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Prologue
10 years ago
“You promised me forever.”
Remy Brennan barely processed the words that left her mouth, but she felt every single one of them down to her bones. The world was silent around her. Not a sound breaking past the steady thumps of her beating heart. The streetlights cast a soft glow across the old, historic area of Stoney Creek. The coastal town in Maine was known for its fresh catch restaurants and picturesque coastal views, but to Remy, Stoney Creek was home. And that home suddenly looked abruptly different. Nothing was recognizable now, everything seemed hazy, far away, as the love of her life said, “The FBI has offered me a job. I’m leaving for Washington tonight.”
Her eyes watered as she stared into Asher Sullivan’s light emerald-colored eyes. Tall and fit, Asher had the power to make Remy melt, even after five years together. She’d known Asher for as long as she could remember. She’d been a freshman when they’d gotten together, but he was already a senior at that time, being three years older. The age difference had mattered to just about everyone but her and Asher. Nothing could have stood between their love. They’d stayed together through his high school, his college graduation, and his time at the police academy. He’d only gotten hired by the Stoney Creek Police Department a few months ago. He’d been her first date. Her first kiss. And on her eighteenth birthday, Asher had been her first everything. Her entire world. And now that world was crumbling, and she was racing to find a way to solid ground again.
“I never planned for this, Remy,” Asher said softly, not meeting her gaze, putting his final boxes into his Ford pickup. “But how can I turn down a job with the FBI?”
“Easy.” She hugged herself against the bitter chill. “You call them up and say that you don’t want the job. You tell them that your family and friends are here, and that you refuse to leave them.”
Asher planted his palms against the gate of his truck and bowed his head. “Why are you punishing both of us? The decision is made. It’s done.”
“Why am I punishing us?” She gasped, angry tears filling her eyes. “You’re breaking my heart, Asher. You said we’d get married. You promised me everything. And what…with a snap of your fingers you’re taking it all away?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He finally faced her, his typically dazzling and playful gaze now dark. Haunted. His baseball cap covering his blond hair was low on his face. His good-hearted was nature nowhere to be found now. “The very last thing I want to do is hurt you, Remy.”
“Then stay here with me.” Desperate not to feel this iciness between them, she closed the distance and ran her hands up his muscular arms, feeling them trembling. “I don’t understand any of this. You already have a job here, a good job. Your family is here.” Her voice blistered. “I’m here.”
A foreign coldness flashed across his expression. “My mom is gone.”
Remy’s hands tightened on his arms to keep him from leaving, and her heart reached for him to ease the pain he endured. His mother had committed suicide two weeks earlier. The strong and flirty Asher she knew had died that day too. “I know she’s gone, but your friends are your family too. We need you here, Asher. Boone and Rhett”—his childhood friends—“they all need you.”
“They’re both moving away,” Asher said, his jaw set. “Boone to New York City. Rhett to the army.”
“But they’ll come back eventually,” Remy implored. “This is home for them too.” He turned to face her again, but his shoulders pulled back. He had already decided. “And what about me?” she whispered, cupping his face, frantically trying to reach the man she knew and loved. “I need you here.”
He jerked away and stepped back, putting cold distance between them she didn’t understand. “This is my dream career, Remy. The FBI. Jobs like this don’t come around often, especially for a small-town cop.” He slammed the gate of his truck closed before addressing her again. “I need to think of myself right now, with Mom gone. What’s good for my future.”
“Then ask me to go with you.” Hopelessness began to claw at her throat, tears making him blurry. “Take me with you to Washington. I’ll go. Just ask me.”
He stared at her. Hard. Then he shook his head slowly. “I can’t do that to your nana. You need to be here. Kinsley’s here.” Kinsley was her best friend since they were in kindergarten, and Boone’s younger sister. “And you’re still in college.” She was getting her business degree to eventually open her own shop. “You need to stay here.”
Her breath caught deep in her throat, the world somersaulting around her. She held on to her stomach, pain cutting through her. “Everyone will understand if I go with you.”
A beat.
Then his voice was as sharp as a knife. “No.”
Remy
went rigid, taking a step back at the finality in his voice.
“Dammit,” he said, softer this time, still keeping his distance. “I don’t want this to hurt you, but it’s better this way.”
“But what about us?” Remy shot back, her pounding heart growing louder in her ears. “What about all the dreams we had together? What happened to getting married? What happened to the children we talked about having? About the house we wanted to live in?”
Sudden emotion flared in his eyes. “You don’t want those things from me.”
“I do,” she said, raising her voice. “I’ve wanted those things the day you first kissed me under the big willow tree. I have forgotten nothing, and nothing has changed for me. I don’t understand where any of this coming from.”
The sky suddenly opened, rain falling down from the heavens.
“I don’t want this life, Remy.” He took a loaded pause, then the Asher she loved was gone. In his place was a stranger she didn’t even recognize as he said, “I don’t love you anymore.”
Her breath caught again at the pain splitting her chest wide open. She squeezed her hands, trying to wake up from this nightmare, her fingernails digging into her palms. “Asher, don’t do this.”
“It’s already done.” He moved to her, and alongside the fresh rain, his earthy cologne infused the air as he pressed his lips against her forehead.
