come on. Go shower, then come over. It’ll be fun. Plus, if your butt isn’t out of your apartment within an hour, I know where you live. I will come drag you out.”

Olivia rolled her eyes, turning to go into her apartment. “Okay. I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

“Goody!” Kiera said, jumping up and down as she rushed back out front to where a few people were smoking. “You know that shit will kill you dead!” she scolded her friends. Olivia laughed at her new acquaintance.

That night, she and Kiera had become friends. Over the next month, they had become inseparable. She even got Olivia a job at the bar on Boylston Street where she worked. It was Kiera who broke her out of her shell to begin with, but it was Alexander who opened her heart again.