Summer in Evergreen Hollow carried the easy rhythm of long days and warm nights, the kind that made time feel generous. Lily Kane, home from her junior year at Denver, filled the house with her presence again—her laughter echoing from the backyard where she coached Everett’s street hockey games, her late-night chats with Holly about everything from team dynamics to life dreams, and her gentle way of scooping Clara up for “big sister skates” on the driveway.

But beneath the ...