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“Don’t you think you were a little hard on her?” Doc asked as he slammed down a cup of coffee in front of him, causing the inky-black contents to spill over the rim onto the counter.
Tate looked up to find Doc staring at him as if he’d stolen the cookie money from a group of Girl Scouts. His lip was curled upward and he was shaking his head from side to side.
“No harder than I should’ve been,” Tate said gruffly before taking a long swig from his coffee mug. “Some might say she deserves a lot worse.”
Doc made a loud humphing sound and plunked down a plate of cider donuts. “Well, you must feel awful proud of yourself, Sheriff Lynch. Two words from you and she went running out of here as if her tail was on fire.”
“I didn’t notice,” Tate responded in a cool voice. Liar, his inner voice whispered. He’d known the moment Cassidy had left the diner. He’d seen her dart out of the place out of the corner of his eye. He’d felt an immediate shift in the diner’s energy—as if all the life had been sucked out of it.
“Some might say harboring grudges isn’t a healthy way to live one’s life,” Doc grumbled as he wiped up the spilled coffee from the counter.
Tate let out the breath he’d been holding ever since he’d laid eyes on the only woman he’d ever loved. It did nothing to ease the tightness in his chest. “Can’t help it, Doc. Not a thing has changed since she left. My sister’s still in a wheelchair. She’s still paralyzed from the waist down. I’m not about to pretend as if all is forgiven.”
Doc’s face softened, and all the harshness went out of his voice. “What happened to Holly was devastating, Tate. Not just for your family, but for the whole town. The Blakes included. Why is it so hard for you to see that Cassidy has suffered also?”
Tate clenched his jaw in response to Doc’s words. It didn’t sit well with him that Doc was portraying Cassidy as the victim. He forced himself to count to ten before he blasted his old friend. He had to remind himself that Doc wasn’t the enemy. It wasn’t Doc who’d kept him up nights tossing and turning. It wasn’t Doc who’d broken his heart and shattered his faith in love everlasting. No, that honor went to his high school sweetheart, Cassidy.
“It’s not my problem,” he said with a hard edge to his voice. “She made her choice years ago when she took off. She left my sister without a word of goodbye, without even a word of apology. What kind of person does that?”
Doc shook his head and sighed. “Just ask yourself what you’re really angry about, son. Is it because of the accident or is it because she left you two months before you were supposed to get married?”
Tate pulled out his wallet and plunked down a few bills on the counter before getting up from his stool and grabbing a few cider donuts to bring back to the sheriff’s office. Although he was annoyed at Doc for defending Cassidy, he wasn’t about to let his favorite snack go to waste. He knew if he stayed here any longer he would be in jeopardy of losing his temper and violating the very code that made him such a well-respected lawman.
“Thanks for the coffee.” Tate walked out of the diner with long powerful strides that carried him quickly to the parking lot where his squad car was parked. As he revved the engine, Doc’s words rang in his ears like a haunting melody. Just ask yourself what you’re really angry about.
He wasn’t used to anyone questioning his resentment toward Cassidy. For so long these feelings had festered inside of him, stoked by the bitter sentiments of his family members and the negative opinions of the townsfolk. Was Doc right in questioning his motives? Was his inability to forgive Cassidy more about his wounded pride than anything else?
Although his feelings were too jumbled to process at the moment, there was one cold hard truth he found impossible to deny. When he’d first laid eyes on Cassidy in the diner, he’d fought against a powerful yearning to pull her into his arms and welcome her back home. Try as he might, he couldn’t stop remembering how good it felt to love and be loved by Cassidy Blake.
Chapter Two
You lost that right a long time ago.
Try as she might, Cassidy couldn’t get Tate’s words out of her head. Her confidence had been shaken by their run-in. As she maneuvered her light blue Honda through the center of town she adjusted her speed to meet the thirty-mile-an-hour speed limit. As a teenager she’d routinely ignored the sign, putting the pedal to the metal as she rocked out to the latest chart-topping hits. Back then her car had always been filled with a group of girls, the best friends she'd thought she’d have in her life forever.
They’d been in each other’s pockets all through junior high and high school. Holly. Jenna. Regina. And Cassidy. Until the tragic night that had changed everything in their lives, destroying their friendship and turning them into bitter enemies. Although they’d made a pact never to reveal the circumstances of the crash, their friendship had come apart under the strain. And she’d taken all the blame for the accident, she thought with a tinge of bitterness, even though all four had participated in a reckless game of chicken.
She gave in to a smile as familiar places rose up to greet her—the town library, Lucky’s Bowlarama, Daisy’s Hair Salon. There were new establishments, too—a candy store called Sweet Tooths and a doggy spa called Bow Wows.
As she drove down Main Street a sense of happiness went straight through her, despite the knot resting in the pit of her stomach. The feeling of joy surprised her, stunned her even. For eight years she’d avoided West Falls like the plague, her heart filled with the knowledge that she would be as welcome in her hometown as a raging Category 5 hurricane.
But circumstances had given her no choice in the matter. The one person she couldn’t say no to had asked her to come back home. And so, for the next few months, she was back in West Falls to tend to her mother and to face up to her past. It was the least she could do for the one person who’d always had her back and still regularly told her she loved her.
As she came to the intersection of Oak and Main, her foot slammed down hard on the brake. She looked out of the passenger-side window and let out a deep sigh as she laid eyes on her father’s church. She pulled the car over so that she was parked directly in front of Main Street Church. She’d spent half of her life in this place of worship, attending Bible classes, singing in the church choir and sitting in the first pew to listen to her father’s Sunday sermons. It was still an imposing structure, still beautiful with its vibrant stained glass windows, soaring steeple and elaborate stonework that must have been a recent addition.
Main Street Church. Her home away from home. How she missed being a member of this congregation. There was a huge void in her life that the church had filled up when she was a member. That sense of family and community had been as elusive as a will-o’-the-wisp in Phoenix. Tears misted in her eyes as she remembered all the church socials and outings she’d attended during her years in West Falls. The congregation at Main Street Church had been like extended members of her family, most of whom she’d known since she was a baby.
But, like everything else good in her life, she’d lost it all due to one moment of recklessness.
She could almost hear her father’s voice quoting Proverbs—The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. She winced at the memory of her father’s fury after the accident. If she lived to be a hundred she’d never forget the scathing words he’d hurled at her like an explosive grenade. Disgrace. Shame. Disappointment.
Those words were now embedded in her heart like a permanent tattoo.
After her run-in with Tate, Cassidy knew she should make her way to her parents’ house before word of her arrival in town began to circulate in the gossip mill. She knew from past experience how quickly news traveled in a small town like West Falls. But when she tried to start the car, the Honda made a sputtering sound, then came to a shuddering stop.
“What in the world?” Cassidy asked as she tried to start the car up again. The engine made a whirring sound as she revved it, but it didn’t start.
She looked at the fuel gauge. There was still gas in the tank. Frustration poured through her as she realized she was dealing with a mechanical issue. She’d made it all the way from Phoenix, only to break down in the center of town, mere blocks from home.
