CHAPTER ONE
When Aspen left Sapphire Cove four years ago, she planned to come home eventually. But eventually had turned into now, and she was seriously regretting her decision.
In the far-right lane, she crawled along the highway, a full five miles an hour beneath the speed limit. Cars whipped past on her left. On her right, a dense canopy of trees crowded out the sunlight.
Barely an hour outside of Sapphire Cove, she chewed her bubble gum furiously while her stomach writhed like she’d swallowed a school of fish.
Why had she agreed to help out at the family inn over spring break? That was what she got for trying to be a good daughter, for trying to make up for her unexpected birth derailing both her parents’ lives.
The radio cut out mid-lyric, the soft croon of the pop singer replaced by the buzz of her ringing phone.
“Call from Cheyenne,” her car’s robo-voice said.
The fish in Aspen’s stomach calmed at the mention of her roommate and best friend. She pressed a button on her steering wheel, answering the call. “Hey, Chey.”
“Hey. Just calling to see how you’re doing. Did you make it to Sapphire Cove?”
“Not yet. Another hour or so and I should be there.” She might even be able to stretch the drive another seventy minutes if she took the scenic route. Aspen blew a bubble, easing her foot off the gas so her speed slipped another mile or two below the limit.
Silence boomed across the line louder than any question. Aspen could guess Cheyenne’s thoughts. It was only a four-hour drive from Portland to Sapphire Cove, and Aspen had left their small off-campus apartment nearly five hours ago.
“Did you have car trouble?” Cheyenne asked. “I told you not to buy one of those new cars with more computer chips than engine parts.”
Cheyenne would say that. The mechanical genius’s idea of a fun weekend was spending it under the hood of her classic convertible. Aspen barely knew how to change a tire, so she’d opted to buy something fresh off the lot, even if the car payments stretched her modest budget.
“I didn’t have car trouble. I stopped for lunch and there was this cute little gift shop, so I browsed there for a while.”
“Oh, I get it.” Cheyenne’s voice grew lighter, the immediate worry gone. “You’re procrastinating.”
Aspen rolled her eyes and signaled to get off at the next exit. Yeah, she was definitely opting for the slower route through half a dozen small beachside towns—not because it would add another thirty minutes to her drive, but because it had been a while and would make for a picturesque view.
“I’m not procrastinating.”
“Uh-huh. Are you sure you’re okay? I know this is a hard day for you.”
Aspen flinched, the reminder slashing like a whip. She’d done her best to not think about it. Trust Cheyenne to bring it up. “March twenty-fourth is just like any other day. I’m over it.”
A total lie. When Elliot had called off the wedding last month, Aspen had been floored. They’d only known each other a year, but her parents had adored Elliot, and Aspen had been comfortable with him in a way she hadn’t been with a man since high school.
Since Dan.
She glanced at her dashboard clock, heart lurching. Right about now she would have been standing under an archway of flowers at the clubhouse, Elliot’s hands in hers as they gazed into each other’s eyes and said I do. Instead, she was heading back to the town she’d run away from.
Elliot was supposed to be the safe choice. The choice that wouldn’t leave her.
Cheyenne sighed, the sound crackling across the phone line. “I’m so sorry, Aspen. I wasn’t sure if you would want me to bring it up or ignore it, but I also didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about it.”
Aspen popped her gum, trying to calm her emotions. It wasn’t Cheyenne’s fault that every man Aspen loved eventually left her. “I’m fine, Chey. Really. Good riddance to Mr. Fancy Pants.”
Which wasn’t really fair to Elliot. He’d been a perfect gentleman, even when telling her they were wrong for each other. Even when confessing he’d been caught up in the moment and didn’t truly love her.
That had hurt a lot. It had brought back another painful memory, and she hadn’t liked that at all.
“I wish I could have come with you,” Cheyenne said. “But you can call me anytime, day or night.”
“Thanks. How’s your mom doing?”
A loaded pause. “She’s doing really good today. I think she’s finally turned a corner.”
An outright lie, Aspen was certain. Cheyenne was in total denial of her mother’s drug addiction, but Aspen wouldn’t push the issue, at least not today.
“Text me when you get to Sapphire Cove so I know you made it,” Cheyenne said. “Miss you.”
A lump formed in Aspen’s throat. When she and Cheyenne had been assigned as roommates freshman year, Cheyenne’s prickly exterior had convinced Aspen they would never do more than tolerate each other. But they’d become best friends, and Aspen didn’t know how she would have gotten through the last few years without her. “Miss you too.”
She ended the call, and music filtered through the speakers again—an upbeat rock song with an electric guitar. Aspen slowed her speed further as she entered the city limits of the first beachside town. She and Dan had come there together not long after they started dating. Dan had just gotten his driver’s license, and they’d been ecstatic at their newfound freedom.
Her parents had been less thrilled with their plans, and it had taken nearly an hour of arguing before they’d let her go.
Aspen swatted away the memories. She supposed it was natural to get lost in the past, considering where she was. But Dan had made his feelings pretty clear during their breakup, and he was currently enjoying life without her at a college in Iowa.
The sea breeze drifted through her open window, playing with tendrils of her hair. Crashing waves mixed with the caw of seagulls, and a few tourists bundled up in jackets wandered through the sand. It was only the last week of March—still a little early for most tourists—but in another few months, they would swarm these beaches.
She’d missed this. Missed the slower pace of small-town living. Aspen had been restless in high school, always eager for the next adventure, and her parents had encouraged that thirst for exploration. That was part of what had made Elliot so appealing—a dashing foreigner with a love of travel.
Mom had been all for that. She’d wanted Aspen to explore the world instead of getting stuck in a small town with a baby on her hip and an overworked husband to cook and clean for.
The summer after high school, when Dan broke up with her—after she lost the baby they hadn’t told anyone about—Aspen realized just how close she’d come to the same fate as her mother. She’d decided then and there to stop falling head over heels for boys her parents didn’t approve of.
She thought she’d done things right with Elliot, picking a man her parents adored. But that had crashed and burned too.
Maybe she was just really bad at relationships.
Her phone rang again—Mom this time.
Aspen took a deep breath then answered the call, keeping her voice chipper.
“Hey, Mom. Did you make it to Aunt Marge’s?”
“We just got here,” her mother said. “Your father nearly killed us on the drive up—”
“That semi was a mile away!” her dad hollered through the line.
“We were inches from becoming roadkill,” her mother shot back. “Anyway, we’re here now. Did you make it to the inn?”
“Almost,” Aspen said. It was close enough to true. “How’s Aunt Marge doing?”
“Oh, she’s nervous about the surgery. I’m glad we can be here with her. Thanks again for covering at the inn, sweetie. I know it’s not the best timing, but these things can’t be helped.”
“I’m happy to do it,” Aspen lied. Honestly, a root canal sounded preferable, but Aunt Marge needed gallbladder surgery, and Mom was her only family.
“You’re a peach,” Mom said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you. It’s such a bad time to be away.”
With the inn currently in the middle of a remodel and time ticking down to the summer busy season, Aspen knew taking ten days away from the renovation wasn’t an option, so she’d offered to come home during spring break and oversee it herself.
She’d originally planned to spend spring break honeymooning in England. But sure, going home to face her demons sounded like much more fun.
145 Pages
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28k Words
