Six Months Later

THE KNOCK on my door startled me. I pulled my gaze away from my computer monitor and blinked a few times. My eyes were sore from staring at bouquet options, and it took a moment for them to readjust.

I cleared my throat as I pushed away from my desk and called out, “Come in.”

The door burst open, and standing in the entryway was Sara, the new intern my boss had hired. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks pink. She was huffing like she’d just run a marathon and was trying to catch her breath.

I quirked an eyebrow. “Everything okay?” I asked.

She doubled over, clutching her ribs and took a few big, deep breaths. Concern filled my chest as I stood and moved to cross the room. Before

I reached her, she lifted her finger to stop me. “It’s…okay…” she said between breaths. “Phone call…line one.”

I glanced back to the phone on my desk where the “line 1” light was blinking, before bringing my attention back to her. Whoever was on the other line could wait. “But are you okay?” I asked, dipping down so I could catch her gaze.

Sara whipped up, surprising me enough to step back. Her whole face was bright red now from the blood that must have rushed to her head. She smiled and shrugged. “I got Patricia’s coffee order wrong, and I had to race

back to the coffee shop before she noticed.” Sara’s breathing had steadied, and her normally cheerful demeanor was back.

I nodded, contemplating for a moment if I should tell her that she was trying too hard to make our boss like her. But I pinched my lips shut. I’d just been promoted to assistant project manager, and there was no way I wanted to go back to a reception job. Not when I’d gotten this far.

The wedding industry was cutthroat, and if I wanted to own my own wedding planning business someday, I needed to keep climbing. Sara was sweet, but I knew if roles were reversed, she’d do the same with me.

“Well, keep hydrated,” I said as I rested my hand on my lower back and pressed, stretching out the tension that had taken up residence there. We were in the middle of planning a wedding for some billionaire, and there’d been way too many late nights.

Sara nodded. “I will.” Then she wiggled her finger in the direction of the phone. “Make sure you get that.”

“Yes, ma’am.” My southern drawl slipped out. My cheeks hinted pink as I pinched my lips together. I’d gone to great lengths to keep my background hidden. My past was dead. The last thing I needed was for anyone to know where I’d come from.

I was determined to reinvent myself here, and lugging my past around with me like a ball and chain wasn’t going to help. To everyone here, I was Shelby Sorenson, the wedding planner to watch.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she said.

I nodded as I rounded my desk and picked up the receiver. Not sure who it was, I waited until Sara left, shutting the door behind her, before I brought it to my ear.

“Hello?” a deep, soothing voice asked.

I paused and blinked. That sounded like Miles. Which was strange. I hadn’t spoken to him or seen him since Gran’s funeral. Why was he calling me now?

“Miles?”

Silence. “Shelby?”

I grabbed my chair’s armrest and pulled it over so I could sit down. My back was straight as I sat there, waiting to hear why he’d purposely disobeyed my request to be left alone. “Yeah, you called me.”

“Right. Sorry.”

I sighed as I collapsed against the back of my chair. “What do you want?”

He cleared his throat. “Listen, I know you didn’t want me to contact you.”

“Yes,” I said, probably a bit too quickly.

He paused. “But there’s no way around this.”

I hated how hesitant he sounded. I’d grown up with the kid. He was beating around the bush, and there was only one reason for that. He wanted to ask me to do something he knew I had no interest in doing.

“What do you need from me?” I bent the corner of my desktop calendar and then flattened it, pressing my nail along the crease.

“Tom said there’s no way I can do this without you.” “Do what?” I furrowed my brow. “And who’s Tom?”

Miles cleared his throat. “Tom’s the lawyer that is helping me with Gran’s will.”

I swallowed, stress rising in my throat and forming a ball. “Will?” “Yeah.” He sighed. “You need to come back to Harmony Island.”

I shook my head. “I’m not coming back. I told you at the funeral. I’m done.”

“I know you said that, but…” His voice trailed off.

I glanced down at the receiver. Had we been cut off? “Miles?” I asked, praying that he was still on the line. The last thing I needed was to have to call him and go through this once more.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“But what?” I was desperate for this conversation to end. “If you don’t come back, the state will seize the property.”

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. There was a part of me that wanted to say, “Good, let them take that godforsaken place.” But the other part of me, the part that could feel my grandmother’s disappointment from the grave, screamed louder. I may hate the fact that I shared a past with that woman, but it didn’t overshadow the fact that losing her inn to people who wouldn’t respect it was the last thing she would want to happen.

Plus, I didn’t want her haunting me from the grave.

“I promise if you come here, I’ll stay out of your way.” Miles’s tone had turned deeper. “I heard Missy is looking to get funds to buy it as soon as it goes up for auction.”

My heart stopped entirely. The room around me turned hazy. I could hear my heart pound in my ears.

Missy.

I hadn’t heard that name in years. The last time someone uttered it in my presence was when I was stuffing my luggage into a taxi, the night I left Harmony Island for good.

She was the mother of the man who broke my heart ten years ago. “Missy?” I squeaked out.

Miles was quiet. I knew he was quite aware of what that name would do to me. He’d lived it with me. Miles was part of the reason I was such a wreck.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

I pressed my fingers to my temple and kneaded the pressure that had built up there. I didn’t want to go back. Who knew what my grandmother had put in her will. The last thing I wanted was to stay there longer than I needed.

Regardless, with all those fears coursing through my body, there was one specific fear that rose to the top. The one that had my head aching and my heart pounding. It was the fear that Clint Hodges’s mother would buy the inn my family owned.

“How long will this take?” I whispered, keeping my eyes closed. “Tom plans to read it on Monday.”

“Monday?” At least I’d have the weekend to prep. “Yeah.”

I sighed as I slowly opened my eyes. “You’ll stay out of my way?” Silence. “If that’s what you want.”

Tears pricked my eyes. I hated that this was our relationship now. We’d been friends once. And then his actions drove the man I loved away from me. Now, Miles and I were just…nothing. I tried not to think about Miles, Clint, and Harmony Island. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite run far away enough from them.

“Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll be there for the reading.” He let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you.”

I nodded but then felt stupid. He couldn’t see me. “I’m just ready to get this over with,” I said, swallowing hard on the emotions that had lodged themselves in my throat.

“I know,” he said, his voice deepening. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

I didn’t say goodbye; I just pressed the hang-up button and returned the phone to the base. Then I leaned back in my chair, tipped my face toward the ceiling, and closed my eyes.

So many emotions were rushing through me, a tear slipped down my cheek. I needed a moment to compose myself before I got back to work.

Beep

I startled and stared at my intercom. The notification came again. I quickly wiped the tear away and pulled my receiver off the base, cradling it between my cheek and shoulder. “Yeah?” I asked.

“Patricia needs you in her office,” Sara said, this time, her cadence was calm. She must be sitting at her desk, waiting for the next errand Patricia would send her on.

“Right now?” I asked, wiping my cheeks once more. If Patricia saw my tear-stained face she’d ask what the issue was. The last thing I needed was for her to think I couldn’t handle this job.

Especially since I needed to ask for some time off. “Yep,” she said, emphasizing the p.

“I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone, grabbed my suit jacket, and slipped it on as I pushed through the door and out to the lobby. I tapped my toe on the hard marble floor as I waited for the elevator doors to open.

I boarded, grateful the elevator was empty. I crossed my arms and watched the numbers climb up slowly. When the car reached the tenth floor, it stopped and the doors slid open.

Michelle, Patricia’s assistant, was sitting at her desk. The sound of fake fingernails typing on a keyboard filled the air. I gave her a quick nod and then pointed toward Patricia’s closed door. “She wanted me?” I asked as I headed toward her office.

Michelle didn’t look up as she nodded and reached over to her intercom. “Shelby’s here to see you,” she said before returning to her computer.

“Send her in,” Patricia’s voice came through the speaker.

I didn’t wait for Michelle’s instructions as I pushed the doors open and entered.

Patricia was sitting at her desk. Her inky black hair was pulled up into a severe ponytail. Her soft, ivory skin was taut, and her red lips contrasted against her appearance.

She flicked her gaze over at me before returning to her computer screen. “Have a seat,” she said.

Something about the tone of her voice and the way she refused to look directly at me always threw me off. I felt like I was a little kid again, sitting outside of the principal’s office, waiting to see if I was in trouble.

I hated that she didn’t make me feel calm when that was all I needed right now.

“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered, my southern drawl slipping again from my lips. My cheeks flushed as Patricia’s gaze flicked at me. I prayed she hadn’t heard and settled down on the chair across from her desk.

The sound of typing filled the air as Patricia finished her business. This wasn’t uncommon for her. She would always invite you into her office but then make you wait.

You were left wondering what the meeting was going to be about. And sweating buckets while the worst possibilities flooded your mind.

I sat there with my hands on my thighs, tapping my fingers. I glanced around with the strange hope that there might be something on the walls, her bookshelves, or her desk that could tell me why I was here.

Thankfully, the clicking of her keyboard stopped, and she turned to face me before my entire body went numb from anxiety.

“Shelby.”

“Y-yes?” I pinched my lips shut for a moment before I cleared my throat and repeated, “Yes.”

Patricia studied me. Her expression was unreadable. “How long have you been with me?”

I shrugged. “Two—er, three years.” Why was she asking this? I wasn’t due for a job evaluation anytime soon.

“Right.” Patricia tapped her fingers on her desk. “Unfortunately, I have to let you go.”

My entire body froze. “Um, what?”

She pinched her lips together and then relaxed them as she shrugged. “I just don’t think that this is working between us.”

I blinked as my brain tried to process what she was saying. “It’s not working?”

She nodded. “Yes. It’s time to call it quits.”

“Why?” tumbled out of my lips before I could stop it.

Patricia blinked as she pulled back a bit. As if my outburst startled her. “Let’s not make a scene.”

Anger. Frustration. Rage. Emotions were rising up inside of me, and I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted a hole in the ground to open up and swallow me. This wasn’t what I needed right now. Not after my phone call with Miles and my impending trip back down memory lane.

I needed this job. I needed to have something to come back to when I was in the hellhole that was my past.

Coming back to no job and unpaid bills was not going to ease anything I was going to face in the immediate future.

“It’s just time for you to move on. I hope you can respect my decision and leave with grace.” She reached out and grabbed her readers next to her computer and slipped them on. Then she turned back to the computer and began typing.

I sat there, trying to force myself to stand. Trying to force my muscles to move. I needed to thank her, walk out of the room, and pack up my desk with grace. But I was stuck in quicksand as the stress of what she said consumed me. The decision had already been made, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. It was the night I was rushed to the emergency room all over again.

The absence of a heartbeat as the nurse desperately tried to find it as she ran the wand across my stomach.

The pain.

The loneliness.

The sound of Patricia’s intercom ringing snapped me out of my thoughts as she leaned forward and said, “Michelle, call security. We may have an issue.”

I blinked a few times to pull myself from my stupor. Even though my ears were ringing, I forced myself to push my memories from my mind and focus. “No, it’s fine. I’m leaving,” I rasped as I stood and crossed the room. Even though all of my southern upbringing told me to turn around and thank her, I ignored it. Instead, I pushed open the door and headed out into the lobby, where I felt Michelle’s stare on my back as I waited for the

elevator.

I needed to get out of there. I needed to breathe.

When the doors slid open, I kept to the corner as I pressed the button and waited for the doors to close and silence to engulf me. I hunched forward, taking deep breaths as I tried to calm the pounding of my heart.

Once I was back on my level, I hurried over to my office and shut the door. I didn’t have much, so I just shoved my belongings into my purse. I logged out of my programs and then powered off my computer.

“You got fired?” Sara’s voice pierced through the silence.

I glanced up at her and then nodded and focused on clearing out my desk drawer.

“Why?”

I shrugged, hating that she was asking me these questions. My emotions were about to boil over, and the last thing I needed was for anyone at this company to see the pain I was in. “I don’t know.” I sighed as I paused and looked around. “And I don’t care. It’s about time I went out on my own, anyway. I’ve done enough to realize that I can do this for myself.”

I pursed my lips. “I mean, I probably won’t.” I shrugged. “But it’s nice to know that I have it to fall back on.” I pulled my purse strap up onto my shoulder and gave her a smile. “For now, I’m going to head to my hometown to finish up my grandmother’s estate, and then I’ll see where life takes me after that.”

Sara jutted out her bottom lip. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

I rounded my desk and stood a foot away from her. I gave her an encouraging smile even though I was dying inside. “I’ll be fine.” I patted her shoulder. “I’ll be great.” Then I lowered my gaze to catch hers. “Just make sure that you leave before she changes you. You deserve better.”

Sara met my gaze and then nodded. “Okay. I will.” “Promise?”

“Promise.”

I patted her shoulder once more and then stepped around her and over to my office door. Once I was in the lobby, my shoes echoed on the floor as I made my way over to the elevator and pressed the button.

The sun hit me as I walked out of the building, the wind whipping around me. I took in a deep breath as I turned to stare up at the glistening office windows above me.

Then I took another deep breath, crossed the courtyard, and climbed into a waiting taxi.

I looked out the window as the driver pulled away from the sidewalk. I kept my gaze focused on the buildings and the pedestrians that passed by us as we drove.

Back in my apartment, I tossed my purse down on my frayed and faded couch and then hurried over to my bathroom where I flipped on the shower.

I needed to wash this day off of me. I needed the feeling of hot water beating down onto my back to clear my mind.

For now, I needed to focus on getting to Harmony and dealing with Gran’s inn.

After that, I could freak out.