Excerpt
Chapter 1
Shelby
Shutting off my car,
I stare at the two-story house I used to call home. It looks the same as it did
when I left. The deep blue is still vibrant, even more so now against the
backdrop of the gray sky behind it. The white porch is still welcoming, with flowers
hanging from the banister.
My grandmother and I
would spend hours planting flowers in those boxes during the summer. When she
passed away during my sophomore year of high school, I made sure to keep up the
tradition in her memory. It looks like, in my absence over these last fifteen
years, someone else had taken over the job.
Looking at the bright
blooms growing wild, hanging over the sides of the boxes, I wonder if Granddad
hired someone to plant them for him when he left to live in Florida. He never mentioned
that he cared about the flowers we planted. Honesty, I don’t remember him
mentioning them. Growing up, I didn’t even think he noticed, but now, looking
at the blooming buds that are artfully arranged, I know they meant something to
him after all.
“Mom?” Turning my
head, I look at my son Hunter and force a smile as aching pain and regret slice
through my chest.
“Sorry, honey. I
spaced out. Do you want to unpack tonight, or do you want to wait until
tomorrow, kiddo?”
Looking over his
shoulder, he eyes the boxes and suitcases piled in the back then looks at me. I
hate the sadness I see in his eyes. I hate I’m the cause of his pain. I know he
misses his father already, and I know that at ten years old, he doesn’t
understand why we’re no longer together even if it’s been over two years since
we separated and divorced.
“Tomorrow,” he
grumbles, and I feel that ache in my chest expand. He hates me for moving him
across the country. Away from his friends, away from everything he knew. And I
hate myself a little bit, too, for failing miserably at keeping my family
together. I just hope this move will be a new start for us.
“Tomorrow,” I agree
softly, unhooking my belt and opening the door.
Rounding the hood of
the van, Hunter has already made it to the porch and is waiting at the top of
the stairs, with his eyes pointed over my shoulder. Stopping, I look behind me
as rain soaks through my clothes. I can’t believe how much the town has changed
and grown. When I’d left home, you could see the sound from the front porch of
my grandparents’ home. Now, the view is blocked by houses that have been built
up side-by-side across the road. The street looks more like a New York City
block, rather than a street in small-town Alaska.
“Is it always
raining?” Hunter’s voice breaks into my thoughts, and I turn back toward him
and take the steps slowly, noticing they are rotting out in a few spots.
Something I will have to fix soon.
“Not always, but this
is a rainforest, so I guess the answer in some ways is yes,” I tell him, when I
make it up to the covered porch.
His brows draw
together over his blue eyes, making him look like his father, as he asks, “This
is a rainforest?”
“It is.” I want so
badly to reach out and run my finger down his cheek, but I keep my hand locked
at my side. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but some time ago, he
stopped wanting my affection. Stopped being my little boy.
“Really?” he asks
curiously, with wide eyes. “It doesn’t look like a rainforest,” he states, and
he’s right; it doesn’t look like what you might imagine a rainforest would look
like.
“It doesn’t look like
one, but it is all the same.” I smile, and his eyes move over my face then to
the view, and his face loses the curiosity it held a moment ago.
He turns, muttering,
“Whatever.”
Biting my lip, I take
the key the lawyer mailed me out of the front pocket of my jeans, put it in the
lock, and turn. The door opens with a loud creak and dust rises up from the
floors. A loud alarm sounds, making us both jump. Running into the house, I
look frantically for some kind of alarm system, finally finding the small white
box off the door in the kitchen. Flipping the panel open, I stare at the
numbers.
“What’s the code?”
Hunter yells over the siren, covering his ears.
“I don’t know,” I
yell back, pressing in every single number combination I can think of, but none
of them work.
“Is it in the papers
in the car?”
“Maybe,” I yell, then
run for the door and down the stairs to the van. Swinging open the back door, I
shove three boxes out of the way before finding the one I’m looking for.
Ripping off the tape, I shuffle through the contents and scan the papers the
lawyer sent, searching for the code, but stop and look over the hood of the van
when the alarm goes quiet. “What was the code?” I ask Hunter, when he steps out
onto the porch.
“I don’t know.” He
shrugs, looking over his shoulder into the house, like he’s waiting for someone
to come out, which makes me frown.
“Did it just stop?” I
question, slamming the van door. His eyes come back to me and he shakes his
head then starts to open his mouth to say something else, but is cut off by a
deep voice.
“I turned it off.”
It takes one breath
to realize who just stepped out of my grandparents’ house. One breath for every
moment I spent with the man standing before me to flash through my head. Two
seconds for me to feel my world come to a stop.
The boy I once knew
is gone. There’s nothing boyish about Zach Watters anymore. His jaw is now
sharp, the stubble on it giving him a rugged look while accentuating his full
lips. His dark hair has silvered around the edges, drawing attention to his
expressive hazel eyes that look like they hold a thousand stories. His red and
black plaid shirt is stretched tight across broad shoulders, giving a glimpse
of the muscles it’s covering. He’s still every bit as beautiful as he once was,
only more so now that time has aged him, taking him from a handsome boy to a
gorgeous man.
Swallowing, I look at
my son then back again. “Thanks,” I whisper, and Zach’s eyebrows pull together
as he sweeps his gaze over me. I have no doubt that I too have changed, but
unlike him, time hasn’t been good to me. I’ve gained a few too many pound from
eating my feelings over the last year. My skin has lost its youthful glow, and
my hair has grown out at the roots without my bi-monthly maintenance
appointments.
“Shelby?” he asks,
but all I can do is confirm with a nod, since my mouth has dried up and I can’t
find my voice. “Jesus.” His eyes widen as he looks down at Hunter then back
toward me. “What are you doing here?”
“My… my son Hunter
and I are moving in,” I stutter, caught off guard by his presence. I wasn’t
stupid enough to believe I wouldn’t see him when I moved home, but I had convinced
myself that seeing him would be on my terms, or sporadic at best.
“What?” he whispers,
leaning back on his boots, crossing his arms over his chest.
Ignoring his
question, I start to move back toward the stairs, asking, “Do you mind giving
me the code for the alarm? I’m sure it’s somewhere in the papers the lawyer
sent, but...” I stop and look to the left when Zach’s name is called. Standing
on the porch of the house next door is a woman I know he got with a few months
after I left. A woman he married soon after she gave birth to their twins. A
woman I used to call my friend.
A woman I now hate.
I absently hear him
say something to her, but the nausea turning my stomach and the sadness
prickling my skin have me moving quickly up the steps, focusing on not falling
over as I move past him. “Never mind about the code. I’m sure I’ll find it.
Thanks for shutting off the alarm,” I mumble, as I walk through the door.
“Mom.”
“Come on, honey.
Let’s have a look around, and then we need to get to the store.”
“Mom,” Hunter
repeats, sounding confused. I plaster a fake smile on my face.
“The pizza place we
drove past has the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. We could do that for dinner.”
“Mom.”
“Right here, honey.”
I laugh, even though that laugh feels like glass edging down my windpipe.
Studying me for a
long moment, he finally mutters, “Pizza sounds good. I’m gonna call Dad before
we go, and tell him we’re here.”
“Sure,” I agree,
watching him pull out his cell phone and walk toward the kitchen. I didn’t
agree that he needed a cell phone at his age, but like all things with his dad,
there was never any kind of conversation. He didn’t ask what I thought about
it; he just did what he wanted to do.
I hear a familiar
throat clear. “You’re back?” Zach asks from behind me, making my shoulders
slump forward and my eyes slide closed briefly.
“Yeah.” I turn to
face him and wrap my arms around my waist, feeling my stomach twist into knots.
When I left town, we didn’t fight, didn’t yell at each other, didn’t say things
we would end up regretting one day. I just knew there was too much pain between
us to make what we had left work, and Zach, knowing the same, didn’t put up a
fight when I told him my plans.
“You're staying
here?” he asks, and I nod. Running a hand over his head as his eyes move to the
right, where Tina had been moments ago, before bringing his gaze back to mine.
“The code for the alarm is one, two, three, four. I told Pat to change it, but
you know Pat,” he mutters, and I nod, knowing exactly how stubborn Gramps was.
Shoving his hands into the front pocket of his jeans, his voice drops. “I’m
really sorry about Pat.”
“Thanks.” I hold
myself a little tighter. His eyes drop to my arms around my waist and soften
before moving up to meet mine once more.
“If you need
anything, I’m next door.” He lifts his chin in that direction, and my world
stops again.
“Pardon?” I breathe.
“I live next door.”
Okay, maybe I should
have guessed that, since Tina was over there, but I didn’t, and this is not
good… as in really not good. There is not one damn thing I can do about it,
though, unless I want to load Hunter back into the van and live out of it for
the next year or so, which I don’t think will win me any brownie points with my
son.
“Cool,” I whisper
pathetically, with nothing else to say. Something familiar-looking and soft
slides through his features, making my stomachache twist again, but this time
in a way I haven’t felt in a long time.
“Well…” I pause,
needing this encounter to be over. “Thanks again for turning off the alarm. I
wish we had time to catch up,” I lie. “But I need to get to the store before it
closes, and then I need to get Hunter some food. Growing boys don’t do well
without food,” I ramble, as I put my hand to the door, wanting so badly to shove
it closed.
“Sure.” He nods then
looks over my shoulder, into the house. “Nice meeting you, Hunter.”
“You too—” Hunter
looks between Zach and me.
“Mr. Watters, honey,”
I mutter, answering his unspoken question, as he comes to stand at my side with
his cell phone in his hand.
“You too, Mr.
Watters.”
Zach’s eyes come to
me and his face softens once more. “See you around, Shelby.”
“Yeah, see you
around,” I lie again, since I plan to pretend he doesn’t exist from this moment
forward. I wait, even though I don’t want to, until he is walking away to close
the door then stand there for a moment, trying to process what just happened.
“How do you know him,
Mom?” Hunter asks.
“When I was younger,”
I say, turning to face him, “we were friends.” I shrug, looking toward the
stairs. “My room used to be in the attic—it’s the best room in the house—and if
you make it there before me, I’ll let you have it.” I raise my brows before taking
off in a sprint up the stairs, listening to my son, who I haven’t heard laugh
in weeks, giggle as he runs up the stairs behind me.
“Wow, this is
awesome.”
Looking over my
shoulder at Hunter I smile as he walks into the room with wide eyes. “I told
you it’s the coolest room in the house.” I used to love hanging out up here
when I was a teenager. The vastness of the space, with its angled ceilings and
four large skylights, was a cool place to spend time. Looking at my son now, I
can see the excitement in his eyes as he wanders around the room.
“Do you think I could
get a telescope?” he asks, looking up at the cloud-covered sky through one of
the skylights.
“Definitely.” I bump
my shoulder with his as I walk past him toward the couch in the corner that’s
covered with a sheet and pull it off. “We may also want to find a cover for
this thing while we’re at it,” I say, looking from the floral-covered couch to
his scrunched up face.
“Yeah.” He nods,
moving to the bed, where he rips off the sheet that is covering the mattress.
“I can’t wait to tell Dad about this. He’s going to think it’s so cool,” he
mutters, and I bite my tongue to keep from saying, No, your dad will definitely
not think it’s cool.
Max, Hunter’s father,
grew up wealthy. He never owned anything that had been used. Even when we got
married, he insisted I sell the Victorian house I bought when I graduated
college, wanting instead for us to buy a newly built house in a cliché
subdivision, where all of his friends lived. Shortly thereafter, he insisted I
sell all of my old furniture, things I had bought secondhand and refurbished
over the years. At the time, I was blinded by hope and love, so I didn’t think
anything about it. But over time, I slowly realized I was no longer the person
I used to be. I had turned into a trophy wife who lived in a show home and
neither of us had any real character.
“Mom,” Hunter calls,
bringing me out of my thoughts, and I turn to look at him and notice he has a
stack of photos in his hand. “Who’s this?”
“That’s my mom,” I
say softly, while walking over to where he’s sitting on the bed, holding out a
picture of my mom and me. In the photo, we’re sitting outside on the porch,
with our arms wrapped around each other, smiling at the camera.
“You look like her,”
he says thoughtfully. “You have her eyes and hair.”
“You think so?” I
ask, looking at my mom, who had to have been about my age when the photo was
taken. She was beautiful, with long dark blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a
smile that lit up the world.
“Yeah.” He nods then
looks at me, and asks quietly, “Do you miss her?”
“Every day.” I nod,
taking the photo from his hands. “She gave the best hugs,” I say, fighting back
the tears I feel creeping up my throat. My mom and dad both died in a plane
crash when I was fifteen. My father was the owner and pilot of a local
adventure company, and he had taken my mom with him to drop off supplies to
some men who were bear hunting out at one of the islands. On their way back
into town, the weather shifted, and their plane went down on one of the
mountains. Neither of them survived. That’s when I moved to Cordova to live
with my dad’s parents.
“Do you have any
pictures of your dad?”
I pause, trying to
recall if I’ve ever really spoken to Hunter about my parents, if Max ever asked
about them, but I can’t think of a single time. “There are a few downstairs on
the wall. I’ll point them out to you.” I lean into him a little then stop when
his arm wraps around my shoulders, surprising me. “I love you, kid,” I whisper,
not surprised when he doesn’t say it back, but happy that his arm tightens ever
so slightly.
“I’m starving.” He
chuckles releasing me when his stomach growls loudly, breaking the moment.
“We can’t have that.”
I laugh, standing from the bed. “Let’s go to Joe’s. Hopefully, the pizza is
still awesome. If not, you’re gonna have to suffer and eat it anyway, ‘cause
the store is probably closed by now.
“Is there such a
thing as bad pizza?”
“I guess we’ll find
out,” I murmur, and then head out of the room and down the stairs, grabbing my
purse as we leave.
When we make it to
Joe’s, I find nothing has changed in the years I’ve been gone. The owner Joe,
an older Korean gentleman, is still in the back making the pizzas, and his wife
Kim is still working the counter, gossiping about everything and everyone.
While we wait for our pizza, Kim talks my ear off, telling me about the people
in town, including Zach, who she informs me is not only a cop, but also the
sheriff. She also tells me that Zach is single. He and Tina supposedly got
divorced nine years ago, and Zach has had full custody of both his kids since
then. I tell myself I don’t care that Zach is no longer with Tina, but I still
feel some relief knowing I won’t have to witness seeing them together.
“Can I sleep in my
room tonight?” Hunter asks, as I finish off my third slice of pizza and wipe my
mouth with a paper towel.
“I don’t mind, but
everything in the house needs to be washed. So if you want to sleep up there,
we have to get your stuff from the van.”
“I’ll get it, and
then we can bring in everything else too.”
“You want to clean
out the van?” I ask, not at all excited about lugging stuff up three flights of
stairs.
“Yeah.” He nods
again, taking his half of the pizza box lid that he used as a plate to the
trash bin.
“If that’s what you
want,” I agree, regretting those words an hour later as I head out for the last
box. My arms and legs are tired from carting everything inside and up the
stairs. I haven’t worked out in the last year, and I can feel it now as every
muscle in my body protest.
Stopping when I hear
a door close, I hold the box in my hands closer to my chest and look toward the
house next door. I spot a handsome blond boy, who looks a lot like Zach,
hopping down the steps, with Tina following close behind. Ducking down, I hide
and watch them as they get into an old pickup truck, only coming out of hiding
when they drive off.
Having over fifteen
years to deal with the adoption of Samuel should make it easier to see Zach’s
other children, but it doesn’t. I still feel bitter about the situation. I know
it’s the fact that Zach’s children were born a little over a year after Samuel,
meaning Tina got pregnant not long after I left town. So not only did Zach have
a relationship with Tina, but he built a family with her and kept the kids they
had together.
Heading back into the
house with the final box, I wonder how I’m going to do what I’ve been doing for
the last fifteen years. It was easy to block out thoughts of Zach when I was
gone, but now that I’m back and living next door to him, I wonder if it will be
as easy to ignore the feeling in my chest that coincides with thoughts of him.
~*~*~
Grabbing my quilt
from the end the my bed, I carefully balance my Kindle and glass of wine in one
hand as I open the sliding glass door in my room and step out onto the balcony.
Tonight is one of the first nights it hasn’t rained since we moved in, and I have
been looking forward to sitting outside under the stars with a good book all
day long. Grabbing my glass, I take a sip then look to the left when the sound
of rock music starts up and light flutters across the back deck next door,
making me wonder if Zach’s room is off the balcony like mine.
Pushing that thought
away, I turn on my Kindle then proceed to get lost in someone else’s happily
ever after.
“Shelby.” Jumping,
some of the contents from the glass in my hand sloshes out over the side and
runs down my fingers as I swing my head to the left, where Zach is leaning on
the banister, his eyes on me. A short glass full of dark liquid is in his
hands, and the light casts a glow behind him.
“You scared the crap
out of me,” I gripe, holding my free hand over my rapidly beating heart.
“I’ve been standing
here awhile,” he mutters, then takes a swig of his drink. “I thought you would
have noticed.” He rolls the glass between his hands while looking at me
intently, making me fight the urge to squirm in my chair.
“When I’m lost in a
good book, the world could crash down around me and I wouldn’t notice.” I
shrug, taking a sip of wine, using the moment of reprieve as an excuse to look
away from him, but realizing for the first time that I don’t know the man standing
across from me. Yes, he looks a little like the guy I dated years ago, but he
also seems more intense, like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
He’s definitely not the easygoing kid I dated in high school.
“How are you guys
settling in?”
Pulling my legs out
from under me, I rest my Kindle on the edge of my lap and turn to face him
fully while adjusting the blanket.
“It’s going to take a
little bit to get everything cleaned up. I didn’t know Gramps was such a
hoarder until now. I think I’ve thrown out about ten thousand issues of
National Geographic, along with a hundred empty boxes and every single item you
can possibly buy from an infomercial,” I reply, then smile when he laughs a
deep rumbling laugh and leans a little farther over the railing between us,
causing another plaid shirt—this one blues and yellows—to tighten across his
wide chest.
“You didn’t keep
them? You never know when you might need an automatic potato peeler.”
“I thought about it,
but if I did, I wouldn’t have anywhere to put my shoes, since all of it was
stacked up on the floor in his closet, everything unopened.” I smile, watching
him grin for a moment before the smile slides away and his eyes move beyond me
to the forest that sits behind the house.
“I’m gonna miss him.
I know he’s been gone from town for years, but I’ll miss our talks,” he
mutters, then looks up at the sky for a moment before meeting my gaze once
more. “Why’d you come back? Last time I talked to Pat, he told me you were
planning on following him down to Florida.”
His words catch me
off guard, since Gramps never told me he kept in contact with Zach. But then
again, I never asked. I shouldn’t be surprised they kept in touch, since they
we’re close when I was home, and were obviously neighbors before Gramps moved
to Florida. Plus, Zach is the sheriff in town. Yet, it still feels strange that
he knows about me, while I know nothing about him.
“I was.” I let out a
breath, adjusting the blanket around my shoulders. “But I had to wait until…” I
trail off, not wanting to talk about my divorce to anyone, especially not him.
“Then when Gramps passed away, there was nothing for me in Florida, so I
decided to come back here instead.”
“You didn’t want to
stay in Seattle?”
“No, I needed
something different, so when I found out Gramps left me his house, I just knew
I needed to come back here,” I whisper the truth. Ever since I read the will
and found out this house was mine to do with as I please, I had a feeling in my
gut that I couldn’t get rid of. Something telling me that I needed to come back
here.
“This is a good
town,” he murmurs, but the look in his eyes is saying something I can’t quite
figure out.
“This is the last
place I remember being really happy. I hope that I can make it that way for
Hunter,” I say quietly, and his face softens.
“He looks like you.”
His words and tone catch me by surprise and I sit up a little taller. Never in
a million years would I have thought I’d be sitting on my granddad’s deck in
the middle of the night talking to Zach about anything. Definitely not about my
son.
“You wouldn’t say
that if you saw his dad,” I return honestly. “When he was a baby, he looked
like me, but not any more.”
“He has your eyes and
your smile.” He pauses, taking a drink from his glass. “He seems like a good
kid.”
“He’s the best kid.”
I take a sip of wine, trying to keep whatever it is I’m feeling right now in
check.
“I… I think I saw
your son. Um, the other day. He looks like you,” I tell him, wanting to take
the words back after I say them, because I don’t want him to think I was spying
on him.
“He looks like his
mom, but has my personality, which I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or not.
My daughter, Aubrey, on the other hand, looks like me, but is sweet down to her
core. Where she gets that sweetness, I have no fucking clue.”
“Oh.” I bite my lip,
trying to figure out what to say to that. The Zach I knew was a good guy, sweet
even. Tina, however, was mostly bitch, and I honestly don’t even know why we
were friends. Then again, growing up here, there weren’t a hundred girls to
choose from. My graduating class had five girls in it, and none of them liked
Tina, which meant none of them really liked me either.
“I better go in,” he
says abruptly, cutting into my thoughts, standing to his full height. “I need
to be to the station early tomorrow.”
“Sure… uh… have a
good night.” The urge to say something that will make him stay hits me hard,
and it takes everything I have in me to keep my mouth shut.
“You too, Shelby. And
be careful when you’re out here reading. Louie’s out and about around this time
of night, searching for food.”
“Louie?” I question,
scrunching up my nose. Cordova never had homeless people before, and I can’t
imagine it would now.
“Louie’s a black
bear. Normally, he sticks to the woods, but he’s been known to nap on the decks
now and then.
“Oh, man.” I jump up,
looking around for any sign of Louie, not sure how I could forget there are
bears out here, since we are in Alaska. “What’s funny?” I frown, turning to
face him when I hear his deep laughter.
“You’re in Alaska,
babe. You lived here for years. You know there are bears out in those woods.”
He nods to the trees.
Babe. Why, oh, why
did that word make butterflies erupt in my stomach?
“I know that, but I
forgot.” I shake my head and watch his face soften once again.
“Still sweet as pie,”
I think I hear him say, but can’t be sure, because his voice dropped to a low
rumble that I felt skid across my skin.
“Well, I’m gonna go
in too,” I blurt, picking up my Kindle and wine glass. “Have a good night.” And
with that, I duck my head and go back into my room. Closing the door I lock it
behind me then hurry and get into bed where I try to forget once more about
Zach Watters.
~~**~~
“Hello?” I answer the
phone, still half asleep, then look at the clock and notice that even though
it’s light out, it’s barely 6:00 a.m.
“Shelby, I’ve called
three times,” Max, my ex-husband, says into my ear, and I pull my pillow over
my head with thoughts of suffocating myself with it.
“It’s only six, Max.
I haven’t gotten out of bed,” I grumble, tossing the covers back and sitting
up. “What’s going on?”
“I want to fly out
there this weekend,” he states, and I fight the urge to toss my phone across
the room or scream at the top of my lungs.
“This weekend?” I
verify, rubbing my face. “We haven’t even been here a week.”
“I have a few days
off and would like to see Hunter.”
I sigh, considering
him and his request. “Our stuff is going to be delivered in two days. Then I
start my new job next week, and Hunter has swi—”
“You’re not keeping
my boy from me,” he cuts me off, and I can tell by his tone that he’s mad and
likely pulling at his ever-present tie in annoyance. Something I make him do
often.
“I’m not saying you
can’t see him, Max,” I clarify, wishing I had at least one cup of coffee before
this conversation. “I’m just explaining to you that we’re trying to get settled
in here. Can you wait a few weeks before you come out?”
“Such fucking
bullshit. I can’t believe you moved to Alaska, of all goddamn places. A boy
should have his dad in his life.” My heart stutters and I feel my pulse
skyrocket. We didn’t have a custody battle, but I wouldn’t put it past Max to
take me to court to gain custody of Hunter if I step out of line in his eyes.
“Max,” I soften my
voice as I walk to the kitchen, “you know we talked about this. You can come
see him anytime, and in a couple years, he can fly out to see you whenever he
has a break,” I say, then drop my voice even lower. “We agreed on him living
with me at least until he’s sixteen. After that, he can choose who he wants to
live with.”
“I miss you both.” He
sighs, making me roll my eyes. I know he doesn’t miss me. I know this, because
he’s been dating woman after woman since I asked for a separation. For all I
know, he was dating before that. Hell, the last year I spent under the same
roof as him, he hardly spared me a glance. Hunter later suffered from his lack
of attention, when we lived in the same town after our separation. With Max,
it’s always about him getting his way.
“Max, please just
wait a few more weeks, and then you can come and stay as long as you like,” I
offer, the words leaving a horrid taste in my mouth. I will do whatever I have
to in order to keep my son, though, including putting up with his dad in my
childhood home for more than a few days.
“Fine, when?”
Closing my eyes, I
whisper, “Next month. Whenever you like. Just let me know, so I can make sure I
don’t make plans for Hunter. I know there are a few camps here he’s interested
in.”
“Fine. Where is he
now? I called his cell phone, but he didn’t pick up.”
“Sleeping. Like I
said, it’s only six here, and he was up late talking to his friends back in
Seattle on Skype.”
“You really shouldn’t
let him stay up so late, Shelby,” he scolds, sounding disapproving, and again,
that’s not a surprise.
“It’s summer, Max,
and his ‘late’ is ten, not three in the morning,” I mutter, wondering how the
hell I put up with him for so many years. “I’ll have him call you when he gets
up.”
“Don’t tell him I’m
coming out. I want to tell him that myself.”
“Will do,” I grumble,
looking at the coffee pot and begging it to hurry up.
“Talk to you later.”
“Talk to you later,”
I agree, setting the phone down on the counter. I make myself a cup of coffee
and take it out to the back deck, drinking it while the morning sun beats down
on me.
New from Aurora Rose
Reynolds!
Wide Open Spaces
releases August 2016!
Add to your TBR at: http://bit.ly/1PDVZsf
Blurb
That moment your life
changes.
That moment that
changes your life.
That moment you love
someone more than you love yourself.
That was the moment
we gave our son up for adoption and the moment I was left bare. A wide-open
space that would forever be empty.
There are moments
that define you as a person, moments that prove just how strong you are,
moments you push yourself to keep going forward when all you really want to do
is give up. It was in one of those moments when I reached out and found him
waiting for me.
When Shelby Calder
left home fifteen years ago, she never planned on returning to the Alaskan town
she left behind. But after the death of her grandfather and a bitter divorce,
she hopes going home will be a fresh start for her and her ten-year-old son.
Zach Watters has made
a lot of mistakes in his life. But when he sees Shelby Calder, looking more
beautiful than ever, standing outside her childhood home, he promises himself
that letting her go won't be a mistake he ever makes again.
Some things never
change and love is one of them.
About the Author:
Aurora Rose Reynolds
is a navy brat whose husband served in the United States Navy. She has lived
all over the country but now resides in New York City with her Husband and pet
fish. She's married to an alpha male that loves her as much as the men in her
books love their women. He gives her over the top inspiration everyday. In her
free time she reads, writes and enjoys going to the movies with her husband and
cookie. She also enjoys taking mini weekend vacations to nowhere, or spends
time at home with friends and family. Last but not least she appreciates
everyday and admires it's beauty.
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