Her mother paused. “Well, you were busy with John, then busy with other things.”
Other things. Code for getting a divorce and trying to pick up her life. “Oh,” Evie said, though that word pretty much summed up nothing.
“You’re going to love catching up with August and his family, I’m sure of it,” her mom said brightly. “We’ll talk more when you arrive, honey. Bye!”
Stunned, Evie clicked off and pondered that one as she exited the highway, drove on the bypass, then finally took the turnoff to Silver Shells, a cottage and resort community that had been nestled in Bishop’s Gate for well on twenty years.
After another series of right and left turns, she pulled into the driveway just as Jenna was waking up.
Evie had just opened her car door when her dad came trotting out.
“Hey, honey,” he said, enveloping her in a hug. “Glad you made it okay.”
“Me, too,” she said as her dad opened the van’s side panel and smiled broadly at Jenna.
“JJ!”
“Grandpa!”
Evie stood to one side as she watched her dad scoop up her eldest and shuttle her on inside, Jenna squealing in delight when he pretended to almost drop her.
As the front screen door slammed, a huge sense of relief filled Evie as she climbed in the backseat and crouched in front of Missy, whose head was listed to one side. Just looking at the sleeping twenty-two-month-old made her smile, and think every day was so worth it, even when things seemed completely insurmountable.
As she unfastened the front buckle and carefully lifted the top out from around Missy’s wispy curls, her daughter’s body hung limply. She had never known anyone who could sleep as soundly as Missy. Evie scooped the baby up, resting her daughter’s curly-topped head against her shoulder as she backed up and began scooting out toward the door.
Only to be stopped by a hand on her hip.
“Whoa, there,” the hand’s owner murmured.
Whoa, was right. Though the contact had only lasted a split second, the touch vibrated through her whole body. Evie twisted out of the van, planted her feet on the ground and took a deep breath, all the while doing her best to keep Missy firmly upright.
And then it was all she could do to stand still because the man staring at her was one she would’ve known anywhere: August Meyer.
“Need a hand?”
She looked at his hand—big, capable, devoid of rings. And because he looked just a little bit cocky, she raised an eyebrow. “Not on my butt.”
“Sorry.” He didn’t look the least bit contrite. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t.” She juggled Missy a little closer.
His eyes softened. Green eyes that looked so familiar and warm. Comforting, like a hug. “How are you, Evie?”
Her mouth went dry as she realized she remembered far more about August than she’d ever admitted to herself. “Truthfully?”
He held up a pinkie, just like they used to do so many years ago. “Of course.”
“I…I don’t really know.”
Chapter Two
Thankfully, August didn’t have a moment to reply because her mother came flying out the front door.
“You’re here! When you called and said you were close, I thought you’d maybe get here in an hour, not in fifteen minutes.” Jan smiled at August before hugging Evie and scooping Missy out of her arms at the same time. Missy opened her big blue eyes and squirmed.
“I’m going to go take our baby on inside,” Jan said, pressing kisses to Missy’s chubby cheeks. “August, you’ll help Evie unload, right?”
“It’s why I’m here.”
Evie blinked. His words were bland, his expression open and friendly. Their past was just that…in the past. So why did she feel as if his words held special meaning just for her?
As the screen door slammed shut again, leaving the two of them alone with just the sound of a couple of bullfrogs, August met her gaze. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too. It’s been a long time.”
“Almost ten years.”
“Yes.”
He tilted his head toward the excited chatter filtering out from the cottage. “Your girls are pretty.”
“Thanks. They’re a handful.”
“I guess all kids are.”
She’d run out of words. “Maybe.”
Still, he scanned her face, his green eyes looking like he was trying to memorize every feature. “I heard you got divorced.”
“I did. About a year and a half ago. I heard you just had a breakup, too.”
“Me and Erin weren’t ever going to amount to much. It just took us a while to come to terms with it.”
“It still had to be hard.”
August shrugged. “If it was, it was because things didn’t happen like I’d hoped. When my dad died and left me the business, Erin and I kind of fell by the wayside.”
“I heard about your dad. I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Thanks.” After a moment, he gestured toward the van. “So, what can I help you with, Evie?”
There she went again, imagining a loaded question.
What didn’t she need help with? Everything. Her life. Her job. Her complete sense of failure as a wife…running off a husband who wasn’t even running to something, just away from their marriage.
But that wasn’t what August had meant, and those problems weren’t ones she was willing to share with him.
Instead, she pointed to the open side door. With the girls out of it, Evie thought the minivan looked a whole lot like Santa’s sleigh, it was so completely packed full of toys and coolers and suitcases and baskets. “Take hold of anything you want,” she said, quickly grabbing the nearest duffel and yanking it over the bucket seats.
August popped open the hatchback and pulled out two suitcases. “You never could travel light, Evie,” he said with a chuckle. “Remember how you’d pack for the beach?”
She did. Her beach bag would be filled with lotions and lipstick and hair bows. Anything to make August pay attention to her.
As she followed him into the house, Evie couldn’t help but notice that he still
