Where the Heart May Lead: A Clean Romance (Harlequin LP Heartwarming)

by Elizabeth Mowers

  “Why is Paige texting you now?” Charlie asked, his mind unable to shift gears to polite table conversation. Lucy’s head popped up from squirting ketchup.

  “Did Paige text you, Mom? You said I could talk to her.”

  “You did?” At Charlie’s words, Mara looked to Peter again.

  “Of course. She’s family,” Peter stated.

  “Family,” he said, pushing his chair away from the table.

  Mara tipped her head in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” he said, huffing his way out of the house. As much as he hated speaking to his family like that, he couldn’t find a way to settle his frustration. He strode to the edge of the lawn, not sure if he wanted to drive home or to his plane or somewhere far away. He stood in the middle of the road, contemplating his options, when he realized he’d been followed. “I needed a minute,” he said in a grumble.

  “You’ve been taking quite a few minutes the last year.” Tully crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Counting, huh?”

  Tully shrugged. “Only because it’s out of character for you.”

  “I didn’t know Mara was in contact with Paige or why it’s been a big secret.”

  “Judging by how you just reacted...”

  “You think she was right to keep it from me?” Charlie spun around to stare his friend in the eye. Tully studied him, his face giving away nothing.

  “I think you’re mad at someone, and it isn’t Mara.”

  Charlie snorted. “I forgot you’re the expert, Detective.”

  “Nah,” Tully said. “But I am your best friend. I can see you miss her.”

  “I’m trying not to.”

  “How’s that going?”

  Charlie ran a hand down the length of his face. “I’m going to need another minute.”

  “Do you think she intentionally did anything to hurt Lucy?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Do you think she was trying to be deceitful? Trying to scam you or use you? I’ve got to tell you, Charlie, I’ve met plenty of liars and cheaters in my line of work, and at worst, I think she had just gotten in over her head when she met you.”

  “At first, when she confessed who she was, I thought she was using me to get to Lucy. But whenever I let myself replay our time together, replay the times where I felt a real connection—”

  “What?”

  “I find myself thinking I made a terrible mistake not fighting for her to stay. Sure, she had to go back to Ohio to nurse her uncle until he died, but now...”

  “But now what?”

  “How can I get over what we had? How can she?”

  Mara stuck her head out the front door. “Can you two wrap it up? The burgers are getting cold!”

  “What am I going to do?” Charlie said, heading back toward the house.

  “I don’t know,” Tully said, punching him on the shoulder. “But I’ll have fun watching you figure it out.”

  * * *

  PAIGE SUCKED IN A breath of early summer air, letting it fill her lungs and populate every cell of her body. It was a good day to be young, to be alive, to be free. She coasted her bicycle along the concrete before pulling to a stop in front of the coffee shop.

  “Hey, darlin’,” Polly called, waving a pretzel rod at her. Paige locked her bike and went over to her friend.

  “Isn’t the benefit of pretzel rods that you don’t have to come outside to smoke them?”

  Polly grinned and pretended to take a puff.

  “When the weather is like this, I still like to come out for a quick smoke break. My hands and body have a muscle memory I can’t seem to shake.”

  “Mind if I join you?” Paige accepted a pretzel rod from Polly’s bag. She looked out over the shops of her hometown, but all she could see was Roseley. It had been a year since she’d left Charlie and Lucy, but every day, she still longed to be back with them. Things here in Ohio had lost their appeal. And she couldn’t help remembering how quickly folks in Roseley had befriended her. They’d had a way of embracing her, welcoming her into the community. And then there was Charlie. How could anyone here ever replace him?

  Paige bit off a piece of pretzel. She wondered if she had her own muscle memory from her brief stint in Roseley, yearning to hold Charlie once again. But because her time spent there had been so brief, she reminded herself that muscle memory wasn’t the same as deep longing.

  “Coming in for coffee?”

  “Not today. I’m meeting Joan.”

  Polly paused, following Paige’s line of sight to the Mama’s Cakes shop. “Hmm. It’s about that time of year. Should I wish you a happy birthday today or tomorrow?”

  “Actually, my birthday is in October.”

  “October?” Polly said with a scowl. “I always thought June. Madge was just telling me about the masterpiece she’s been working on for the last two days.”

  “October,” Paige said with a satisfied sigh. She could tell people things like that now. She could stand on the curb and carry on a conversation with a woman she had always wanted to befriend. She could now be more than an acquaintance to whomever she chose because there wasn’t anything to hide from now, except, perhaps, a broken heart still trying to heal.

  “I’m glad to see you out and about, kiddo,” Polly said. “I’m glad to hear your aunt is too. If you change your mind about coffee, pop on in. Your usual table in the window is open.”

  Paige thought about Roseley. She wanted a usual table in Angelo’s sandwich shop. Wouldn’t it be lovely to sit and write in the window there, the place where she’d first shared lunch with Charlie? Although she’d probably never get any work done with CeCe stopping by every few minutes to dig into her social life.

  She chuckled at the thought as Aunt Joan came hustling up the sidewalk.

  “I made record time,” she said, wiping sweat from her brow. “But, boy, am I out of shape. You’d think hustling around the hospital would have kept me more fit. Retirement might be the death of me.”

  “Are you ready?”

  Joan nodded. “Should we call from here or inside?”

  “I said I’d call right at four o’clock. Let’s stand out here and do it. Having to get a table and explain to Madge will take too much time and—”

  “Do it.”

  Paige dialed Mara and put the call on speakerphone. She hoped Lucy would answer, but it was Mara’s chipper voice that greeted them.

  “Hello, Paige and Joan! Is that you?”

  “It’s us,” Paige said, as she and her aunt huddled at the phone.

  “Where on earth are you? It sounds windy.”

  “Is it?” Paige squinted at her aunt, who pantomimed a look of confusion. Though they were outside, there was hardly a baby’s breath of a breeze. “We can go inside if that helps.”

  “Are you at home?”

  “No. Grabbing a cake for the big day.”

  “Are you at a cake shop nearby?”

  “It’s a ceremony of sorts. This year is even more important since we get to talk to the birthday girl while we eat her birthday cake.” Joan’s smile stretched wider in anticipation as she hurried Paige through the front door of Mama’s Cakes. She held up a hand to stop Madge from interrupting as they slid next to each other in a small booth. Paige held the phone between them like a precious stone.

  “Is she there?” Joan asked, her voice shaky as her hand clutched Paige’s arm. There was a slight pause.

  “I’m so sorry,” Mara said. “I know we said four o’clock, but Lucy isn’t here right now.”

  They stared at the phone as if the device itself had crushed their spirits, coldly, unapologetically.

  “Is everything okay? Are you and Peter having second thoughts about us talking to her?”

  “No, of course not,” Mara said. “She’s very
excited to talk to the both of you. She just isn’t here right now.”

  Paige wrapped an arm around her aunt. “We can call back when it’s more convenient—”

  “No, no. Don’t call back. I’m not exactly sure when she’ll, uh...”

  Paige strained to hear. She thought she could hear Mara whispering to someone in the background. Was it Peter? Did he have second thoughts about them fostering a relationship with Lucy? Did Mara not know how to tell them? Was it Lucy having reservations?

  As Mara began to piece together a long, unintelligible excuse, a sinking thought crept into Paige’s mind. What if Charlie didn’t want them to talk? She’d hurt him so deeply after he’d already been hurt by Crystal. She had yet to forgive herself the past year for wounding him when all she’d wanted to do was love him. If she couldn’t forgive herself, how could he?

  “It’s okay, Mara,” Paige said softly. “You don’t need to explain anything to us. If Lucy wants to call, she can.”

  “You’re still going to get cake, aren’t you? Please tell me you’re getting cake.”

  “We sure are,” Joan said, piping up in her usual toughened spirit. Paige could count on her to not let them wallow.

  “I’m glad. Enjoy your cake, and we’ll touch base soon.”

  With that, the line went dead. Paige placed the phone on the table, each of them staring at it instead of each other. After several silent minutes, Madge shuffled to the table.

  “Did you want to see it?” Madge asked.

  “Hmm?” Paige said, finally lifting her watery eyes.

  “The cake. Do you want to eat it here?”

  “No,” Paige muttered. “Pack it up. I don’t want to eat any—”

  “Nonsense!” Joan said, clasping her hand. “We’ll eat it here. This is the day we eat the cake. We buy the cake and we eat the cake and we savor each bite of expensive cake because it’s how we take time to appreciate what we have. Heaven knows Craig would. We’re eating two or three fat slices of whatever you baked up for us, Madge. Bring out the cake!”

  Paige began to laugh hard through her tears as Joan slapped the table and began a hearty laugh of her own. Madge brought the cake over on an opaque pearl platter.

  They stared at the white-and-blush-pink-swirl cake, topped with white dollops of buttercream frosting and freshly sliced strawberries. It was impossible to not think about Uncle Craig at a moment like this.

  “You know what Craig would do, don’t you?”

  Paige began to laugh harder. “He’d pick off the biggest strawberry and pop it into his mouth before we had a chance to stop him.”

  “That man!” Joan chuckled, the cake cutter shaking in her hand. “Who needs plates? Let’s just dig in!”

  It was the bell jingling over the front door that made Paige look up, fork poised. As if an apparition in a dream, a fresh-faced angel came bounding toward them.

  “Lucy!” she cried, scrambling out of the booth just in time to catch Lucy in a full hug. “What on earth!”

  “Surprise!” Lucy squealed, smiling so hard her pink cheeks rounded like the cake’s strawberries.

  “How did you find us?”

  “Dad was searching for cake shops online while Mom talked to you. We all thought you’d be home, but you threw us for a loop!”

  “This is Lucy?” Joan said, clutching her hands to her chest. She bent down to peer into her niece’s eyes. “You’re the spitting image of your mother, except for that mass of gorgeous dark hair.”

  “This is your aunt, Joan.” Paige introduced her only two living relatives so they could meet for the first time. Lucy shook hands and said hello before smirking at Paige.

  “You should go outside,” Lucy told her, pointing at the door.

  “Your parents?” Paige guessed. She looked, already knowing in her heart, or was she merely hoping for, the person waiting on the other side. She rushed over. Standing next to her bicycle, running his hand over the handlebars—

  She threw open the door and all but leaped outside. Her voice caught. “Charlie.”

  “I had to see you right away.” He moved toward her with an urgency that made her stomach turn somersaults.

  “Thorne?”

  He shook his head. “Gosh, no. Ever since he came looking for Lucy last year, the FBI has been investigating him, so you never have to think of him again. I’m so sorry if my tone worried you. That’s not what I—” He chuckled awkwardly in a way she’d never seen him do before. Despite her confusion, she smiled as the sound of his laugh crackled throughout every inch of her body. “I planned what to say on the trip here, but looking at you, I can’t remember where to begin.”

  “Charlie, I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” he said, pulling her into the shade of the awning. As he did, the warmth of his hand spurred her on. Once she began, she could no longer hold back the tide.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. I fell in love with you the first moment we met—I’m sure of it. I had never let anyone get close to me, but from the moment you spoke and smiled at me...oh, Charlie, I was yours. I didn’t want to use you or hurt you or lie to you or do any of the other things I did. All I wanted to do was love with you, and I ruined it all for us.”

  He moved with confidence, closing the short distance between them. “Ah, hey, you’re stealing my apology right out from under me.” He cupped her cheek as his face fell, serious. “I thought I was angry with you when all this time I was angry at myself for letting you slip away. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you lost your uncle.”

  “I had Joan.”

  “I’m grateful for that, but I should have been here. I should have held you in my arms the entire time.” She nestled her face harder against his palm as he continued. “I’m in love with you, Paige, and I’m sorry if I let too much time—”

  Before he could finish, she drew his lips to hers in a long, slow kiss that made the passersby stop and smile.

  With Joan and Lucy at the doorway, he whispered, “Will you marry me?” He slipped a ring on her finger. “Lucy helped me pick it.”

  “Are you real?” she whispered, tracing the crinkle lines around his eyes as he smiled at her. Several beats passed and she nodded, admiring her new ring in the sunlight. “I guess this means I’m moving to Roseley.”

  When she found Joan’s eyes, there was nothing residing in them but happiness.

  “Mind if I tag along?” Her aunt was beaming.

  “Really?” Paige said, turning to her aunt. “Will you come with me?”

  “There’s nothing left for me here. My best friend is gone and—” she hugged Lucy to her side “—all my family will be in Roseley. It’s as good a place as any to start again.”

  “You’ll love it there,” Paige said, holding Charlie like she’d never let him go. “I love it there.”

  Charlie kissed the freckles on the bridge of her nose.

  “Then you’ll marry me, Freckles?”

  She pecked a kiss to his lips. “Easy peasy.”

  * * *

  For more great romances from Elizabeth Mowers and Harlequin Heartwarming, visit www.Harlequin.com today!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A Home for the Firefighter by Amie Denman.

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  A Home for the Firefighter

  by Amie Denman

  CHAPTER ONE

  BRADY ADAMS DUCKED as a personal watercraft did a swift turn just seconds before it would have hit the fireboat. He caught a glimpse of his friend Charlie Zimmerman at the controls of the personal watercraft and knew a huge wave was coming. The fire chief, who was standing next to Brady, didn’t
duck, and a cold bath of ocean water meant for Brady hit Chief Tony Ruggles right in the face.

  “I could have him arrested for being a public menace,” Brady suggested as the chief used both hands to sluice water off his face. “We could make an example out of him as a cautionary tale for all the tourists.”

  The chief laughed. “I think that’s Charlie’s motto. If you can’t be a good example to others, at least be a horrible warning.”

  The personal watercraft slowed and came alongside, and Brady noticed the contrite expression on Charlie’s face. Dousing the chief with salt water had probably not been the plan.

  “Just trying to make it more realistic,” Charlie yelled. “The ocean’s never this calm and peaceful when we get called out.”

  Tony shot him a caustic glare. “The new guys on the department don’t have much experience with ocean rescue, so when you’re bobbing around out there maybe they’ll find you before the fish eat you.”

  Brady smothered a smile and grabbed the line Charlie threw him. He tied the personal watercraft to the side of the fireboat and turned off the diesel engines. He remembered his first time going out on the fireboat and practicing rescue techniques offshore. He glanced at the sparkling white beaches of Cape Pursuit. The tourist town with its huge influx of summer visitors kept the fire department busy but also challenged them to prepare for any emergency on land or water.

  “Twenty feet,” Brady said, looking at the depth finder on the dashboard of the rescue boat. “Think that’s too deep?”

  “We’re staying on top of the water today,” Chief Ruggles said. He grinned as Charlie climbed over the side of the deep-hulled fireboat. “Being optimistic.”

  The new members of the department who accompanied them this afternoon had completed some water training in a pool and then in an inland lake, but being on the ocean with waves and salt water was different and more difficult. Brady tossed out the anchor and put on his baseball cap with the logo of the Cape Pursuit Fire Department embroidered on the front. The sun was already hot even though it was only the middle of May.