the scented breeze.
Anna had looked up at him, surprise registering in her beautiful amber eyes, and Liam had almost lost his nerve.
If only he had.
Watching Anna’s initial surprise change to confusion and then anger was a memory permanently etched in Liam’s brain.
It must have become etched in Anna’s, too, because ten years later, she still wouldn’t look him in the eye.
But how could he blame her?
If Anna’s vehement denial that Ross had mistreated her wasn’t enough to convince Liam he’d been wrong, the grief shadowing Anna’s eyes when she’d returned to Castle Falls confirmed it.
Ross may have had a personal ax to grind against Liam for being an “outsider,” but he was also the town’s beloved star quarterback. The guy who sat on the back of the mayor’s vintage convertible and tossed Tootsie Rolls to the little kids at every parade. The guy with the perfect smile from the perfect family who’d swept Anna off her feet and carried her away into the perfect future.
The guy Liam had called abusive.
The crackle of a microphone drew everyone’s attention to the makeshift stage that shelter volunteers had set up on the lawn and Anna smiled up at Liam as he released her.
“I should get back to the bake sale, Aiden.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Oops. I mean Dash. You have to maintain your cover, don’t you?”
Liam sucked in a quiet breath behind his mask.
Apparently he did.
Because Anna assumed she’d been dancing with his brother.
Well, that explained a lot. Like Anna’s whimsical little curtsy. Her willingness to step into his arms.
Her smile.
For a split second, when Anna had taken his hand, Liam thought that maybe she’d decided to put the past behind them. That maybe...just maybe...she’d forgiven him for crossing a line and, in the process, ruining what should have been one of the most special nights of her life.
Something Ross had taken issue with when he’d tracked Liam down after the dance and delivered a warning of his own—a warning accompanied by a few well-placed punches—to stay away from Anna in the future.
But Liam had had to live with the knowledge that he’d made a much more costly mistake than interfering in Anna’s life that night.
By letting the shadow of the past cloud his perspective, he was the one who’d hurt her.
“Please say you saved one of Mrs. Callahan’s peanut butter fudge brownies for me.”
Lily landed in front of the bake-sale table, a desperate look in her violet eyes.
“Sorry. I can’t.” Anna tried not to smile as she reached down and retrieved a foil-covered plate from the cooler near her feet. “Because I saved two for you.”
“See? This is why we’re friends.” Lily released a contented sigh. “You know all my deepest, darkest secrets. My weakness for chocolate in any form. My hostility toward day planners.”
If those were Lily’s deepest, darkest secrets, she truly was a woman blessed.
“And don’t forget your absolute devotion to your brilliant, good-looking husband.” Brendan Kane came up behind Lily and looped his arm around her shoulders.
“There is that.” Lily grinned up at her husband and the look that passed between them raised the temperature in the air a few more degrees.
Anna ignored a pinch of envy.
A few weeks ago she and the twins had watched the couple exchange vows in a beautiful ceremony on the riverbank near Sunni’s home with all their friends and family in attendance. A ceremony so different from Anna’s wedding day.
She and Ross had been married in front of a justice of the peace in a stuffy room devoid of decoration—unless a person counted the black-and-white portraits of dour-faced judges that lined the walls. Their only witnesses were a bailiff and the harried-looking secretary whose lunch they’d interrupted.
Anna shook away the memory.
It wasn’t like Ross had kidnapped her and forced her into eloping with him. Anna had been so eager to start their life together that nothing else seemed to matter at the time. Not flowers or a fancy wedding gown or even whose names had been added to theirs on the marriage certificate after the judge pronounced them husband and wife.
“It’s time to announce the winners of the silent auction!” Sunni had returned to the stage, waving a piece of paper in the air like a victory banner.
“Come on, Bren. Let’s see if we won that Month of Sundaes from The Happy Cow.” Lily winked at Anna as she grabbed her husband’s hand and led him away.
Anna shook the crumbs from the tablecloth and folded it up as the microphone picked up Sunni’s lilting voice and funneled it through the speakers.
“Our first item...a two-night stay at the bed-and-breakfast...goes to Pastor Seth Tamblin.”
Rebecca Tamblin’s shriek of delight was a clue she hadn’t seen her husband bid on the romantic getaway.
Sunni waited for the applause to subside before she continued down the list. As she called out the names of the winners and the prizes they’d won, Anna was impressed at how many businesses had contributed something to the cause.
“Now, for our final item on the auction block today.” If possible, Sunni’s smile grew even wider. “A half-day guided canoe trip that includes sunshine, calm water, and a gourmet meal cooked over an open fire. And it goes to—” her gaze swept over the crowd, searching for the lucky winner “Anna Leighton! Come up and claim your prize!”
Her prize.
But...how?
Anna hadn’t bid on anything.
The crowd had already started to disperse by the time she reached the stage.
“Sunni? Do you mind if I take a look at that bid sheet?”
“Of course not.” The woman hopped down from the platform with the ease of someone half her age and handed Anna the piece of paper.
Sure enough, there was her name. In someone else’s handwriting. Just as Anna had expected. A forgery.
“Is something wrong?” Sunni’s brow knit with concern.
“I didn’t bid on the canoe trip.” Anna looked around for her daughters. Her adorable, precocious, exasperating daughters.
“But I’m pretty sure I know who did.”
And they were
