was dating Abby. As bad as I felt for Hannah, it was hard to blame Abby and Luke. They were good kids and it wasn’t as if Luke and Hannah had been a couple. I doubt he’d noticed she was alive before he got involved with Abby. Then the three of them were underfoot around here all the time. I sometimes wondered if Abby didn’t even go a little overboard to be extra nice out of guilt because she knew Hannah was hurting.”
“In that case, surely you don’t think that after all this time, Abby might want to rekindle things with Luke,” Seth said. “Would she come back just to stir up trouble for them?”
“I have no idea why she’s come back,” Grandma Jenny said with a touch of impatience, then sighed. “Hopefully it’s just for a visit, but if not...” Her voice trailed off.
“Come on,” Seth protested. “Luke and Hannah are solid. I’ve never seen two people more in love. And you said this Abby is married.”
“That’s what I’d heard. I’m just saying her being back could stir up some old memories, good and bad.” Her jaw set with determination as she stood up. “I’d better warn Hannah.”
“Or maybe you should leave it alone,” Seth suggested mildly, even though he was out of his depth when it came to marital relationships. His one serious relationship had ended tragically. Before that it had been all heat and intensity. There hadn’t been a lot of complex issues to resolve.
“For all we know this woman could be gone by morning,” he said. “You’d have upset Hannah for no reason.”
“Spoken exactly like a man,” she muttered.
“Which I am,” Seth replied, amused.
“Which just means you don’t know how women’s minds work. You admitted that yourself, not more than a minute ago,” she reminded him. “Wash up those dishes when you’re done. I’m going to see my granddaughter.”
“But we don’t even know for sure if Abby Dawson was the woman I met this morning,” he argued, hating that he seemed to have set off alarms.
“Oh, it was Abby,” Grandma Jenny said with conviction. “I can feel it in my bones. Trouble’s coming.”
Before he could think of a thing to keep her from leaving, she was gone, and Seth was left to wonder whether Seaview Key was quite the tranquil, boring little town he’d thought it to be. It sounded almost as if the return of Abby Dawson—if that’s who she was—could stir up a whole boatload of pain for his friends. Which, come to think of it, was too darn bad given the feelings she’d stirred up in him.
2
Hannah finished the latest draft of the story about a puppy named Jasper who’d befriended a lonely little boy, typed The End on the last page and shut off the computer just as she heard the front door downstairs open and then close.
“Hannah?” her grandmother called out. “You up there?”
“On my way down,” she responded at once, startled by her grandmother’s midmorning visit. She was usually rigidly respectful of Hannah’s writing schedule, never dropping in before afternoon. Something serious must be going on for her to violate her self-imposed rule.
Hannah found Grandma Jenny in the kitchen placing several freshly baked blueberry muffins on a plate. “I was sure my husband already ate his share of those today,” she commented.
“Nothing makes me happier than a man who appreciates my baking,” Grandma Jenny replied. “Luke knows that, bless his heart. I thought you might want one, too, or are you dieting?”
Hannah smiled. “I could eat one. I’ll make tea.”
“Iced tea, please. It’s hotter than blazes out there already. You’d think it would be cooling off by now. It’s almost Thanksgiving, for goodness’ sake.”
Hannah poured two tall glasses of iced tea, then sat down at the kitchen table and regarded her grandmother expectantly. “What’s on your mind?”
“Do I have to have something on my mind? Can’t I just drop by for a visit?”
“Of course you can,” Hannah responded patiently, “but you usually wait until afternoon in case I’m working. I figure something must be important for you to show up at this hour.”
“Obviously I need to start being more unpredictable.”
Hannah merely lifted a brow at her irritated tone. “Are you lonely with Kelsey and Jeff away? Heaven knows, I’m missing my daily fix of seeing Isabella. It must be even harder for you, though I thought having Seth underfoot would help.”
“I’m not lonely. I’m worried,” Grandma Jenny said candidly, startling Hannah.
“Worried? Why?”
“Seth met a woman this morning.”
Hannah regarded her blankly. “Why is that worrisome? Given your matchmaking tendencies, I would have thought you’d be thrilled. You’ve been muttering that he needs a woman ever since he got to town.”
“Well, I may have been thrilled, but if this is who I think it is, it might be for the best if she just went back to wherever she came from.”
Since Hannah had never before heard her grandmother use that disparaging tone about anyone, she stared at her with shock. “How so? Who on earth is she? I didn’t think there was anyone in Seaview Key, past or present, with whom you had any issues.”
Looking thoroughly uncomfortable, Grandma Jenny announced, “I’m pretty sure the woman is Abby Dawson, or whatever her married name is. And it’s not me who has issues with her.”
The news hit Hannah like a blow. It shouldn’t have. Abby’s return shouldn’t matter to her at all. She and Abby had never had a falling-out, not really. They’d just left town and lost touch. Truthfully, though, the friendship had been fractured long before that when Abby and Luke had gotten together. As determinedly as Abby and Hannah had both tried to keep up the pretense that things between them were fine, they’d both known that the relationship had been changed forever.
Working hard to keep her tone neutral, Hannah said, “Abby’s back? Are you sure? No one in town has mentioned it. I might not hear the latest gossip, but Luke hears everything.”
“Would he tell you something like this?” her grandmother asked. “You know how he hates upsetting you.”
“He would have told me,” Hannah insisted, though she wondered if that was true.
“Maybe so.” Grandma Jenny shrugged. “Maybe she’s been keeping a low profile. Maybe she just got to town. I don’t know. I just thought I ought to tell you.” She gave her a pointed look. “You know, because...”
“Because of her past relationship with Luke,” Hannah said flatly. She didn’t want her grandmother to see how shaken she was, so she tried to keep her worry out of her voice. “That was a long time ago.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared.”
Rather than accepting the well-meant concern in the spirit in which it had
