as they shook hands. “Oh, my goodness, you’re Cliff Harding!”
“That’s what I just said,” Charlotte murmured.
“He has Grace’s credit card.”
Actually Cliff saw Grace as the one who had his VISA card. “You know Grace Sherman?”
Olivia nodded. “We’ve been friends for years. She was planning to return your call this evening.”
Charlotte glanced helplessly from one to the other, as if she’d somehow missed hearing the punch line to a good joke.
As best he could, Cliff explained the situation.
“You’d better take care of that right away,” Charlotte advised. “Personally, I don’t use credit cards. It’s like carrying Monopoly money.”
“I’d hoped to get my own card back,” Cliff said. “Do you think I could drop in on Grace?”
“She works at the library,” Charlotte told him. “You could leave your truck parked here and walk over there. It’s only a few blocks away and I don’t expect we’re going to have many more of these sunshiny afternoons.”
“I think you should meet Grace,” Olivia encouraged. She shifted her gaze from him, and Cliff wondered if he was missing something.
“Oh, yes,” Charlotte agreed. “Olivia’s right, you should meet Grace. She could use a male friend after what Dan did to her.”
“Dan,” Olivia added quickly, “is her husband, cor¬ rection…was her husband. He disappeared earlier in the year.”
The two women became engaged in a discussion about Dan’s whereabouts and their own suspicion—that he’d left Grace and run away with another woman.
“Grace filed for divorce last Monday,” Olivia told him.
The same day as the credit card mishap. No wonder she’d seemed distracted and preoccupied. No wonder she’d been alone. Although Cliff would’ve noticed her if she’d been in the middle of a crowd.
Grace Sherman was like…like a mountain wildflower. He wasn’t normally poetic and couldn’t really say why he thought of her in those terms, but that was the image that came to his mind. A flower that bloomed despite cold, wind and hardship. He’d tried not to be obvious, but she’d attracted him and he’d wondered about her. It’d been a very long time since he’d looked at a woman, any woman, the way he had Grace.
“I think I will take a walk over to the library,” he muttered.
“Good idea,” Olivia said brightly.
Charlotte’s daughter seemed eager to send him off. Perhaps she was trying to encourage him to meet her friend. If that was the case, Cliff didn’t need any prompting. After saying goodbye to Charlotte and Olivia, he left and strolled down the steep incline toward the waterfront. This was his first visit to the library and he stopped to admire the mural painted on the outside. The town sported several other murals, as well, which he’d often admired.
Grace Sherman stood at the front desk when Cliff entered the library.
She glanced up when he approached the counter. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Cliff Harding,” he said and waited.
It obviously took a moment for his name to register. “Oh, hi—you’re the one who has my credit card and I have yours. I’m sorry. I should have recognized you. If you’ll wait a moment, I’ll get my purse.” Grace took a deep breath, then said, “I was going to call you back this evening.”
“That’s what Olivia said.”
“You know Olivia?”
“We met this afternoon at Charlotte’s.”
Again she hesitated, as if needing time to connect all the dots. “You’re Tom Harding’s grandson. Charlotte’s often mentioned you. I apologize, I didn’t immediately realize who you were. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be a moment.”
“Of course.”
She disappeared into a small office directly behind the counter and returned with her purse. His credit card was tucked inside a small white envelope. They exchanged credit cards, laughed about what had happened, then stood gazing at each other for an awkward few seconds.
It was now or never, Cliff decided. “I was thinking maybe we could laugh over this at dinner one night.” It’d been years since Cliff had asked a woman out on a date, and he felt a little uneasy. When she didn’t respond, he was sure he’d bungled the invitation.
“Dinner?” Grace finally echoed. “The two of us?”
Cliff spoke rapidly. “I’ve been divorced for the last five years. I haven’t dated since my wife left and… well, I think maybe it’s time I did.”
“I see,” she said, staring at him again. “I mean…” She paused and took another deep, audible breath. “Thank you.” She raised her hand to her throat. “You don’t know how flattered I am that you’d ask. Unfortunately, I’m not ready just yet.”
That was a fair reply. “When do you think you might be ready?”
“I…can’t say. I recently filed for divorce. I don’t feel it would be right for me to see anyone else until I’m legally free to do so.” She looked away. “I take it you heard about my husband?”
Cliff nodded slowly. “I’ll be waiting, Grace, and I’m a patient man.”
Her eyes met his and he saw the beginnings of a smile. That was something he hoped to see again. Soon.
“You’d better tell me what’s wrong.” Jack said, his stocking feet propped up against the ottoman in front of Olivia’s large-screen television. Tuesday night was their date night. Olivia had invited him over for dinner and The New Detectives on the Discovery Channel. Lately they’d taken turns supplying the meal. This week it had been Olivia’s turn and she’d baked a chicken casserole that was worthy of a cooking award. He generally brought takeout.
“What do you mean what’s wrong?” she countered.
“You’ve barely said a word all night.”
Olivia sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. It’d been his lucky day, that morning nine months earlier when Jack had strolled into her courtroom. New to Cedar Cove and the newspaper, he’d visited the divorce court, jaded by his own experience and expecting to hear what he always did.
But Olivia was different. A young couple, Ian and Cecilia Randall, had stood before her, accompanied by their attorneys. Another divorce, two people with broken hearts pretending they were above the pain. Only it radiated from both of them. Jack saw it and wondered if anyone else did. He assumed all those involved in the legal process had become blind to the human wreckage that appeared before these judges. Couples walked in battered and broken, emotionally crippled by the pain husbands and wives so often inflicted on each other.
The Randalls had lost an
