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Chapter One

Laura Baugh rain What the hell was she doing? Oh, right, she was taking her life back Which hy she was standing in front of her father’s horown up in and hadn’t been back to in ten years

A raindrop hit her nose, and she could alasped, because it was a shock She hadn’t seen a lot of rain in the past ten years in California Hell, being desert-bound for a decade, she’d alotten ater looked like

“Are you okay?” her friend Hannah’s voice booh her cell phone

“Yes, I’m fine,” Laura said and wiped her nose “JustI think it’s starting to rain”

“Yeah, that’ll happen It’s fricking Oregon”

Laura balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear and continued to stare down her childhood This was the shop her father and mother had started before she was even born The shop that was supposed to be a part of her futurebefore she’d run away

“Yes, I’on,” Laura said defensively It had been a long time, but she could still remember how a storm sounded when the clouds rolled above the ocean waves and surrounded the cute coastal toith a rumble of thunder It had always calmed her Not scared her Because her mother loved the rain Had loved it

“Notto look several blocks down Main Street The saht-colored shops still lined the cobblestone sidewalk, and the yellow lalowed softly Her father’s shop—its own structure with an acre surrounding it—was at the end of the street Noasn’t the tih She had to find her dad, who should be here—yet there was no sign of life

“A lot ed than you know,” Hannah said Laura could hear people talking in the background and glasses clinking “You co by my bar later? Say hi to your best friend properly?”

“Of course,” Laura said She and Hannah had grown up together and stayed in touch She really was her best friend and, honestly, the only person she’d confided in about the past and the struggle that came with it

Soa one to die Yep, she had had a lot of things, and then she’d lost them

Laura tugged on her ring finger Her left ring finger The finger that had had a ring on it but was now bare Even though it’d been a year since she’d filed for divorce, there was sixbeforehand It had taken only a feeeks for the ink to dry before she packed her few possessions in her car And still she tugged that saood-bye to her ex-husband a long tio In her heart and in her life It had been a brutal year, but she was finally healing Over him Over thee told, convinced, that she was nothingwas hers Not theIt was all his and he’d taken it, and she was happy to be rid of him Because she still had her spine and her ambition And she’d lost herself there for a while, but she was ready to take back her life for herself And clai her family shop was the first step

Another drop of rain hit her nose, and she shifted in her four-inch pu lot was riddled with chunky old asphalt, and she struggled to find a flat surface

“Lot of cute guys in here tonight,” Hannah said

“The man I’m interested in is Waylon Wells”