I’d survived seeing the only man I’d ever loved for the first time in more than twenty years.
I’d survive a while longer in a town that held so many painful memories.
Or at least that was what I hoped.
Chapter One
Temperance
Three and a half weeks later
It was amazing the things you could learn working as a waitress in a small-town diner.
In Chicago, the city I’d called home for twenty-one years, you could live across from the same person for more than a decade and still not know them. I knew this as fact because I’d been in my tiny apartment for that amount of time and still didn’t know a single one of my neighbors. We’d pass each other in the halls and offer a chin lift or short wave, but that was the extent of it. Everyone was too busy or too consumed with their smartphones to get to know anyone else.
I told myself I loved where I lived, but the truth of it was, although I was surrounded by people constantly, city life could lead to a very lonely existence. And I’d unwittingly allowed myself to be sucked into it.
Today was only my second day back at Evergreen Diner, and already I knew of all the goings-on within the town limits. People in small towns knew each other. People in small towns talked. People in small towns made it their business to meet the newcomers and make them feel welcome.
I wasn’t necessarily a newcomer, but I’d been gone for so long that there were plenty of faces I didn’t recognize. Though that didn’t mean they weren’t just as open and friendly as those who remembered me.
But man, did they talk. And what they had to talk about was downright intriguing, albeit slightly terrifying.
Hope Valley had always been a peaceful, quiet place with hardly any crime. When my parents had been killed in a burglary gone very, very wrong, it had rocked this sleepy little place to its very foundation. Stuff like that just didn’t happen, not here.
Or at least that’s what I thought. Hell, it was what everybody thought. And for the second time in twenty-one years, Hope Valley was shaken.
It started with a rash of break-ins. Fortunately, that man had been caught, but not before his sister—who I didn’t know—had been caught in the crossfire, quite literally, taking bullets from some really nasty men who’d been after him.
All the good guys in that scenario came out with their lives, and the bad guys had not, another fortune in a string of nasty. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. Oh no, the worst of it had come with the murder of Martin Henderson.
A murder that was still, to everyone’s knowledge, unsolved.
Back when I was growing up here, Martin Henderson hadn’t been very popular. He was like the real-life version of Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino, only without a single one of the redeeming qualities.
When I turned fourteen, my parents got me a puppy for my birthday. Buddy was part bloodhound, part chocolate lab, and was actually so ugly he was adorable. I had the big, sweet goofball for a year and a half, and had never been able to break him of his tendency to dig no matter how hard I tried. One day, after I let him out to do his business, he managed to dig his way under our fence and out of the backyard. I’d barely made it around the side of the house in search of him when I heard the gunshot.
Martin Henderson claimed he was simply defending himself and his property by shooting my dog, but everyone knew he was full of shit. Buddy wouldn’t have hurt a soul. He was the kindest, sweetest dog that ever existed. It caused a stir in town. People took sides, and it started to get pretty nasty before my parents stepped in to play mediator. They settled everyone’s discord and even offered to get me a new dog, but I said no. It wouldn’t have been the same. Any dog I got wouldn’t have been Buddy.
After that, I harbored an intense disdain for the man living down the street that never went away, but that didn’t mean I felt he deserved to be killed, let alone in his own home.
No one deserved that, and having heard about his death, the past had come barreling to the forefront of my mind and refused to budge.
But that wasn’t all I’d learned in the past two days.
In spite of years of avoidance, I found myself soaking up every morsel of information on Hayes Walker that came my way like a bone-dry sponge. I’d learned of his time in the Marines. I learned he’d gotten out and joined the Hope Valley police force. I learned he worked his way up to detective. And I learned he was the lead on the murder of Martin Henderson.
For all the years I’d spent blaming him for what happened, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief that he’d made a good life for himself. To hear the people in town talk, Hayes was a well-respected, well-loved member of the community. He’d built an incredible life for himself, and I was glad for that. The animosities I’d held onto and let fester inside me for so long, the animosities that I allowed to root so deep in me that I’d ripped myself from everything and everyone I’d ever known, and done it without so much as a backward glance, were no longer there, seeping into my blood and unleashing their poison.
I hadn’t even realized those cold, hard feelings I’d left Hope Valley with were gone until I’d come back. They’d drifted away little by little over the past twenty-one years, so obscurely that I didn’t know it had been happening until I laid eyes on him for the first time, standing across from me at the cemetery and there’d been no venom coursing through my veins.
“Hey, honey. Can I get a refill?”
Twisting around, I spotted Joe Silvester with his empty coffee mug held aloft. My lips stretched into a smile. Waitressing was, I quickly discovered, like riding a bike—you never forgot. And one of the first lessons I’d ever learned was the bigger the smile, the bigger the tip. Same went if you flirted a little. That training was obviously ingrained in me if the wink I offered the older man as I sidled up to him was anything to go off of.
“This makes your fifth, Joe,” I warned playfully. “Hasn’t your doctor told you that too much caffeine is bad for you?” The nurse in me cringed every time I served the older men and women in town something I knew in my gut was clogging some serious arteries. But after two days I’d learned good and well that these folks were set in their ways and had no intention of changing.
“He stopped with the warnings when I told him my fist to his ugly mug was worse for him,” Joe replied with not one single ounce of remorse.
I gave him a shake of my head in mock disappointment and said, “I’d expect nothing less from you, Joe,” as I topped him off. Joe was just one of the many familiar faces I’d seen the past couple of days. He was about five years older than my father would have been had he lived this long and, while surly, was as lovable as could be.
“Lucky you’re suck a looker, Tempie, or your constant needlin’ over my health would be a real pain in my ass.”
“Give it time,” I said with another wink. “Couple more days and my gift for being a pain in the ass will outweigh my looks. You’ll see.”
The corners of his mouth quirked in an attempt to fight his smile. “Damn cryin’ shame how all you pretty ladies have a knack for crazy.”
“Yeah, but we make it worth it.” I shot him a saucy little finger wave and started back around the counter just as Ralph’s booming voice bellowed, “Order up for table five!” from the passthrough.
I started in that direction when the bell over the front door chimed. Turning to greet the latest in a long line of customers, the words died on my lips when I saw the man walking through.
His eyes remained downcast and his expression was drawn tight as the door closed behind him, only coming up when Sally called, “Hey there, Detective.”
“Sally.” Hayes tilted his chin, gaze pointed at only her as he requested, “Can I get a coffee when you have a chance?”
“You got it.”
He nodded, dropped his focus to the floor once again, headed for a booth toward the back, and settled in. And in that moment, something came over me that I couldn’t explain. When Sally reached for cof
feepot I’d just replaced, my hand shot out to stop her.
“I got it, Sal. You mind taking care of table five?”
She stared at me for several beats before a knowing smile finally stretched across her face. Then, with an almost indecipherable nod, she turned to the passthrough, leaving me to face the man I’d walked away from twenty-one years ago.
Hayes
The dull, persistent ache behind my eyes had only gotten worse as the day progressed. I’d stared at the board at the station until my eyes crossed, read and reread the case file until the words blurred together, and I still had nothing. The first murder in Hope Valley in over two decades, and there was shit—not a lead, not a clue, not a fucking suspect. Nothing.
In the past several weeks, the only guy who looked good for the death of Martin Henderson was cleared of the crime, and the residents of Hope Valley were growing restless, rightfully so.
The file was carefully tucked under my arm as I pulled the door to the diner open and stepped inside.
“Hey there, Detective,” Sally called as I made my way to the booth in the back I always occupied when I stopped in for lunch.
“Sally,” I returned, tilting my chin up in her direction. “Can I get a coffee when you have a chance?”
She shot me a thumbs-up. “You got it.”
Settling in on the side that faced the door, I slapped the folder down on the table, flipped it open, and got down to work, hoping a change of scenery was what I needed to open my mind to something I might have been missing all this time.
I was in the middle of scanning the first page when a mug appeared in my line of sight, a trail of steam wafting up from the hot coffee inside. “Thanks, Sal. I—” My attention lifted up and the words died on my tongue.
Temperance stood at the end of the booth, the corner of her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she shifted from foot to foot. “H-hi,” she said hesitantly, almost nervously.
That one word was a punch to the gut, throwing me back in time. Christ, she still took my breath away. There hadn’t been a day that passed in all those years where I hadn’t thought of her, but seeing her now made me realize just how much her image had faded in my mind. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Something I used to think wouldn’t be possible, but there it was.
Those clear blue eyes, the palest blue eyes I’d ever seen, had the power to warm you to the core or chill you to the bone, depending on what she was feeling at the moment. I’d been able to tell her mood just by looking in her eyes. Back then, I had a knack for turning that ice to liquid whenever she was mad or upset. Hell, there were times I intentionally pissed her off just so I could watch her eyes when I pulled her close and ran my fingertips along her jaw down to that sensitive skin beneath her ear.
At that simple touch, she’d shiver and the chill in those baby blues would disappear right then and there, allowing that amazing light to shine on me. After that I’d press my lips to that same spot until her body melted against mine.
And that was it. That was all it took to get my girl back to sweet.
The memory of those embraces, those kisses, was as vivid now as it was back then, and as I looked up into those eyes of hers, I thought my body might actually catch fire.
“Temperance,” I spoke in a voice that came out gruffer than I’d expected. I scanned the length of her just like I did back at the cemetery. My Tempie had been a looker, no doubt about that, but this older version carried herself with a confidence she hadn’t yet discovered back when she was in high school.
Her curves were more pronounced now. The apron tied around her accentuated the dip in her waist that led to the womanly flair of her hips. She’d had the best rack in the county back then, and it had only gotten better with time and age. Her skin was still the same creamy alabaster, completely free of lines even though she was toeing the line to forty, making her look at least five years younger than she actually was.
Another thing that was obvious was that she had a defter hand at applying makeup. The bit she was wearing just now highlighted her gorgeous face in a way that was more subtle than attention grabbing. I never minded the way she wore it when we were together, but I liked how she did it now a whole hell of a lot more.
My gaze drifted to the apron around her waist once more before returning to her face. “Didn’t realize you started workin’ here again.”
“Oh, uh….” Her head dropped down and her hands came up to brush nonexistent wrinkles from the front of the apron. “Yeah. Ralph offered, and well, I thought it might be a good idea. You know, to keep me busy. It’s gonna take longer than I expected to get Aunt Reenie’s stuff in order, and the thought of just sitting in that house all day every day….” She trailed off, visibly shaken and unable to finish the sentence.
Moving on instinct that I thought was long dead, my hand shot out and wrapped around hers. The need to offer her comfort, no matter how big or small, was the only thing drifting through my head right then. It was an impulse I thought had been snuffed out after so many years apart, but clearly I’d been very fucking wrong. “I’m sorry, Tempie. I know how much Reenie meant to you.”
She gave me a pathetic attempt at a smile and shrugged a single shoulder, and fuck if seeing her pain didn’t cut me to the quick. “It’s for the best. She was hurting.”
“Doesn’t make it hurt any less for you, sweetheart.”
Those crystal-clear pools began to glisten with tears and emotion she struggled to fight back. “Yeah.” Her voice came out as a croak, and she had to clear it before saying more. “You’re right. It really doesn’t.”
“Reenie was an amazing woman. Nothing wrong with bein’ sad she’s gone. World’s worse off without her in it.”
She sniffled, and for a moment I thought she was going to lose the battle against her tears. It took her several seconds, but eventually she prevailed and gave her head a shake as if to send the melancholy away.
“So… you want to order, or you need a few minutes?” she asked in a chipper voice that didn’t match her sorrowful expression and the tense way she was holding her body. If she wanted to pretend it was all good, I’d give her that. Honestly, it wasn’t my place to try and make her feel better. Hadn’t been for a hell of a lot longer than we’d been together. And truth was she’d be leaving soon. Just like she had last time when she took my heart with her. And I’d be damned if I put myself in the position to be crushed all over again. I barely survived the last time.
“Club sandwich. Chips instead of fries.”
Her face dipped in a funny frown as she looked at the mug on the table. “Coffee and a club sandwich? Doesn’t sound like a very appetizing combo.”
“Coffee’s a necessity. It’s either live on the stuff or risk passing out at my desk.”
She opened her mouth to speak, only to freeze solid as those blue pools drifted to the file I had lying open on the table. Temperance sucked in a startled gasp at the sight of the pictures lying fanned out on the right-hand side of the file. Martin Henderson’s crime scene photos.
“Shit.” I slapped the file shut and glanced back up at her ashen face. She looked like she was about to be sick. “Tempie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“No. No, it’s….”She stuttered uncontrollably, trying to find the words. “My god,” she breathed. “Was that Martin Henderson?”
I hesitated, worried something like this could trigger painful memories. “It was. He was killed several weeks back. I shouldn’t have—”
“It’s fine,” she cut in, waving her hands in front of her manically. “I just… it’s fine. Totally. I should get your order in anyway. Holler if you need anything.”
Then she bolted before I could say another word, rounding the counter like her ass was on fire and shooting through the swinging door that led to the kitchen.
Chapter Two
Hayes
I dropped my head on a heavy sigh before telling myself it was for the best. In spite of my body’s desire to get up and run
after Temperance to make sure she was okay, I stayed firmly planted in my seat. Slugging back half my coffee, I got down to work while I waited for my lunch. I was barely at it for five minutes when I was interrupted by a litany of curses coming from the front of the diner.
Looking up, I spotted Eden Brenner trying to navigate the heavy glass door while keeping hold of her crutches.
Eden was relatively new to town, having only moved to Hope Valley months earlier, but in the time she’d been here, she’d made things interesting, to say the least.
It started with her estranged brother following her to town and breaking into several residents’ houses. Eden had suffered the consequences of his associations with and being on the run from some really bad people, which included being kidnapped, beaten, and shot twice.
During that whole debacle, my buddy Lincoln Sheppard had fallen pretty damn hard, and was slowly working to maneuver himself into her life in a permanent way. Once the shit hit the fan, he gave up on slow and made her his in a very official capacity.
I quickly moved from the booth to help her clear the door without doing any further damage to herself. After I got her inside and stable on her crutches once more, I gave her a disapproving look. “Jesus, woman. You need to be more careful. You were just shot. You should be at home in bed right now.”
She attempted a menacing glare I never would have thought someone as sweet and shy as Eden capable of, but truthfully, it only made her that much cuter. Seeing that, it was easy to understand just what Linc saw in her. “Don’t you start with me. I was shot weeks ago, and I’m healing up just fine.”
“You were shot in the damn gut and thigh. Healing up or not, you need to take it easy.”
Her eyes shot lasers in my direction as she declared, “Lincoln’s driving me crazy. If I didn’t get away from him, I was gonna be locked up for beating him senseless with one of my crutches!”
Come Back Home Again (Hope Valley Book 2) Page 2