Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“You’re overthinking it, Amy,” I warned.
“Like you overthought how you were rotten when it comes to relationships, barely having had any?” she asked with a sly smile.
I shook my head. “It’s a miracle I’m in one now and he hasn’t run off yet.”
Amy laughed. “Ian isn’t going anywhere.”
I leaned across the table to whisper, “Sometimes I worry he will… go, leave. And I can feel the pain it would bring me. I never ever expected to feel like this about someone.”
“I think most times love catches you off guard.”
“But I wonder how much staying power love has when so many relationships fail,” I said.
“I don’t think it’s love that fails the relationship. It’s the couples who fail love. Like most things, love isn’t easy. But what do I know about love?’ Amy shrugged.
“A lot more than I do with all those romance books you read,” I reminded.
“And one of those hunky romance heroes walked right off the cover of several of those books and right into your arms,” Amy said with a dramatic sigh.
“She’s right about that,” Zelda said, stopping as she passed by. “How’s that handsome hunk of yours anyway? You do know your mom already has ideas for your wedding.”
I laughed. “My mom had ideas for my wedding the day I was born, and Ian is doing good.” I took the opportunity to ask, “No doubt you heard bones were found in the woods and they’re believed to be Travis Rodgers. By any chance did you know him or anything about him?”
“Not really. The bloom was still on the rose for Harry and me back then, freshly wed with dreams of a great future. You learn fast enough that dreams mostly don’t come true. But Harry was a good guy, and we had a decent life together even if it wasn’t what either of us dreamed it would be.”
“Zelda,” Lara called out and she was gone.
“I’ve got a feeling we’re going to learn a lot more about people than we want to know,” I said.
Amy went to speak, and her mouth remained open, but no words came out, and she paled.
I knew without her saying a word what caused her shocked reaction.
She confirmed it when she recovered her voice. “My dad just walked in.”
6
“He spotted me. He’s coming this way,” Amy said, dropping her trembling hand into her lap.
“I’m here with you. You’re not alone,” I reminded.
I hated her dad all these years for how he had hurt my best friend, who was like a sister to me. I hated him even more that he simply strolled up to her and smiled, happy to see her, as if time hadn’t separated them at all. Noah Berwick was still a handsome man, shy of six feet, enough gray in his hair to make him look distinguished, and not the loser he was, and dressed smartly and not in cheap clothes.
“I was hoping to find you here, Amy. Madge at the B&B told me you met your friend and sometimes her mom here as well for breakfast. Mind if I join you?” He didn’t wait for an invite. He went to sit.
“Hold it right there, Noah!” I ordered, my claws ready to come out to protect my friend. I slipped out of the seat. I might not have much height to me but get me angry and I’m a giant among men. “You can’t just waltz back into your daughter’s life after being gone for twenty-two years. Why are you here? What do you want from her?”
I saw that Zelda was on her cell phone and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was calling my dad.
“You’re Pepper, Amy’s best friend, and you’re just as much of a spit-fire now as you were when you were six years old,” he said with a smile. “And you both…” He looked from me to Amy. “…you have grown into gorgeous women.”
“What are you doing here, Dad?” Amy asked with more strength than I expected.
I remained on my feet ready to push him away if he tried to sit next to Amy. I could tell she didn’t want him to by the way she had slid along the seat away from him.
“I thought it was time I made amends with my daughter,” Noah said as if his dazzling smile and offer were enough to achieve that.
“You left me when I was six years old. Mom kept trying to tell me that you would come back, but somehow I knew you weren’t coming back. You left me and Mom heartbroken and now after all this time you decide to make amends?”
“I have no excuse. I’m a wanderer and always have been—”
“Then why marry, Mom, when you knew it wouldn’t last?”
“Strange and how unbelievable it probably sounds, I loved your mom and in all honesty you and her were better off without me. I would have broken both your hearts over and over again if I had stayed.”