Page 1 of Where Sea Meets Sky

CHAPTER ONE

Faith Talbot set down her to-go coffee cup and brushed a strand of her soft, copper-colored hair behind her ear. On the large mahogany desk in front of her were several papers that belonged to the client she was preparing to represent in court. Her mind was a tangle of legal considerations and facts, and she sighed without realizing it as she stared into space, wondering how best to present her case.

Her phone buzzed at her elbow, and she jumped a little when she heard it. She turned to look at the screen. It was a text from her friend Angela, and she made a feminine grunt as she dismissed the notification. She would reply to Angela when she had the time, and at the moment, she didn’t.

Out of nowhere, she found herself thinking about how seldom she received text messages these days. She didn’t have much time to maintain her friendships, and most of her social life consisted of going out with her lawyer friends after court dates or an occasional brunch with friends from college. Her heart ached as she thought about how often her parents had texted her before they’d both passed away in a tragic car accident.

She bit her lip. She didn’t admit it, even to herself, but she kept herself busy to try to escape the loneliness that she felt because of their absence. She was an only child, and when her parents had died, she’d been left without any family. Holidays had become something that she tried hard not to think about, and when she was home in her apartment by herself, she usually studied case notes to occupy her mind.

She gazed out the window, hardly processing what she was seeing. She’d seen the view every day for the past several years, and she had ceased to be awestruck by it. Her office was high up in a skyscraper in Boston, and the view of the city that it offered was breathtaking even on cloudy days. On a sunny, blue-sky day like this, it was a view that would be envied by anyone in the city.

A bird swooped suddenly across her view, startling her. She placed a hand on her heart, realizing that it was pounding.

Snap out of it, Talbot,she thought, shaking her head and turning back to the papers she had been studying.You’ve got to make a decision about how to present this case.

She downed the rest of her coffee, and then decided she wanted another cup. She walked over to the Keurig that was resting on a tidy side table on the far wall of her office. Her workspace was clean and orderly, decorated in charming pastels and dark woods. Her outfit, a mint green blazer with matching pencil skirt, hugged her curves and showed off her rounder figure. Her hair, which she usually allowed to tumble in loose waves around her shoulders, was pulled back into a loose braid. She’d taken off her heels while she was studying the documents, and she padded across the soft carpet of her office on bare feet.

She knew she was lucky—or at least, that’s what she kept telling herself. Her office was gorgeous, her job was prestigious and well-paying, and she had beautiful clothes and a nice apartment. No matter how ideal her life appeared, however, she could never seem to enjoy it.

She went back to her desk while the coffee brewed. She took a shaky inhale, looking down at the documents spread across her desk. For a moment, they seemed to swim in her vision, and then they went back into focus.

The case she was working on was a particularly stressful one. There was a great deal of sensitive information that she needed to sort through, and while her brain was usually quick to land on a plan of attack, she felt driftless and uncertain. It was as if she was being tossed on a sea of facts, and she didn’t know what to grab hold of.

Her phone began to ring, and she exclaimed in frustration. It was her client, so it was imperative that she answer the call.

“Hello, this is Faith Talbot,” she said in a smooth tone that perfectly concealed the way her heart was racing as if she was on a rollercoaster.

She had a short conversation with her client, who seemed to simply be expressing anxiety about the upcoming court date, and didn’t really have any new information to give to Faith.

Right?Faith thought with a flutter of panic as she hung up.I already knew that about the secondary bank account, didn’t I?

She began to search through her notes, feeling almost frantic. Details of the case seemed to be blurring in her mind with details of other cases, and she felt as though she couldn’t properly remember the facts of it anymore.

She noticed that her coffee had finished brewing, and she stood up to get it. As she walked over to the Keurig, she tried to decide how she was going to present her case. As she was picking up her coffee mug, she felt that she should present it one way, but by the time she’d returned to her desk, she felt it would be better to present it another way.

“I’m not usually like this,” she muttered, running her fingers through her hair. “What’s the matter with me?”

Normally, she was self-assured and decisive, especially when it came to her work as a lawyer. Her mind tended to work at the speed of light, and her decisions usually had no trouble keeping up. Today, however, her mind felt sluggish and uncertain.

She shook herself, telling herself firmly that she needed to get back to her work. She’d just taken a sip of coffee when her phone began to ring again. This time it was one of the partners in the firm, who was calling her because he wanted to talk logistics about an upcoming trial.

By the time she hung up the phone, she was feeling shaky. She glanced down at her coffee, wondering if she’d had too much. She tried to think about how many cups she’d had that day already. There had been one in the morning, at home, two in the afternoon, no, three in the afternoon?—

She inhaled, trying to steady herself. She turned back to the papers on her desk, feeling a sudden tightness in her chest. She needed to make a decision. She had a deadline. She had to prepare her case, to ensure that she won in court. This was an extremely important client, and she had a great deal riding on the success of her case. She took out a notebook and started to write, trying to force herself to decide how to present her arguments. She immediately scratched out what she’d written, and the pain in her chest intensified. She realized that her hand was shaking, and she gasped for air.

A soft knock sounded on the door to her office, and the law firm’s secretary stepped inside. “Ms. Talbot, there’s a call waiting for you—” The secretary froze when she saw Faith bent over with her hand on her chest.

I think I might be having a heart attack, Faith thought wildly.

“Call 911,” she gasped, and the secretary nodded and ran out of the room.

Faith plopped down onto her couch and lifted a mug of peppermint tea to her lips. Outside, light flurries of snow were falling.

The last of winter, she thought.Spring will be here any time now.

She couldn’t remember if getting snow during the middle of March was normal or not. She realized that she’d gotten into the habit of pushing herself so hard that she hardly ever paused in her work long enough to think about the weather.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She felt grateful to be alive, and kind of warm and sleepy physically. She’d felt that way ever since coming home from the hospital late the night before.

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