“There’s his truck now,” Luke said.
I followed his gaze. A beat-up pickup, caked in mountain dust, crunched over the gravel lot.
Luke flashed me a grin. “Cole’s one of a kind. A great guy.”
“He’s good-looking, too.” Becky wiggled her eyebrows. “The total package.”
I stiffened. A setup. Great. Just what I needed—an awkward weekend fending off a stranger while my heart was still stuck on a ghost. I shot a warning glare at my sister, but my pulse was already rabbiting in my throat.
It’s not him,I told myself.It’s a common name.
But my palms were damp. I reached for my water glass, my hand trembling just enough to make the ice clink.
It’s not him.
The door handle turned.
Heavy boots hit the floorboards. I looked up, and the world stopped.
Chapter 2
COLE
“Do it for Luke.”
I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white against the cracked leather, wishing I was almost anywhere else. I’d rather be hauling lumber in a blizzard than walking into this inn.
But Luke was my best friend. The only one who stood by me when I left the money behind.
I killed the engine and checked my reflection in the rearview. I’d trimmed my beard, but I still looked like what I was: a man who lived alone on a mountain to escape a life that nearly suffocated him.
I shoved open the door and got out of my truck. I’d agreed to be Luke’s best man, and that meant showing up to all the pre-wedding events, even if I’d rather be alone in my cabin.
I strode toward the private dining room, adjusting the collar of a shirt that felt like a noose. I didn’t miss wearing ties every day.
Just get through the lunch,I told myself.Smile. Shake hands. Don’t be the grump in the corner.
It was hard. I liked Luke’s fiancé, but he warned me she was aiming to set me up with her sister, the maid of honor. I was sureshe was nice. Luke would have said something if she wasn’t. But I wasn’t a reformed playboy for nothing.
My heart hadn’t truly been in the game for six years. Not since the woman with the whiskey-brown eyes and the laugh that made me want to burn my legacy to the ground.
I reached the door and shoved it open.
“Sorry I’m late. The truck was?—”
The words died in my throat. Time didn’t just stop. It unraveled.
Sitting across from Luke was a ghost. Older. Tired around the eyes. But unmistakable. I took in the familiar curve of her cheek. The wide brown eyes that had once sparkled at me, the lips I still remembered tasting.
Ava.
My blood roared in my ears. The woman I’d walked away from. The only woman I’d ever regretted leaving. She was staring at me, her face draining of color, her lips parted in a silent gasp.
I stood frozen, my boots rooted to the floorboards, my brain misfiring.She’s here. How is she here?
“Momma, who’s that?”
The tiny voice cut through the static. My gaze snapped from Ava to the child beside her. A little girl. Maybe five years old.
