Prologue

The scraggly teenager lumbered past the security guard, insolently looking both irritated and bored as he was told to stand on the line while the guard swiped the metal detector wand over his person. Another guard searched through the worn duffle bag until he came to the item in question.

"It's just a diving watch," the guard told his co-worker.

"Move along," the other said, already focused on the next passenger.

With a rude snap of his gum, the kid grabbed at the bag and proceeded to the gate where his flight would leave in a half hour. Just a diving watch, he snickered. That's what they thought.

Chapter 1

Molly Carson sat at the bar, sipping her blue Hawaiian drink and gazing at the ocean, not more than fifty yards away. Ahhh. This is the life, she thought. Despite the fact that she was here because of her sense of duty, Molly vowed to herself that she would make the most of this tropical getaway. Roger had told her that the break would do her good, and as usual, with the thought of Roger – handsome, charismatic, Roger- a lump of emotion clogged her throat. It was all too new, too fresh to be anything except an open wound.

“Would you like another drink, Miss?” The native bartender looked at her as he wiped down the bar. He noticed the sadness in her pale blue eyes and shook his head. A woman so young and beautiful should not have such sadness. It wrenched at his old heart. She wasn’t the first to come to Kauai to heal, though he was almost certain it was her first time on the island. She did not have the look of a well-traveled woman. She looked like she was more comfortable in her own familiar surroundings. When she didn’t respond, he prodded gently, “Miss?”