didn’t deny her assumption. “How long are you planning on staying?”
Obviously he didn’t want her in Cloverville any more than she wanted to be back. Since he’d slowed down, the scenery enveloped them. Fields and woods, trees thick with green leaves gave way to subdivisions crowded with new houses, streets lined with strip malls, box stores and fast-food restaurants. “This is Cloverville?”
“It’s grown since you’ve been away. Did you think it would stay the same?”
She shook her head. “Nothing stays the same.” She’d learned that at a young age. Sadly enough, so had Lara—it was time for Abby to put down roots for the two of them. To give her daughter a home they would live in for more than a year or two. Time to establish permanent headquarters for the temporary employment agency Abby owned. Abby had already given up her apartment in Chicago. She’d been so busy packing that she couldn’t fly in sooner. Now she just had to decide on where she and her daughter would settle.
It was only the two of them. The moment Abby had gotten pregnant Lara’s father had wanted nothing to do with either of them. Almost five years later, the hurt had faded, but she couldn’t fathom how she’d been so wrong about him. She’d thought he’d been such a nice, responsible guy, but maybe it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t love her. Her own parents hadn’t.
Clayton turned the SUV onto Main Street, where nothing had changed. Mrs. Hild’s Cape Cod still crowded the corner lot, her prize roses climbing over the carved wooden sign denoting the Cloverville city limits. In the middle of the block was Mr. Carpenter’s hardware store, the windows ablaze with the reflection of the setting sun. They also passed the McClintock Insurance Agency, the same gold logo on the front door as the one embroidered on Clayton’s shirt. The three-story redbrick building that housed the agency was one of the biggest on the block, taller and wider than the diner and pharmacy flanking it. A For Lease sign had been posted in the window of the first-floor office next to the insurance agency.
“Dr. Strover moved?” she asked.
“He retired,” Clayton said. “So I’m looking for a new tenant.”
Clayton’s dad had owned the building, and now it was Clayton’s responsibility—like so many others he’d taken on at twenty-two years of age. The same age Abby had been when she became a mother.
“I was hoping Josh would put his practice there, but his partner thought they needed more space. They’re putting up a new building on the west side of Cloverville, closer to Grand Rapids and the hospitals.”
“Josh?” she asked, not following his conversation, probably because she was so surprised he was making the effort to talk to her. Eight years ago, except for one night, he’d never bothered to say much of anything to her other than an occasional curt, “Don’t you have a home?”
She hadn’t then. Or now. She glanced into the backseat where Lara still slept peacefully, her curls tangled around her face. Love filled Abby’s heart. Until she’d had her baby, she’d never known how much love one could feel.
“Dr. Josh Towers is the man Molly’s marrying tomorrow. I thought you and my sister kept in close contact,” he said with a hint of his old disapproval. As if he didn’t understand why Molly would want to remain in contact with her. “You don’t know the name of her fiancé?”
“Molly and I talk every day either by phone or e-mail.” And she’d hardly mentioned her fiancé. Of course, Molly had only just gotten engaged—to a man she obviously didn’t love. Not that Abby knew anything about love except what she felt for her daughter. “Don’t you think it’s too soon?”
“What?”
“The wedding. They hardly know each other.”
The muscles in his arm rippled as he gripped the steering wheel. “Since her first year of college, Molly has worked summers at the hospital where he’s on staff. She’s known him a long time.”
“No, she hasn’t. They’ve only just started dating.” Frustration churned Abby’s stomach. She’d tried to talk to Molly, tried to convince her to wait before she leaped into something as serious as marriage. Molly wasn’t the type to act impetuously—she’d always been as responsible as her older brother. “I thought you, of all people, would be against this shotgun wedding.”
“It’s hardly that.”
“You’ve always been so practical, so…”
“Boring?” he finished for her, a muscle jumping in his jaw. He knew how she’d seen him in the past, and he could only imagine what she thought of him now since she’d lived in big cities and he’d stayed here. In Cloverville. Not that he cared what she thought of him. His concern was for Molly. Abby couldn’t be right about the wedding. Molly was too smart, too responsible to act as impulsively as Abby always had.
“Judgmental,” she answered.
The comment stung, even though it shouldn’t have, even though he knew she was only trying to get a rise out of him, just as she always had. No matter how hard he’d tried, she’d made it impossible for him to ignore her.
“I’m judgmental? Really?” he challenged her, then pointed out, “I haven’t said anything about…” He lifted his gaze to the rearview mirror, which reflected back the image of her daughter. Damn, she was a cute kid, just like her mother had been.
A breath hissed out of her with an offended whisper. “Clayton!”
He didn’t care that she was a single mother. Despite her accusation, he didn’t judge anyone. But he really wanted to know why she was a single mother. Had she decided to raise her daughter alone or hadn’t she had a choice? Had she turned down the father’s offer of marriage, turned off the idea from the poor example her parents had set for her? Or had the guy taken off on her? “Why aren’t you married, Abby?”
She snorted. “I should have known you were just acting back at the airport, when you were being nice to Lara. You’re still a judgmental jerk.”
Instead of anger, amusement coursed through him. She remained a combination of sass and attitude. He could see her turning down marriage, determined to maintain her independence. He persisted. “Why aren’t you married?”
“None of your damned business, Clayton.”
She was right. Her life was none of his business, but he wanted to know about Lara’s father. He could imagine the kind of guys Abby dated: wild, irresponsible, exciting. His guts twisted into knots at the thought of Abby in some other guy’s arms, in some other guy’s bed, naked…
He tapped the brakes on his thoughts and the SUV slowed almost to a stop at the entrance to Cloverville Park. “Look there, Abby. Not everything’s changed. They still haven’t managed to fix the colonel.”
Her head turned to where the bronze statue of the town founder, Civil War hero Colonel Clover, stood among the ornamental trees and flowers. His hat was dented, his left ear mangled, his neck at an odd angle with a crude welding job only just holding his head in place, as well as his arms and legs. Her breath hissed out again. “Can’t the damn town hire someone to fix him properly? It’s been eight years.”
Eight years since she’d been expelled from high school for vandalizing the town park by plowing her car across it and knocking over Colonel Clover. She’d
