The Lights of Home
by Marin Frederique

Outrunning the demons that dog her in Miami, Troy escapes south to the Bahamas, the land of her birth. In paradise, she finds work as a Spanish tutor to Evie, a rebellious teenager whose life uncannily parallels her own. However, it is Simon, Evie’s uncle, who makes his mark on Troy. For seven years, Simon has kept his promise to Deanna, his dead twin sister, protecting her daughter Evie, despite her painful and vicious rejection of him. Desperate, he hires Troy, expecting that she would be just another tutor that Evie runs off with undue speed. Until fate intervenes… Troy and Simon have a lot in common—painful loss, a cautious nature, and a shared heritage that has inextricably linked the Bahamas and communist Cuba across the decades. Eventually proximity, circumstance, and love for Evie soften Troy’s jagged edges and melt the permafrost around Simon’s heart. Simon offers Troy a ready-made family and shelter from the storms of life. But demons don’t give up so easily. When Troy’s past comes back to haunt her in the present, she must decide whether to take the path of least resistance that leads in the opposite direction… or whether to head toward the lights of home.