Prologue

Blake was racing through Boston traffic in mid-November and not doing very well at it.

Damn it for trying to get in and out of town fast to deal with this rather than coming the day earlier. 

If she’d done that, her father would have wanted to meet with her and she wasn’t ready to have that face-to-face yet. Their conversations were brief and stayed at texts or emails at this point.

She looked at the clock on the dashboard and had five minutes to get to the ferry and she was just entering the harbor. There was no way she was going to make it and she’d be stuck waiting two hours for the next one since the ferry to Amore Island didn’t run as often this time of year.

She hit the gas and was swerving around other cars. All those years of driving in LA were coming in handy.

Just not handy enough when she pulled close to the docks and saw the ferry already in motion.

“Shit!” She hit the horn, but it didn’t do any good.

She got out and ran to the dock thinking maybe she could see if they’d at least put it in reverse for her to get on. Screw the car, she’d find a ride on the island to her destination.

It didn’t matter. The ferry was too far out and there was no way they were coming back for some lunatic waving at them.

She turned to walk back to her car and would have to call Alex Bond and explain that she’d missed the ferry and hope he’d be able to wait for a few more hours to let her see his house.

“Everything okay?”

Blake turned to see the tall man standing there with aviator glasses on his face.

The wind was blowing his hair around, and he was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and an open flannel shirt over it. On his feet were a pair of popular slip-on sneakers that she’d noticed mostly kids wearing. More like fabric than leather. Hey Dudes, she thought they were called. She found it funny, but this guy looked like a dude to her.

If he had blonde hair and they were out west, she’d bet he would fit right in with surfers.

“Yes,” she said. “Just missed the ferry.”

“Going to Amore Island?” he asked.

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “That is the destination of the ferry the last I knew.”

He laughed at her. She was pretty sure if his glasses weren’t on, his eyes would show a lot of humor in this whole situation.

“Are you afraid of flying?”

“No,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to make a call to the person I was supposed to meet to look at a house on the island. I just hope they don’t rent it to someone else.”

“If it’s a Bond-owned home, that is likely the case.”

She didn’t need this guy to point something out to her she already knew. She might not have lived in Boston for the past thirteen years, but she remembered enough about it.

And though she never paid much attention to Amore Island or had been on it, she knew how hard it was to find a place to rent let alone buy.

The only way she was willing to move here and take on the job in her father’s Boston company was if she had that separation from her father so that he couldn’t just show up easily when he wanted to force a relationship she wasn’t ready to have.

“Thanks for telling me something I already knew,” she said.

He was still grinning. “I’m bringing my chopper over in twenty minutes. I’m just waiting for my clients to get here. There is room to have you in the co-pilot seat if you need to be there. We’d be landing before the ferry even docks.”

Her head snapped up from her phone from where she was looking for Alex Bond’s contact information. “For a second I thought you meant a motorcycle chopper and that made no sense. Really? How much?”

She could afford it and she’d pay whatever he said.

“Yeah, I know, it can get confusing. Chopper is a bike, but most people use it for a helicopter too. I call it all sorts of things, but that works. Anyway, the fee is nothing,” he said. “You’re hitching a ride with an open seat. It’s not like this is a ride-share taxi.”

“I didn’t think so,” she said. “But I don’t feel right not paying either.”

“It happens here,” he said. “Call it my good deed for the day. Island living isn’t easy and is not for everyone.”

“As I’m finding out,” she said. “But it’s not like I’m going to be moving around that much on and off the island that I can’t plan better.”

Blake wasn’t sure how this landed in her lap, but she was thrilled just the same.

“That does help. If you planned on bringing your car with you on the ferry, you’ll need to find a ride from the airport. There are Ubers you can call or set up.”

“Which I’ll do right now if you can give me an idea of what time you think we’ll be landing,” she said.

The handsome man looked at his watch. A big complicated one. She found it funny for a guy who looked as if everything else on him was laid back.

“We’ll be landing at ten thirty,” he said. “Give or take.”

“Faster than the ferry docking. Perfect. I’ll just move my car to the other parking lot so it doesn’t get towed or ticketed.”

“You can meet me in the building over there,” he said. “The one that says Bond on it. Bond Charter is on the left and you can fill out a few papers.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Hey, I didn’t get your name.”

“Egan Bond,” he said, saluting her with a charming smile on his face.

He turned and walked back to the building that he must have come out of. Where he most likely watched her making a fool out of herself slamming on the horn and then running down the docks. All for a rental property she didn’t want to risk losing.

After she composed herself, she went into the building where Egan had the papers waiting for her. 

“Thanks,” she said. “You’re really saving the day.”

“Not a problem,” he said. “As I said, island living. Better get used to it. Guess it was your lucky day.”

“I don’t believe in luck,” she said, filling out the information on the iPad he put in front of her, then signing with her finger.

Egan turned it around and looked at it. “Well, Blake Baldwin. Luck and fate are part of Amore Island. Maybe you need to read up on the place you are going to call home…if you get the house.”

Blake laughed this time. She hadn’t laughed in months. Maybe a year. She had no clue anymore. She just needed to move on even if it felt like concrete shoes were weighing down her every move.

“I’ll get it,” she said. “Not from luck but through application, planning and hard work.”

“Just like all that planning had you missing the ferry,” he said. 

His sunglasses were off now and she looked into his hazel eyes. Yep, humor. 

“Things happen,” she said. “You just pivot.”

He shook his head and walked away to greet the couple that just came in the door. Probably the people she was bumming a ride with.

She didn’t care as long as it got her to her destination. The rest would fall into place even if she had to hammer it home.

When Blake Baldwin realizes her entire life is one of a pawn between her parents, she decides to honor the deathbed promise she made to her mother. But that means relocating across the country and working for the man she felt she was never good enough for. The one who didn’t give her the time of day when she needed it the most. Who she blames for her mother’s death.

Egan Bond is the carefree son. He has a thriving business and is making his successes his way…which means not conforming to what people think of him or who he should be. He’s happy, and shouldn’t everyone just do what makes them feel that way? When he meets a woman trying to figure her life out on Amore Island, he realizes that sometimes you shouldn’t just do things for yourself but for those you are losing your heart to. Too bad she’s making it hard for him to knock down the walls she’s built over the years.

If you haven’t read the Prologue, check it out.

Chapter One

A Sign From Above

Two Years Later

“How did you manage to get this space and so quickly?” Janine Miller asked Trent Davenport.

“I know people,” he said, laughing.

He’d unlocked the door on Friday morning. The Friday before the Fourth of July weekend. His new law practice would officially be open for business next Wednesday and his one and only employee, Janine, would start full time now that he’d coaxed her from her last job to come work with him.

“This is a brand new building though,” Janine said. “They are still taking tenants and yet you get into a space that was already done?”

“A business backed out at the last minute. Actually, they realized they didn’t need the amount of space they signed the lease for. My sister, Raina, was talking about it last month with Megan.”

“Megan is your future sister-in-law, correct?”

“Yes,” he said. “I know it’s been a year or so since we’ve worked together. I’ll try to fill you in as we go. But yes, Megan is engaged to my brother, Jonah. Both Raina and Megan work at Fierce Engineering. As you know, I’d decided months ago to leave the law firm but was still working it out in my head.”

He’d wanted to leave for close to a year, but it was scary as all fuck going out on your own when you had a stable job and income.

He just couldn’t stay where he was another day. Not with the way the partners and managers treated their staff.

When he’d heard about this space, he felt like it was a sign from above and the wheels started to move.

“I’m glad you contacted me,” Janine said. “I didn’t care for where I was but was too lazy to look for another job. It never looks good on your resume when you move around too much.”

Janine had been a great paralegal and the two of them worked well together. But she’d had a bad year with her teenage son getting hurt and needing surgery and care. Then months later her father was diagnosed with cancer and she was the closest sibling and managed his care.

The firm they worked for didn’t like giving time off and terminated her, saying she was falling behind in her work when he’d seen no signs of it.

He’d been pissed and went to bat for her and all it did was get him on the shit list.

“No need to worry about that now,” he said. “I hope I’m not too horrible of a boss, as we both might be going by the skin of our teeth here.”

He’d never run his own business before. He didn’t know the first thing about a lot of that stuff.

His mother was going to do his books until he got things squared away, just like she did for Jonah when he opened his gym years ago.

Hell, even Megan offered to help and since she had more experience in what he needed than what his mother did, who worked in risk management at a bank, he might take his future sister-in-law up on that offer and figure out how to pay her for her time.

“You’re going to be great,” Janine said. “Show me around. This place is pretty big.”

“It is,” he said. “Bigger than I need, but I hope to bring on another attorney at some point and more staff.”

He was starting small, just the two of them. He had to hustle now to get clients, as he’d handed off his caseload last week when he’d walked out the door of the first job he’d been hired at out of law school.

He had enough money in the bank to get him through a year and hoped to hell work started to come and he’d be stable long before that. He wasn’t going to be fussy. He’d take any clients he could and not specialize in anything. He just wasn’t going to take frivolous things. That wasn’t him and never would be. He’d close his doors before he did that.

“Is this space mine?” Janine asked. There was a wide-open space when you walked in. A reception area. They’d been lucky that the contractors could come in and split the space down the center and add an entrance from what the previous leaseholders had. 

“For now,” he said. “As we grow, we’ll get someone up here and you can have your own office.”

“Yay me,” Janine said. “But I’m good anywhere.”

They moved through the four offices, the tiny gallery kitchen, then a conference room and finally a file room. He hoped to fill this baby right up in time.

“The office furniture should be arriving soon. They said between nine and twelve. They are putting the desks together too. You and I can get everything else we need set up. Make a list of what you want or need and we’ll start ordering.”

“I can work with bare bones,” Janine said. “As long as I’ve got a computer.”

“In my car,” he said. “Laptops for both of us. The Wi-Fi is good to go. I’ve got someone I contacted coming in to set our computers up this afternoon once the desks are ready.”

“This is so exciting,” Janine said. “Will you get mad if I want to hang some artwork up?”

“No,” he said. “We need this to look welcoming and it’s not.”

“At least it’s not plain white walls,” Janine said. “I like the soft blue. It’s relaxing.”

Trent was thrilled he’d been able to pick the paint colors and went with the blues and grays. They felt neutral enough. The flooring was already put in and he was fine with it. Sturdy gray vinyl plank that looked like hardwood. It’d be easy to clean.

“I’ll give you an amount you can spend to decorate,” he said. “I’d like an area rug up here at the very least around the chairs. We need them too. As much as I want clients right away, we’ve got to get this place set up.”

“I can start browsing now while we wait,” Janine said. “I can do that on my phone.”

He laughed. “Let me go get our laptops. I’ve got the Wi-Fi password and we can do that together while we wait for the network guy.”

He left Janine to wander around the office space and take measurements. He’d pointed her to where the bathroom was on the second floor. They didn’t have a private one and he didn’t care.

When he returned, Janine was typing on her phone. “I’ve got measurements for the conference room so I know how big of a table and chairs to order. We should be able to find something basic that will let you add more chairs as we go.”

“Good idea,” he said. He knew Janine would be a huge asset and was glad he’d been able to convince her even though he most likely wasn’t paying her what she was making at her last job.

She’d said she didn’t care. This was closer to her house and she wanted a hand in building something from the ground up.

They were sitting on the floor with their laptops an hour later. Janine was purchasing decor and he was shopping for office furniture, both of them showing the other for their opinions and making sure everything went well together.

His corporate credit card was going to take one hell of a hit today.

He looked up when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye in the hall through the glass door.

“Trent,” Grant Fierce said. Garrett was standing there with him. “Welcome to the building. Is this some kind of new trend to see clients on the floor?”

He laughed and stood up. “Hardly,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to get in and am shopping for everything now. Janine, meet Grant and Garrett Fierce. This is their building.”

“Sort of,” Grant said.

Trent knew the situation. The Fierces found the building but had partners in with them. Olson Law Firm, McCarthy Construction and Kennedy Construction. He knew all the players from when he’d signed the lease and who he’d had to talk to about things.

He was positive he was getting a deal on the rent because the other business had incurred most of the construction costs, but he wasn’t going to complain.

When it came down to it though, the Fierces were running most of the show since it was their brainchild. 

“We’ve got something for you,” Garrett said. “Raina designed it, so if you don’t like it, you can take it up with her.”

Garrett had a big envelope in his hand and pulled out a sheet with a design and vinyl lettering on it. 

“I know what this is,” he said. “I had a feeling Raina was doing something.”

His sister was a drafter for Fierce Engineering and currently was finishing up her degree in engineering nights at Duke.

“You need to have a name on the door,” Grant said.

“I was going to take care of that last week and Raina told me to hold off. She’s not good with secrets. I just figured it was from her.”

“Nope,” Garrett said. “It’s from us. Do you want the honors?”

“Sure,” he said, taking the sheet and then going to the glass door. The design for his name and logo was exactly what he wanted since Raina had been helping him create it. All he’d had to do was send the file to someone to get it printed, but his sister wouldn’t release it to him and now he knew why.

“That looks great,” Janine said. “Feels final.”

He looked at the door that now said Davenport Law. It was a dream come true earlier than he’d thought in his career.

Maybe if his last employers weren’t such assholes he might never have done this.

“It does look great,” Grant said. “I’m assuming you’ve got business cards already? Want to hand some over? We’ll make sure Roni gets them. All businesses have their cards here for people to come in and see.”

He knew there was a property manager on the first floor of the building. Ronnie someone or another. He’d forgotten the last name, but the dude was who he’d go to if there were problems in the building for tenants. Or whatever else had to be done here.

“I’ve got them right here,” he said, moving over to the box he’d brought in with his laptops. He pulled out about twenty cards and handed them over. 

“Thanks,” Grant said. “We’ll get these down to Roni on our way out.”

They turned when a guy opened the door. “We’re here with your furniture if you can sign.”

“I’m Trent Davenport,” he said. 

“We’ll let you get set up,” Garrett said. “Don’t work too hard this weekend.”

“I’ll be here all weekend and Monday I’m sure,” he said. There was too much to do and this was his life now. It’s not like he had much more going on and didn’t want to even think of it either.

“Now, now,” Grant said. “You’re young yet. You need to have a life outside of work.”

“I’m good,” he said. He knew where this was going and wasn’t going to get sucked in like his sister and brother had. 

Nope, he was onto the Fierces and had no time in his life to be part of their matchmaking scheme.

“What was that about?” Janine asked when the twins left.

“What was what?” he asked.

“The looks between them and you about not working too hard?”

He laughed. “They think they are being sly, but they aren’t. Let me tell you a story about this meddling matchmaking family.”

Prologue

“What am I going to do?” Roni Hollister asked her brother, Jaxson. “I can’t believe Jeff is doing this to me.”

Her older brother of two years took the legal papers out of her hands and read them. Not that he had any legal background, but he was a smart guy. Smart enough to be running a large not-for-profit in Durham with hundreds of employees and loads of human service programs for the underprivileged at just twenty-eight years old. “Take a deep breath and let me read this.”

She sat down on the couch in her parents’ living room. Roni hated that she had to move home years ago, but she didn’t have a choice.

It’s not as if she could afford to live on her own and care for her son when Jeff and she split.

Best decision of her life was not to marry him when he’d asked. Just because she found out she was pregnant after five months of dating their senior year of college didn’t mean she had to become Mrs. Jeff Elliot.

“He wants Eli to go to school in Raleigh,” she said. “What’s there to read? Jeff and I talked this over. We agreed that since he works in Durham and I live in Durham, it’s not out of his way to drop and pick Eli up on his days. I’m not sure why he’s changing things now.”

They were co-parents in raising their four-year-old son. Eli was starting school in a few months and she and her ex had made an agreement.

Just like everything else in her life, those verbal agreements meant nothing. Even the legal ones, Jeff found multiple ways to get them changed in his favor.

But the thought of going back to court and putting money out yet again and then maybe losing was more than she could handle when she finally thought she was getting ahead in life.

“Because he’s a dick,” Jax said. “Listen, Roni, I know it’s hard. I get it. But you need to call your lawyer and let them deal with this. It’s bad enough you aren’t getting any support and Jeff makes a lot more than you.”

“I know you were upset over that, but the truth is, we have Eli the same amount of time and split all the costs associated with our son. I’m not going to be a jerk like him. It’s fair as much as it’s squeezing my wallet. It’s not my fault or Jeff’s that he makes more than me. Once Eli starts school in a few months that full-time daycare cost is gone. That’s another thing. Eli’s school here would have before-and-after care for a minimal amount. The school in Raleigh won’t. We’d still have daycare costs and figuring out how to get him to daycare after. If I’m working in Durham, I can’t leave to get him to bring him to daycare there after school. It’s a mess.”

“That’s right,” Jax said. “Tell your lawyer all of that. Something must be going on for Jeff to do this. Do you know?”

It seemed they had periods of time they were civil and then others where Jeff just wanted to put the screws to her for no reason.

“I don’t know. Last I knew he was dating someone. Maybe that is part of it? That he wants to be closer? But again, Eli’s school is five minutes away from his office here. Maybe ten in traffic. It’s less time Eli would even have to be in the program because he won’t have that twenty minutes or more drive back to Raleigh to get him.”

“All logical points you need to bring up,” Jax said, his voice calm. He always was the calm one. She’d thought she was good that way too, but her ex just hammered that all out of her with years of this up-and-down legal battle. 

It’s like he was purposely trying to get her to spend money on legal fees knowing he’d lose anyway. It was a win for him because it was costing her money she didn’t always have and emotional stress on top of it.

God, could Jeff be that much of a jerk?

She’d never thought so when they were dating, but now she wasn’t so sure.

Jeff had always had his parents in his corner paying for everything. Though Roni’s parents helped out a lot, they didn’t pay all her bills. Nor did she want them to.

Just like she wouldn’t ask them for anything.

The fact that she was living at home with Eli on the second floor of the house she grew up in and had the three rooms and bathroom up there was more than enough. Her father even put a door at the top of the stairs to give them privacy.

They might share a kitchen, but they had their own rooms, bathroom and turned an open area loft into a living room for them to have separate spaces when needed.

Half the time Eli wanted to be with his grandparents downstairs who loved spoiling their only grandchild.

She couldn’t complain too much about her life even if she felt like such a failure.

“I will,” she said, sniffling. “Thank you for coming over. I know you’re busy.”

“I was coming from a meeting anyway and not going back to the office. It’s fine,” Jax said.

Her parents would be home any minute. “If Mom and Dad see you here, they will want to know what is going on. They will want you to stay for dinner too.”

She got out of work thirty minutes before her parents and was closer. She’d walked in the door opening the letter she’d pulled out of the mailbox. She supposed it was a good thing Eli was with Jeff today. He’d probably planned it that way as a double whammy as she’d want to hug her son right now.

“I can stay,” he said. “What are you making?”

Since she was the first one home, she normally started dinner. “Mom said she took chicken out to grill. To grab whatever sides I wanted.”

She might live there for free, but she bought groceries every other week, her parents the alternate weeks. It was only fair in her eyes. 

“Got noodles and cheese?” Jax asked. 

Her brother loved cheesy butter noodles. “Anything for you.”

“Come here,” Jax said, pulling her into his arms for a big brother hug. “Try not to stress too much. I know it’s hard, but we’ll get through this.”

“Eli’s my whole world.”

“And you’re not spending any less time with him,” he said. “Look at the bigger picture. This is just making you go out of your way. It’s about you, not Eli this time.”

“It’s always been that way,” she said. “If Eli didn’t love his father so much I could argue more things in court, but Jeff is a good father.”

“Asshole exes can still be good to their kids,” Jax said. “Remember that.”

“Lucky me,” she said. “But you’re right. Bigger picture is Eli and what is best for him.”

“Always,” Jax said. 

They turned when their mother walked in the door. “What’s going on?” Ellen Hollister asked. “Did something happen to Eli? You’re crying and Jax is here.”

Her brother picked up the papers and handed them over. “Jeff’s being a dick again.”

Their mother read the documents. “I just want to scream. Why won’t it end?”

“He’s not happy unless he makes me miserable because I didn’t want to be with him,” Roni said.

“And this behavior just proves once again you made the right decision. Remember that,” Jax said.

“It’s the only thing I’ve got to hold onto right now.”

At twenty-two years old, Roni Hollister made the difficult choice to not marry her boyfriend when she found out she was pregnant. She wasn’t ready and needed more time. It proved to be the right decision. She’s a wonderful mother to her son regardless of her ex’s attempts to disrupt her life and knock her back financially and emotionally at every turn.

Trent Davenport had enough of the legal firm he was working at and decides to take that fearful leap into opening his own practice. When he finds the perfect space in a Fierce owned building, he knows he’s setting himself up to be part of their matchmaking schemes. But he’s onto them and figures out who they have in mind before the work begins, deciding to get ahead of the game. He’s always had a soft spot for the underdog but this time he finds himself falling in love with one and now he needs to convince her all men aren’t the same.

Prologue

“I need you to go with me tomorrow night to my boss’s house for a dinner party,” Tanner Carter said to his wife, Liz.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’ve got to work. You know that.”

She worked third shift as a nurse and had for years. That was how she’d met Tanner. When he’d come into the ER one night hurt, having been in an accident.

“Yeah, but call in,” he said, waving his hand, dismissing every word she ever said like always. “It’s not like they can’t just call someone else in to do your job. I don’t have that luxury.”

Liz held back the snort. She’d never considered her job a luxury and hated when he talked to her that way.

That everything in her life was trivial and could be discarded or replaced so easily.

“I can’t,” she said again. “You had me call in two months ago for something else that wasn’t an emergency. I said I was sick and someone saw me out that night. I’m lucky I didn’t get written up or fired.”

Tanner turned his back on her like he always did. He was rude more times than not. She had no idea where the sweet loving man she’d married four years ago went. The one that sought her out with roses and candy all the time when she got off her shift.

“You can find another job easily,” Tanner said. “You need to be with me tomorrow. Figure it out.”

“No,” she said. 

Tanner turned and scowled at her, grabbed her arm and yanked her close to him. Her face was inches from his. “I’m not going to tell you again. You’re going to get your fat ass to that party tomorrow night and you’re going to put on the hottest dress you’ve got even if you’ve got to squeeze into it. You’re going to have a smile on your face like you want to be there too.”

She was sick of this. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

The comment about her weight just set off a flood of emotions in her. 

She wasn’t fat. She’d never been fat. But she’d been so thin lately that people at work were commenting on it even though she tried to hide it in her baggy scrubs. 

Liz didn’t like to be questioned about anything so she’d been trying to eat more so they’d see she wasn’t starving herself. Like she did around Tanner to avoid his comments and nasty remarks toward her.

“I’m not calling in,” she said. “Make up an excuse for me.”

“I smell something sweet on your breath,” he said. “Have you been eating chocolate again?” She yanked her arm away only for him to grab it and bring her back. “Answer me,” he growled.

“No,” she lied. 

He let go of her arm and took a step away. She thought this was over and she could finish getting dinner on the table. She’d go to work in a few hours.

She didn’t even get to take one step before he backhanded her across the face. 

He’d never hit her before. Ever.

He’d grab her. He’d push and shove her. He’d insult and use verbal abuse. But this…this was new.

Her hand went to her face. It was burning and stinging like nothing ever had before.

She stared him down in shock.

He almost seemed to realize what he’d done at that point too. “See what you made me do,” he shouted. 

“Me? You hit me!”

He turned and grabbed his keys and then stormed out the door.

She was thankful for that.

She ran up to her room and looked in the mirror at her face. It was going to bruise. She knew it. She’d put ice on it, but there was no way she could hide this from anyone at work.

She was sitting on the couch an hour later with her second ice pack on her face trying to figure out what she was going to do.

She had money in an account that Tanner didn’t know about. One she’d had before they met and she’d never told him. For the past few years she’d kept putting little bits of money in there without his knowledge.

It’d be enough for her to move out. She could stop her check from going into his account. She didn’t want anything of his anyway.

The front door opened. She’d hoped she could be gone before Tanner returned. Normally when they fought that was what he did. He’d leave and come back when she was working and they wouldn’t have to face each other again for a day or so.

He’d be nice and sweet to her. Apologize and things would be good for a month or longer. Then they’d start up all over again.

“Liz, are you okay?”

She didn’t expect to see her mother-in-law standing there. She moved the ice pack down but knew there would be a mark on her face from Tanner’s hand.

“Yeah. Just tripped.”

“No,” Donna Carter said. “You didn’t. Let’s go right now.”

“Where?” she asked. Her mother-in-law had never liked her that much. At least she didn’t think so. 

“You’re leaving.”

“I’ve got time before I go to work,” she argued.

“No,” Donna said. “You’re leaving Tanner. Enough is enough. He’s out getting drunk with his brother right now. He won’t come home for hours. That’s enough time for you to pack everything you care about and get it in your car. I’ll give you money.”

This was all too much. “Where am I going to go?”

“I’m not sitting around anymore and watching this.” Donna pulled her phone out of her purse. “Do you still have that account that Tanner knows nothing about?”

Her jaw dropped. She didn’t know how Donna knew that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do,” Donna said. “Yes or no on the account?” Donna’s lips were firm.

“Yes,” Liz said quietly.

“I’m transferring one hundred thousand dollars into it right now.”

“What?”

Her mother-in-law was still pushing buttons, then stopped. “Look right now. It’s there.”

She pulled her phone out and logged in and was stunned to see the money sitting there. “How did you do that? How did you know?”

Donna waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. Up. Now. Let’s get you packed and out of here and don’t come back. Don’t say a word of this night to anyone.”

Liz ran to her room to find boxes and bags. There were some in another closet, but right now she’d just grab everything off the hangers if she could and toss them in her backseat.

Donna was on her heels and snatching clothes out of the closet. Shoes too. Things were going into garbage bags in a haphazard mess.

“Why are you protecting him?”

Donna stopped and looked at her. “I’m not. I’m protecting you.”

“By buying me to not say a word about what Tanner does? And how did you even know?”

“We can talk and pack. He’s always been a troubled child that thought he could get away with murder thanks to his father spoiling the boys. I don’t want to have to worry about that. Murder. I’d never be able to live with myself. I didn’t expect to see the mark on your face and it’s enough for me to do this now. I’ve seen the signs slowly over the years. You could say preparing me for this day but hoping and praying it wouldn’t come.”

Guess she wasn’t doing too good of a job of hiding anything.

“Why do you care?” she asked. “You don’t even like me.”

Donna grabbed her arm—not hard like Tanner had done—but when she flinched, Donna dropped it and sighed.

“I’m sorry. I should have stepped in sooner, but you’re good at hiding things. Just not good enough. I do like you, Liz. I’d had hopes that Tanner would settle down when he met you…but it didn’t happen.”

She wasn’t going to ask if this had happened before with another woman. It didn’t matter at this point.

All that mattered was that she had money and the means to get the hell out and she was doing it.

“What are you going to tell Tanner?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Donna said. “I’m going to act shocked. He won’t come after you. Trust me. He’ll blame it all on you and say good riddance.”

Liz didn’t care. “I don’t know where to go,” she said.

“Go home,” Donna said. “It’s time you do. Your father will understand.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice,” she said. 

She kicked it into overdrive packing her car to the brim with everything that was hers. She wouldn’t take one thing that wasn’t. 

Everything was in Tanner’s name anyway.

Once she was in her car, she called work, talked to the one person she trusted and said she had to leave town and wasn’t coming back.

Her supervisor told her to be safe and when she got to her destination to reach out so they could make sure she got all the money coming to her.

It was as if everyone knew and she felt like such an idiot.

No more. She was going home whether she liked it or not.

They say you never forget your first and that is true for Christian Butler. He is the laid back one of the family. He never plans things out more than a few weeks or months in advance. He can pivot and change when need be. Life is just simpler and it works for him. But there are things he’ll never get out of his mind and will always make him wonder if he could have done something differently rather than dealing as it happens.

Liz Carter never forgot her first. They were young and in love but her life was a mess and she didn’t want to drag him down. She moved out of the area to get away and start over. What she found was even more drama than at home and returned to begin again. The last thing she ever thought would happen is that she’d run back into Christian and they would bond over a house he always wanted but she ended up getting.

Prologue 

“Thank you for making the trip here. I know it’s a few hours away,” Rose Bloom said to Daisy Jones.

She was trying not to wipe her hands on her pants, as she knew they were dripping wet with nerves. There was so much riding on this interview. 

“Not a problem,” Daisy said. “I was thrilled to get your call earlier in the week that you wanted me to come in for a second interview. And I appreciate you doing the first one remotely.”

When she’d applied for this position a few weeks ago she knew it was a shot in the dark she’d get a call, living hours away, but she’d been picking up and moving most of her life.

And she was sick of doing it. She knew she had to find that one place where she wanted to stay. Something told her this might be the spot.

Or she was damn well hoping it was.

“Poppy and Lily will be here soon. Lily is on a call and Poppy is dealing with something in the store.”

Daisy knew the three sisters owned Blossoms and that the jewelry part of the business was the last to be added on and the smallest right now. Rose had explained all of that in the first interview.

“That’s fine,” she said. “I’ve got all day. Being self-employed I can come and go when I need to.”

“And you’re okay closing down your online store if you are hired here?” Rose asked. 

She knew that was going to be a condition even before she started the first interview.

“I have no problem at all. The thing is, I’m creative. I enjoy working with my hands and wasn’t able to do that at the store and decided to do it on the side.” It’s not like she was making that much money in the jewelry store and it was taking time away from when she could make her own products to sell online.

There was a knock at the door and it opened with Rose’s sisters coming in. Having been an only child, she already saw the bond these three shared just by the way they looked at each other.

“Thanks for taking time out of the day for this,” Rose said to the sisters. “Lily and Poppy, this is Daisy. Sorry, this is just funny to me. Daisy, not everyone has a flower name in our company, but there are three others.”

“Really?” Daisy asked, grinning while she shook hands with Rose’s sisters. Poppy was very stylish; Lily was too. Rose seemed more basic like Daisy was dressed today and she already knew they’d get along great. “Can I ask what their names are?”

“Jasmine and Violet work in the flower shop full time,” Lily said. “And in our greenhouses that are on my personal property. We just hired Heather who has a science background. She has an office here but will be working in a lab area at the greenhouses too.”

“I find this so fascinating,” Daisy said. “I understand that you all have flower names and it’s how the business started, but the odd chance of hiring more…”

“I like to think it is fate,” Poppy said. This sister was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement. Poppy had to be the fun one of the bunch. 

“Maybe it will be fate for me too,” Daisy said. She hoped she wasn’t pushing it by saying that, but in her gut, she just wanted to be honest.

“Tell us about yourself,” Poppy said. 

Here they went, she thought. Time to do the best she could and hope she came out on top for once.

“I was just explaining to Rose that I’ve always been creative. I loved working in the jewelry store and doing sales, but it didn’t give me the creativity to make anything and I missed it. I grew up with a single mother and we didn’t have much. Most things I had to learn to make myself if I wanted them. Money wasn’t always flowing and I like pretty things.”

Poppy smiled and looked at her two sisters. “We know something about that.”

“That is how I started with the candles and soaps,” Lily said. “Those were things that we didn’t have the money to buy, but I loved how they smelled. We had all sorts of flowers here to use too.”

“I’ve read your story,” Daisy said. “I found it intriguing. I love learning new things. I’m not afraid of hard work. I did go to college for two years because my mother wanted me to. I’ve got a general business degree and was a shift manager at the jewelry store, but it was a chain and things were done their way. There was no freedom.”

She didn’t want to think of those two years she struggled in school. She hated every minute of it, but she wanted to make her mother proud who’d never gotten a chance for a college education.

“We aren’t a jewelry store here,” Rose said. “We have a section in our store for jewelry, but I don’t see me ever wanting my own store.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “I wasn’t looking to work in a store full time, but if you need me to ever fill in there, I’d do it. For the whole store. Again, I just love everything you stand for. If you need me at the plant, I’d work there too. I’m all for teamwork and doing what needs to be done to get to where the business can thrive to its fullest.”

The minute she said she wasn’t looking to work in a store she wished she could have rewound her words and hoped the rest of her explanation didn’t come off as desperation.

Rose looked over at Lily and Poppy and Daisy held her breath hoping she covered herself well. “That’s great to hear,” Rose said. “I don’t know that it would come to working in the plant, but there would be hours that you would have to go to the store and deal with customers that need pieces sized or altered in the jewelry section. I’ll deal with custom orders, but it would be helpful to have other clients taken care of too.”

“Again,” she said. “Not a problem. I like talking to people and I like working alone. I can be very adaptable. I’ve done it all. I think I’m trying to find that happy place. I don’t want you to think I’m being wishy-washy either. I’m just honored to be considered for the job and for a chance to learn and prove myself to you.”

“If we offered you the job,” Poppy said, “when could you start?”

“As soon as I could find a place to live,” she said. “I’ve got a friend in the area, about twenty minutes away. She told me I could crash with her in the short term if I need to, but her place is small. I’d be staying on the couch and that is fine either way. I’m not sure of the availability of apartments in the area, but I did search out costs to get an idea.”

It’d be tight she knew, but living with her friend short term would help. She was home with her mother now and just needed to be on her own.

“We could put a few feelers out if need be,” Rose said. “It’s been a long time since one of us has rented anywhere, but we do know people.”

“That would be great,” she said. This was going well in her mind and she was trying to stay calm.

Hours later she was at her friend Mindy’s house. She hadn’t planned on staying the night, but the interview just went on and on in the most wonderful way possible.

“Daisy,” her mother said on the phone. “It sounds as if it went well if you are still there?”

“I’m at Mindy’s. I’m glad I brought a change of clothes with me just in case. I’m not sure why I thought of it but am glad I planned it out. After my interview with the three sisters, Rose took me for a tour of the plant and then out to lunch.”

“That sounds promising,” her mother said. There was no excitement in her mother’s voice and she was kind of glad she was able to make this call and not see her mother’s face.

“I know you don’t want me to leave home,” she said.

“It’s not that,” her mother said. “It’s just that I’m going to feel like I’m losing my best friend. You lived on your own for a bit but were close by.”

She’d moved out a few years ago and had roommates, but one by one she’d lose people as it was so hard to afford. She’d finally given up trying to find more people to live with and went back home feeling like such a loser.

Helping her mother with bills was better in the long run, though her mother never wanted to take her money. 

At twenty-six years old there was no way she wasn’t helping her mother with expenses when the woman raised her alone since she was eighteen.

If her mother could do it, then Daisy could too.

“I won’t be that far away,” she said. “Just a few hours. You can come and visit.”

“You’re sounding like it’s a done deal,” her mother said. She heard the sniffles too. Shit.

She wasn’t sure if this was because Daisy was moving out as her daughter, or as her mother said, her best friend.

She’d lost count of how many times in her life she’d wished it was more a parental relationship than a friendship, but she supposed she and her mother grew up together.

“I’ve got a good feeling,” Daisy said, then went on to explain how the interview went. “I just need to figure out a living situation.”

“Could you stay with Mindy?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. Mindy was in the shower now and it was something she was going to talk to her about. “There is time yet and I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“I only want what is best for you, Daisy. I’ve always wanted that. Maybe you can make more out of your life than I did mine.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a great mother and so strong and I’m proud of you.”

Though she believed the part about her mother being strong and being proud of her, she wasn’t so sure she believed the part of “great mother.” It was more like great friend.

Her mother laughed. “I’m proud of you too, Daisy,” her mother said. More sniffles. “I need to run. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

She was glad to hang up the phone just now, but there was a lot of guilt over her decision to move if she got the job.

“How did it go with your mom?” Mindy asked, coming out of the bathroom of her tiny apartment. Daisy would be sleeping on the couch tonight. She hated to even ask to stay for more than a night but had to at least have a plan.

“What I expected,” she said. “She’s happy for me but upset.”

“It’s time you moved out on your own,” Mindy said. “Your mom is a grown woman. She should get out and date.”

“I tell her all the time,” she said. “She dates, but she’s always put me first. Maybe with me leaving, she’ll try. I don’t know.”

Mindy shrugged. “You won’t know anything until you try.”

“Speaking of trying,” she said. “Don’t suppose you’ve got any idea of places to rent in this area if I get the job? Cheap places. Or someone looking for a roommate?”

“Sorry,” Mindy said. “I don’t know anyone. I’ll keep an eye out for you. You can stay here a week or so if need be.”

Which told her not to ask for more. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”

She didn’t want to lose this opportunity, but if she couldn’t find affordable housing, she might not have a choice but to be stuck where she was.

You can’t break the cycle if you can’t get out of the damn circle.

Daisy Jones is determined to break the cycle of single mothers in her family. She has never felt as if she is worthy of any man and when she needs her mother the most, she doesn’t seem to get it. Maybe that is why she struggles to find someone because she has no examples in her life and no parental figure to help guide her.

Dr. Theo James was a brainy teenager in college. The one that started medical school at nineteen. He is used to being singled out but mastered keeping his feelings inside. Having a controlling mother seems to come with the territory. But now as an adult, he’s doing it his way, finding the woman he wants that loves him for who he is and not what he is. He just needs to convince the love of his life he’s in it for the long haul all the while telling the woman who pushed him to be the success he is today to mind her own business.

Prologue

“Avery, there are two police officers here asking for you.”

Avery looked up from where she was speed walking to her next patient. She was behind as it was and the last thing she needed was an interruption.

“Can you tell the patient in room three I’ll be a few minutes longer?”

The patient, Sunny, a feisty longhaired cat, would understand, but her owner might not after waiting for thirty minutes already.

Avery hurried toward the front of the building where the reception area was. There were two police officers standing there and she decided it was best not to hear what they had to say in front of the other pet owners.

“Can you have them come back to the conference room?” she asked the woman at the desk. The clinic she worked at was huge and top of the line. Avery had been thrilled to be hired right out of college and loved not having the responsibility of being her own boss. Though there were times she was starting to realize it might be easier when she always found herself overbooked.

She turned and moved in the direction of the conference room, then waited for the officers who came in after her.

“Dr. Avery Keegan?”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s me. Can I ask what this is about?”

“Do you know a Colleen Pacer?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “That’s my best friend. What’s wrong? What happened to Colleen?”

Her heart was racing. Colleen lived fifteen minutes from where Avery was in Danbury. It was the Danbury Police that was standing here too. But Colleen did work in Danbury. And she worked at City Hall. These two officers probably knew her, and by the looks on their faces and the shaking of the one officer’s hand, she didn’t like where this was going. 

“There’s been an accident. She’s in the hospital. You are listed as her ICE on her phone.”

“How bad of an accident?” Her mind was racing. She had to get Josie. She needed to see Colleen. She could call her mom to help, but her mother had her hands full with her grandmother right now too.

“Bad enough,” the officer said. “They’d like you at the hospital to make some decisions unless there is a next of kin.”

This didn’t sound good. “Her daughter. But she’s only seven.”

“Is there somewhere she can go?”

“She’s at daycare. I need to go to the hospital first, right?”

“That would be wise,” the officer said. The one that was shaking. “We’ll escort you.”

She nodded her head, then ran to her office and got her purse, only going through the motions, trying not to panic. 

The receptionist was coming down the hall and Avery knew she had tears in her eyes and said, “I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t worry about her job right now. They’d figure it out. They had to.

She was driving faster through town than she ever had with the police escort and wasn’t sure if she was scared for her life or more afraid of what she’d find out at the hospital when she arrived.

After parking her SUV, she ran into the ER. “I’m Avery Keegan. I’m here in regard to Colleen Pacer.”

“Yes,” the nurse said. “Please come with me and a doctor will be in to see you shortly.”

“Can you tell me what is going on?” she asked.

“A doctor will explain.”

“What kind of accident was it?” she asked. “Can anyone even tell me that?”

“She was hit by a car while walking.”

Avery’s hands went to her mouth as she gasped. Colleen often ran errands for the city and walked around town to do it.

The nurse turned and left after that, not even giving her a chance to ask anything else.

She sat down and looked at her phone but barely could read it through her tears. It was shy of lunchtime at this point. She’d have to get Josie by no later than five. She should reach out and let them know what was going on.

She started to call, but a doctor came in and she stood up. “Dr. Keegan?”

“That’s me. Is Colleen going to be okay?”

“She was hit head-on while crossing the street. She’s suffered significant damage to her upper body and head.”

Avery was sobbing now and felt the need to vomit. “What are you telling me?”

“We are doing everything we can for her, but it’s not looking good. You’re her emergency contact. Do you know if she has a living will and who is authorized to make decisions on her behalf?”

This couldn’t be happening right now. “Her family doesn’t live around here. Her mother is out west and her sister too. She’s not close with them. She hasn’t talked to her father in more years than I can remember.” She was fumbling with her phone and trying to scroll the contacts. “We have the same attorney. Let me see if I can find out.”

“Please do,” the doctor said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She got through to her attorney’s office, talked to the lawyer she and Colleen both had and was informed that not only was Avery the power of attorney, but she was also Josie’s guardian should something happen to Colleen.

She’d had no idea. It was not something she ever thought of. Or talked about with Colleen. Not that she’d ever say no, but she never thought of those things or wanted to consider them happening.

The doctor returned ten minutes later. “It’s me,” she told the doctor. “I’m the power of attorney. We can get copies here if you need to see them.”

Nothing she wanted to have or even think of. 

She was used to making life and death suggestions with animals, not people.

But she listened to what was said and what the options were. There were none that were good.

“Do whatever you can to save her. It’s what she’d want,” she finally said.

“You understand the chances are slim,” the doctor said.

“It sounds like if you don’t do anything she’s not going to make it either, correct?”

The doctor nodded. That was all she needed to know.

At four o’clock she ran out to get Josie and bring her to her mother’s house. The last thing she was telling her best friend’s daughter was that her mother might not live and only said her mother was held up doing something.

It was probably a horrible lie, but she could barely think of the directions to the daycare she’d been to multiple times let alone how to handle this right now. She even had to lie about why she looked like she was crying and said it was a sad day at work. 

At eight that night, Avery was walking into her mother’s house. Her face must have said it all. “She didn’t make it, did she?” her mother asked.

She went into her mother’s arms. “No. What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to do what Colleen wanted you to.”

She was sobbing and nodding her head at the same time. “What will I tell Josie?”

“We’ll figure it out,” her mother said. “She’s in the guest room watching TV. Let’s get you something to eat first and talk.”

“I can’t eat anything. I need to tell her now.”

“Then we’ll do it together, sweetie. You’re a strong tough woman and you’ve got support and you need to learn to take it. We’ll get through this.”

Avery wasn’t so sure she would or she could, but for Colleen, she’d give it everything she had.