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Prologue
“I’m sorry about Eddie.”
Hadley Breaton sighed into the phone. She sniffled a little too. “I know, Mom.”
“It’s got to be heartbreaking for you. When are the services so your father and I can attend?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she said.
No way she was telling her parents she only found out about her ex’s death because a friend texted her. Her parents didn’t even know Eddie was an ex. She hadn’t had the heart to tell them that they’d split a month ago.
They’d only dated about five months. The first month, he was so charming and full of life. Something she’d never been.
Charming or full of life.
She’d always kept to herself and was kind of quiet. A coworker set her up with Eddie, and as uncomfortable as she was at first with his outgoing personality, she started to feel so alive around him.
He was the life of the party, doing everything to excess though. Drinking. Smoking. Drugs. Anything to give him a thrill.
The smoking and the drugs bothered her, but he said the pot was to help him sleep at night because he went a hundred miles an hour during the day.
Pot was legal in many states, so though it was a drug accepted by many, it just wasn’t for her.
She let it go though because of how he made her feel.
Then his accident happened when he was goofing off with friends. She’d told him he needed to slow down multiple times, but he’d always said not to be a stick in the mud. That life was meant to be lived not watched from the sidelines.
He’d asked for her help in his recovery and she’d gladly done it because…that was what she always did.
She’d been called a doormat in the past and now it was just stepped on all over again with muddy shoes.
A people pleaser she’d always been and she was pretty sure she always would be too. She’d never learn.
“Let us know when you find out,” her mother said. “You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“I’m fine,” she said. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be allowed to go to his service. She’d been told Eddie’s family was going to have it be small and private. Almost like an invitation only.
That meant no ex-girlfriend regardless of everything she’d done for him and how soul crushingly hurt she was in the end.
“Hadley. You and Eddie dated for almost six months. You’ve been through so much with him. Then to have this happen. I know his lifestyle bothered you at times…”
“He lived his life his way,” she said. “I should have realized that in the beginning.”
“I know that he made you feel like a person you always wanted to be.” Thinking back, at the time she thought she wanted to be that outgoing person, but her true self came out and she learned she couldn’t be someone she wasn’t.
Now she was just trying to pick her life up and move on.
Somehow…someway.
“He did make me feel that way,” she said. “But it’s not who I am.” She didn’t want to talk about this and start crying again. She hated to feel like such a fool and not only had it happened with her heart, but now her life in general was a big old hot mess. “How is the restaurant doing?”
“You know how it is,” her mother said. “Your father and I are considering selling it. But you don’t want to hear about that right now. Maybe Dad and I should come be with you.”
“I need some time alone,” she said. “Talking about your life takes my mind off of mine. It’s been your and Dad’s dream since you retired. Why would you sell it?”
Her parents were both retired from the Plymouth school district. Her mother had been a principal, her father a superintendent. There’d been a small two-bedroom cottage in their family on Amore Island that went to her father and that was where they moved to when they retired.
Having grown up in Plymouth, it wasn’t that far and she’d spent a lot of time on the island as a kid herself. It was just never a place she wanted to be but wasn’t shocked when her parents said that was going to be their retirement home.
