by Elena Aitken
Blog:
www.coraseton.com
Facebook:
facebook.com/coraseton
Twitter:
twitter.com/coraseton
Newsletter:
www.coraseton.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter
Unbreak My Heart
Melanie Shawn
Stand-alone Valentine Bay romance, complete with HEA--and plenty of heat and heart along the way!
LUNA
For ten long years, Luna Dobrevsi has managed to avoid setting foot back in Valentine Bay, the gorgeous Oregon Coast town where she was raised by her Grandma Grace and Grandpa Serge. The reason for that absence was easy to pinpoint: Connor Adams. Her first love. She was so afraid that if she saw him again, she'd never be able to leave.
When her grandfather has a heart attack at Christmastime, though, she has to come back. Now the only question is...will she leave again? Or maybe it's...why did she ever want to in the first place?
CONNOR
When Connor Adams watched his first love Luna drive off to college, he knew they were breaking up. That part was very clear. What he hadn't known, though, was that it would be the last time he'd ever see her.
Until now, anyway. She came back to help take care of her grandfather after his heart attack, and when he sees her, all the old feelings rush back. In fact, he realizes they never really left. Now he just has to wonder...does she feel the same?
Can the magic of Christmas in Valentine Bay give a pair of brokenhearted high school sweethearts a second chance at love?
Unbreak My Heart
by
Melanie Shawn
Melanie Shawn © 2019
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing from Melanie Shawn. Exceptions are limited to reviewers who may use brief quotations in connection with reviews. No part of this book can be transmitted, scanned, reproduced, or distributed in any written or electronic form without written permission from Melanie Shawn.
This book is a work of fiction. Places, names, characters and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic content. It is intended only for those aged 18 and older.
Cover Design by Wildcat Dezigns
Copyedit by CookieLynn Publishing
Book Design by BB eBooks
Published by Red Hot Reads Publishing
Rev. 1.0
Created with Vellum
Chapter 1
Luna
Driving through the dark and listening to random Christmas music on the radio, Luna couldn’t help but feel like Meg Ryan at the beginning of Sleepless in Seattle. That movie was one of her favorites in a genre of her own creation - namely, movies that weren’t technically Christmas movies but that took place, at least partly, at Christmastime.
Sure, it was tough to boil that down to a snappy one-word descriptor like “Drama” or “Action,” but that didn’t make it any less valid.
Christmas had always been one of Luna’s favorite holidays but she’d never been able to stomach the saccharine sweetness of so-called “Christmas Movies.” So, as a compromise, she’d watch movies that happened at the holidays but weren’t about them. Die Hard. Gremlins. Lethal Weapon. Home Alone. And, yes. Sleepless in Seattle.
There was just something about watching people onscreen going about their business with holiday lights and carols in the background that always put her in the holiday spirit.
That Christmas spirit was tough to find as she sped toward her grandparents’ house that night. It felt more like a nightmare than a dream. Just that morning, she’d been cheerfully preparing for their arrival at her apartment in San Francisco, with Marc Broussard’s Magnolias & Mistletoe album on her speakers as she put the finishing touches on her tree decorations.
When Grandma Grace had called her cell phone, she hadn’t been immediately worried. She’d just figured that maybe their flight had gotten in early. But, no. She’d been calling to tell Luna that she and Grandpa Serge had to cancel their annual Christmas weekend trip to San Francisco. He’d had some chest pains and was in the hospital.
Even though her grandmother had assured her that the doctor said he’d be fine, that they were only keeping him for observation, just as a precaution, and lots of other comforting language… Luna was still terrified. Her grandparents had taken care of her since her mother had left when she was six. As for her father, he’d never been in the picture. Grandma Grace and Grandpa Serge were all she had.
The last thing Grandma Grace had said on the phone call was to make Luna promise that she wouldn’t jump in the car and come rushing back to Valentine Bay. Luna had made the promise dutifully, not wanting to cause her grandmother to be any more worried than she already was, but the minute she’d hung up the phone, she threw some clothes in a suitcase and got her ass in the car.
Luna knew why Grandma Grace hadn’t wanted her to do this. She feared the thought of Luna driving through most of the night, scared and tired. Just like her grandparents were all she had in the world, she was all they had, too. It was understandable.
But she couldn’t let that stop her. She was a grown woman, she could drive carefully. Nothing was going to keep her from her Paw Paw when he was sick and needed her. Not fear, not a ten-hour drive.
Not the fact that she hadn’t set foot back in Valentine Bay since the day she’d left it ten years before. And not the reason why she hadn’t been back, Connor Adams.
Oh, Connor. She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t spend time on the drive thinking about him or wondering if they’d see each other. Pssshhh. That resolution had turned out to be useless the minute his damn name popped into her head.
And then, his name was quickly followed by his image. She couldn’t squeeze her eyes shut because she was driving, so nothing stopped the tears that filled them from spilling right down her cheeks. His broad shoulders and muscular chest, his thick brown hair and doe-brown eyes. The five o’clock shadow that seemed to always be at the perfect length.
God, and that was when he was only eighteen. What must he be like now, ten years later? Broader shoulders? Muskier man scent? Even more freaking flawless perpetual stubble?
She shook her head as hard as she dared without risking vehicular disaster. NO!
This was exactly the kind of thinking she couldn’t indulge in. It was dangerous and it would distract her from the purpose of her visit, the thing that’d finally dragged her back to Valentine Bay after ten years - making sure Paw Paw was okay.
Finally, after a torturous ten-hour drive with nothing but the bare minimum stops for gas and pee breaks, she pulled up in her grandparents’ driveway and climbed out of the car. The sense of déjà vu was so overpowering that it nearly knocked her off her feet as soon as she got them under her.
Or, hell. Maybe that was just too many hours without food, sitting in the car sucking down coffee. That could make anybody lightheaded.
She marched up to the front door and knocked. It was late. She hadn’t thought about it until that very moment. She didn’t want to wake Grandma Grace if she’d finally managed to get to sleep.
Damn, there were a lot of things about this trip she hadn’t thought through.
She’d just shot off down the highway like a Fourth of July firework and hadn’t stopped to consider…well, anything, really. But now that she was here, she was going to have to think, whether she liked it or not.
“Come in, Luna. It’s open.” Grandma Grace’s voice echoed from the kitchen, all the way at the back of the house.
She shook her head and stepped inside, shutting the door firmly behind her and locking it with a satisfying click. Walking back to the kitchen, she saw the short, f
ull frame of her grandmother bent over the stove. The smell of bacon frying filled the air and her stomach growled as she gave her a fierce hug from behind.
“Sit down, honey. This is almost ready. I know you didn’t stop to eat the whole way here. You must be starving.”
Luna took off her coat and collapsed gratefully into a kitchen table chair. “You made me promise not to come,” she accused, half playful and half petulant. “Why do that if you knew I’d ignore you? I’ve been feeling guilty the whole drive up.”
Grace pointed her spatula at her. “That’s right, young lady. And that guilt made you drive a whole lot more carefully because, while getting in a car wreck would be bad enough, getting in one after you’d promised me you wouldn’t drive would be worse, and you’d never do that to me. I know my girl.”
What could Luna say? Her grandmother had her number.
“How’s Paw Paw?” she asked, barely able to choke out the words around the emotion clogging her throat.
“Honey, he’s fine. As fine as a short order cook who’s been eating nothing but his own fried food for years could be, anyway. You’ll see him tomorrow.”
“What time do visiting hours start?”
“Eleven.”
“Great. So we can be there at ten-fifty.”
Grandma Grace turned the fire down under the bacon and sat down in the chair next to Luna, reaching over and taking Luna’s hands in her own. “Sweet girl, you have the biggest heart. That’s how I knew you’d jump in the car and drive straight here, even though this town hasn’t seen your pretty face in ten years. That’s how I knew you’d go without food. Why you’d probably have even skipped the toilet if the car didn’t need gas.
“But, honey, you’re here now. Take a breath. The last thing I need is two of you laid up with heart attacks. You hear me?”
Luna’s shoulders relaxed of their own volition. She hadn’t even realized how tense they were until they collapsed down from around her ears. Just hearing her grandmother’s no-nonsense voice telling her that everything was going to be fine was enough for her to believe it. It had always been that way.
In fact, in college, she’d seriously considered getting her grandmother to make recordings of herself telling Luna that things would be fine. That way, she could whip them out and listen to them whenever she started feeling overwhelmed, and comfort herself with the grounding sound of Grandma Grace’s voice. She wasn’t totally convinced it was a bad idea, even still.
“Now, then,” her grandmother continued, returning to the stove and turning up the burner again. “Let’s get some food in your belly and get you into a nice, warm bed.”
Luna dropped her forehead into her palms, all of the exhaustion that streams of adrenaline had been keeping at bay for hours suddenly flooding her body like a tidal wave. “That sounds amazing, Grandma. Thanks.”
“Maybe if you’re up in time tomorrow morning, you can go see Genevieve. I know she’d love to see you.”
“That’s a good idea. In fact, I think I’ll plan on it.”
Luna hadn’t seen her childhood best friend Genevieve in a few years. It wasn’t intentional. They always talked about making trips to get together, but life sped by. A day turned into a week turned into a month turned into a year. And then another, and another. They kept up on Facebook, but it wasn’t the same. It would feel so good to hear her voice again, to give her a hug.
Grandma Grace set a steaming plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of Luna and she shoveled the food in. She refused to think about being back in Valentine Bay. She refused to think about Connor Adams. She refused to think about anything but moving the fork between the plate and her mouth, then moving her feet down the hall to her old bedroom.
It was only once she was scrubbed up and settled between the blankets, watching the moonlight cast tree-branch shadows against the wall she knew so well, even as the horizon was dusky grey with the approaching dawn, that she let the full weight of it hit her.
She was back. This was real. Even though she was in bed, it wasn’t a dream.
She drifted off to sleep thinking about how strange that was, but the strangest thing about it was how it didn’t really feel strange at all. In fact, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Chapter 2
Connor
“Hey, Gavin.”
Connor stepped through the back door of his buddy Gavin’s house, giving a light knock as he did. The knock was just out of habit. They were practically family, and that was how Gavin and Genevieve came in Connor’s side door, too. They weren’t the kind to stand on formality.
As Connor stepped into the kitchen, Gavin looked up from the bowl of oatmeal that sat on the table in front of him. “Hey, man. Come on in.”
Connor grinned and gestured toward the oatmeal. “Gen trying to get you eating healthy again?”
Ignoring this, Gavin replied, “I’ll be done in five and then we can go out to the shed and work on the ’stang.”
“Sounds good. Don’t hurry.”
Genevieve came in carrying two cups of coffee. She smiled when she saw him standing there. “Mornin’, Connor. Can I get you a plate? Or coffee? There’s plenty.”
He shook his head and took a seat at the table. “Ate before I came. Thanks, though.”
She sat in the chair across from Gavin’s and slid one of the cups across to him. He reached out to take it and their fingers brushed during the transfer. They shared a secret little smile and for that moment, they were the only two in the room. Hell, in the world.
Connor’s gut twisted a little at the sight of it. He wasn’t jealous. Not really. He just wanted that so bad for himself that it hurt to see it. That thing where you and somebody else were the only two people floating around on your own little planet.
He’d had that once, and lost it. Sometimes he wondered if he’d ever get it back.
Stop moping. You know the answer. She was a once-in-a-lifetime girl, and those don’t come around twice. Hell, it says that right in the name.
“Hey, Connor.” Genevieve’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.
“Oh, no,” he teased. “I know that face. That’s your ‘bad news’ face. What’s going on? You having second thoughts about Gavin and me spending the day working on the ’stang?”
The two friends had gone in together on a ’65 Mustang convertible the year before and had been spending pretty much all of their spare time fixing it up. Connor had wondered when Gen might pull the plug.
“No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just…”
She trailed off and exchanged a worried glance with Gavin. Here it was again, another example of how they operated like a unit. Gavin picked up where she’d left off.
“It’s about Luna,” he started, immediately putting Connor on high alert. He hadn’t even seen his once-in-a-lifetime girl in ten years, but every protective instinct in his body fired up as if it’d just been yesterday.
“What is it? What happened?” His voice came out so tight and tense that he almost didn’t recognize the sound of it himself.
“Nothing, she’s fine. Just fine,” Gen rushed to assure him. “Sorry to scare you. It’s her Grandpa Serge. He’s in the hospital.”
A pit formed in Connor’s gut. While he was relieved that nothing had happened to Luna, this wasn’t much better. Serge was a great old guy, and he’d always treated Connor like a son.
“What’s the matter with him?”
“He had a heart attack.”
The voice that answered his question didn’t belong to Genevieve or Gavin. It came from behind him, and it was one he hadn’t heard in well over a decade. That didn’t matter, though. He recognized it immediately. Every nerve ending in his body did too, and responded by standing on end.
Gen squealed and jumped up from the table, running past Connor. “Luna! Oh, girl, it’s good to see your face! Come in and sit down!”
He didn’t turn around. He wanted to. Hell, yes, he wanted to. The temptation to clap eyes on Luna af
ter all those years was strong. But there was something inside him that felt like it might shatter the minute he saw her. It wasn’t logical, but he didn’t give a fuck about logic right then.
Hearing that voice again, so bell-like and musical, brought a memory flashing back inside his head. It was one he tried not to think about. Ever. But there it was, invading his brain like the Allied troops storming the beach at Normandy.
Luna, standing in front of her car, packed to the gills with all the things she was taking with her to college. Her on one side of the open driver’s side door, him on the other. She won’t meet his eyes, but he can see there are tears running down her cheeks.
“Connor, I just think it’s best that we go our separate ways. I mean, if we try to make it work long distance, it’s only going to drag out the inevitable.”
His pride keeps him from saying what he really feels, which was that going their separate ways was the last thing in the world he wanted and that he’d move heaven and earth to be with her. So, instead he just nods and watches as she climbs in her car and drives away.
He understood at the time that what had just happened was shitty, and that he was full-blown heartbroken, but he had no idea then that it was the last time he’d ever see her.
Until today, anyway.
If he’d known that she wanted to avoid him so bad that she’d stay out of the whole state, he would’ve been even more broken up than he was on that day at the end of the summer after senior year. In retrospect, it was probably for the best that he found that one out for himself only bit by bit, as the years passed. He didn’t think he could’ve taken it all in one big chunk on that worst day ever.
His gut burned, like acid was trying to eat its way out, but even through the pain, he could feel his pride rising up. He didn’t want her to know she’d gotten to him. He couldn’t let her see that she’d won. If she was going to waltz back in and act like nothing’d happened, well, hell. He could do that, too.