AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There’d been lies in the blurry lines between summer and fall—when she’d thought she might be okay again. Now it felt as crushing as the last time she’d left. The home she’d been building with Logan felt like it belonged to someone else. That she was hurtling down the highway to a stranger’s house.
She stroked down Fiona’s dense fur at her scruff to the bulky undercoat that covered her belly. Living in the cold of Maine had filled her out with her winter coat. Would she like Winchester Falls?
Bella lifted her head and stared into the all-too-knowing silvery blue of Fiona’s eyes. The dog’s heavy pink tongue swiped up her cheek. “Thanks, girl.” She slipped out from under the heavy dog and into the front seat.
The green sign off the highway read four miles to Winchester Falls.
He gave her a tight smile. “Almost home.”
She nodded and twisted her fingers into a knot on her lap. She hadn’t even seen the town before they left. They’d gone straight from the hospital to the cabin.
The access road to Logan’s—their house—required a trip through the town.
God, she didn’t know if she was ready for that.
She’d imagined the scenario a dozen times, but none of them included running to Winchester Falls with this still hanging over their heads. It had been more of an end game. That she’d face it when everything was over.
But it was never going to be over.
The library and town hall came into view and her belly cramped. She took a long breath and looked at the floorboard. She knew exactly what she was going to see. The park and the gazebo. Not the stage. Not this time of year.
She lifted her gaze to the salon. Swishing leaves danced down the sidewalks. No matter how many times George swept out the front, they blew across the street from the Town Square and escaped the half wall from the park.
There was a new bench in front of the Mad Hatter. Scrolling iron work and a wide seat that invited someone to sit. Instead of plain wood, it was candy red with an outrageous paisley painted on it.
She placed her hand over Logan’s arm. “Stop.” He eased to the side and parked in front of the storefront.
“Izzy.”
She shook her head. “I need to get out.” She opened the door before he could say another word. A warm breeze lifted her hair and tossed it around her head as she stepped out to the sidewalk.
There was a cutout in the wood, more ironwork with a familiar name created in the swirls.
Nichole.
She sat down on the glossy and unapologetically in-your-face seat. Nothing around it was like it. A few more benches had been installed since they’d been gone, but all of them paled in comparison.
The sound of heels on cement dragged her out of her head.
“Bella?”
She looked up as Skye Delgado came rushing down the stairs and right for her. She stood and her friend crashed into her. The familiar scent of Estée Lauder’s Beautiful wrapped around her a moment before Skye’s arms.
“Oh my God. I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.” She pulled back, her wide dark eyes sheened with tears before she dragged Bella back in for a spine-cracking hug. Skye might only be five feet tall—well, five and a half with the stilts she wore—but she was petite and lush at the same time and man she was strong.
They’d instantly bonded over Valentine’s espressos and being new shop owners in a town that hadn’t had anything new in twenty-five years.
She dragged Bella to the bench and sat down. “Are you okay?”
“I saw the bench and I just couldn’t—” She swallowed down another wash of tears.
“Oh.” Skye swiped her hand over the lacquered seat. “After you moved up to the cabin,” she paused and smiled briefly up at Logan, “Nic and I started having coffee here in the mornings.”
Bella nodded. “She always talked about it. That you were her sanity when Adam—” Bella bowed her head.
Logan stood beside her, a soothing hand on her back.
Bella took a shaky breath. “When Adam was driving her crazy.”
