The Contract of Us Ten years after a public betrayal cost them everything, Isla Reed is back where it started - the salt-scented harbor town she fled, and the research center she helped build. When the coastal lab that charts the town's fragile tide pools and migrating shorebirds faces closure, Isla returns with one mission: save the work that saved her. Only the building that once housed her life's work is now tied to Rowan Hale - the man who broke her heart and disappeared into the very town he'd sworn to protect. Rowan has spent a decade restoring the old lighthouse, tending to the town's history and the family he stayed to defend. He doesn't expect to see Isla again. He certainly doesn't expect to be asked to work with her. Forced into an uneasy partnership to stop a developer who sees profit where they see home, Isla and Rowan must confront the secret that drove them apart, the mistakes they made in public and private, and whether trust can be rebuilt on weathered wood and second chances. As storms roll in and the lighthouse's light comes back to life, they'll learn that forgiveness is messy - and sometimes the bravest love is the one you risk losing twice.