Along the Shore

Book 3: Book Club

by Rochelle Alers

Genres: Siblings

Synopsis

Set on a charming North Carolina island, the latest novel in national bestselling author Rochelle Alers’ unforgettable, heartfelt Book Club series tells of one woman whose past comes calling—even as a new beginning beckons …
Cherie Renee Thompson is finally ready to dive into change. After two summers vacationing on Coates Island, she’s now a permanent resident, studying to be a teacher, and has formed invaluable friendships with two remarkable women,
Kayana and Leah. Their summer book club, which meets weekly at the Seaside Café, has taught Cherie to seize the day. And as the ex-mistress of a powerful politician consistently unable to commit, Cherie is determined not to waste any
more time—or try romance again …
When Cherie meets new sheriff and ex-army veteran Reese Matthews, there’s an immediate, undeniable spark between them. For his part, Reese has survived ongoing loss and believes that Cherie is as open and uncomplicated as she
appears—until her former flame returns. Free of his responsibilities, he’s offering Cherie the luxurious life he always promised …
Now, in a summer of glowing potential, tranquil days, and book club meetings filled with insight and caring, Cherie must weigh past dreams against new chances, search her heart for what’s real—and what will fulfill her most.

Release date: July 26, 2022

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 320

Sample

July 29

I’ve done it! I’ve finally made the decision to move to Coates Island, North Carolina. It has taken me more than a year to think about leaving Connecticut, and now that I’ve put everything into motion, I know I’ve done the right thing. Now it’s time I let my book club friends know.

Cherie Renee Thompson reread what she’d written. She’d begun keeping a journal at fifteen, a month before enrolling in the prestigious prep school where she’d been awarded a full academic scholarship. Days after moving into her dorm room, she’d found herself writing down her thoughts and reactions to what had become an entirely different lifestyle. After the first year, her entries decreased from one every night to three or four each week. And, most times, it was to release her frustration about having to live in two worlds: one when interacting with students who benefited from unlimited funds from their wealthy parents, and the other when returning to her old neighborhood, with low-income housing, where crime and poverty had become the norm rather than the exception.

Capping her pen, Cherie dropped it and the journal into the tote on the passenger seat. She started up her car and headed in the direction of the bridge connecting the mainland to the island, and five minutes later she maneuvered into the parking lot of the Seaside Café for the last time before returning home.

Home.

The word conjured up memories that had made her into the woman she had become. Connecticut was the state where she’d been born, raised, educated, worked, and lived; however, it had taken just two visits to Coates Island, North Carolina, for her to conclude she hadn’t been living but existing. She got up every morning to drive to the childcare center where she was the parent coordinator, and eight hours later, she returned to the two-bedroom condo in a gated development to read or watch television before readying herself to go to bed.

Alone.

It had been almost five years since her breakup with William Weylin Campbell III, and although she’d exorcised him from her life, she still found it impossible to purge him from her head. Cherie lost track of the number of times she’d wanted to call Weylin, just to hear his voice; however, after their last encounter, the two had promised never to contact each other again.

Their agreement would also serve to remind her what she’d sacrificed to give Weylin what he’d wanted because she’d believed she would always have a part of him. How wrong she’d been, because in the end, she had been the only loser.

She’d lost the only man she’d ever loved, and she’d lost the child they’d made together. And it wasn’t until she’d delivered her son—a baby she would never hold—that she realized she’d traded the child she’d carried for nine months, in a period of weakness and madness, for a lifestyle she’d always dreamed about. She’d made a deal with a man who had concocted a plan she’d been unable to refuse.

Shaking off the memories, Cherie walked into the restaurant. It was nearing closing time for the lunch crowd; two couples were still seated at one table, laughing hysterically. The Seaside Café, family owned and operated, the only eating establishment on the island, was a favorite hangout for locals and vacationers alike.

She spied Kayana Johnson-Ogden as she came out of the kitchen, and she had to admit, and not for the first time, that marriage agreed with the former psychiatric social worker who operated the restaurant with her brother, Derrick Johnson. Kayana’s chemically straightened hair, covered with a white bandana, ended several inches above her shoulders. Her nut-brown complexion was darker than it had been at the beginning of the summer season, which meant that, after leaving the café, she was spending more time outdoors with her husband.

Kayana stared at her. “I thought you left a couple of days ago.”

Cherie approached Kayana and looped her arm through her friend’s. “That was my plan . . . until I decided to go house hunting.”

Naturally arching eyebrows lifted. “House hunting where?”

Cherie’s smile grew wider. “Here on Coates Island.”

Kayana’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.”

Kayana studied the petite woman with a mass of black curls framing her gold-brown face. Her large, light-brown eyes with flecks of green shimmered with excitement, and the corners of her normally petulant mouth had curved into a smile. To say Kayana found Cherie Thompson complex was an understatement. She wondered what had happened to the young woman to sour her outlook on life.

“Come with me to the patio, where we can talk without folks eavesdropping,” Kayana whispered. She led Cherie through the restaurant’s dining area and slid back the pocket doors to an area where diners were able to take advantage of the magnificent views of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. She sat and waited for Cherie to sit down opposite her. “What made you decide you want to live here?”

Kayana had asked because there weren’t that many young adults living on Coates Island, which had a recorded population of about four hundred permanent residents. Those born and raised there usually left once they graduated from high school or college, leaving their parents and grandparents to rent bungalows and cottages to summer vacationers to supplement their fixed incomes.

Cherie rested her hands on the tabletop and laced her fingers together. “There’s nothing keeping me in Connecticut. You know, I’ve quit my job and plan to go back to college to get a graduate degree in early childhood education. Rather than enroll in on-campus classes, I’ve decided to go the online route, and that is something I can do regardless of where I live.”

Kayana knew Cherie had resigned her position at a Connecticut-based childcare center and had mentioned she wanted to become an elementary school teacher, yet hadn’t indicated she planned to relocate. Perhaps, she mused, the beautiful young woman had finally gotten over her relationship with a man that appeared to have left her in a perpetual funk. There were times when she lashed out at her or the third member of their group, Leah, without provocation.

She wanted to ask Cherie if moving was what she needed to put some distance between her and her ex, but decided not to broach the topic. “Have you found a house?” she asked instead.

“Yes. The realtor wanted to sell me one of the new condos that went up several years ago, but when I told her I was currently living in a condo and wanted a structure where I didn’t have to see my neighbors coming and going, she took me to several properties like your brother’s. I finally decided on one with four bedrooms, three and a half baths, that’s approximately a five-minute walk to the ocean. It’s a lot more room than I’ll need, but I love the open floor plan concept, and what really sold me was the fenced-in backyard. Once I saw it, all I thought about was adopting a fur baby and letting it have the run of the backyard.”

Kayana smiled when she registered the excitement in Cherie’s voice. “It sounds as if you have everything planned out.”

Cherie cocked her head at an angle. “I hope so.”

There was a vagueness in the three words, and Kayana wondered if Cherie still had to convince herself that she was doing the right thing. She remembered when a developer had wanted to put up a string of condos and waterfront homes, but the members of the town council had voted down his original proposal. After a series of lengthy meetings and negotiations, the developer received approval to build condos with no more than eight units and a half dozen single-family homes. Generations of Coates Island’s residents were opposed to an influx of new people, other than the returning vacationers from late May through the Labor Day weekend, whose permanence would dramatically change their idyllic island.

“When do you think you’ll be able to move in?”

Cherie ran her fingers through the black curls falling over her forehead. “It’s not going to be until the end of the year. The owner and his wife are in the process of negotiating building a house in Hawaii to be close to their daughter and grandchildren.”

“You must be talking about Jeremy and Katherine Murphy.” Kayana was familiar with the older couple, and rumors were floating around the island that the retirees were planning to relocate to the island of Oahu. They’d vacationed on Coates Island for several years before permanently retiring on the island, and now they were leaving to be close to family members. They’d frequented the restaurant on weekends during the off-season and rarely interacted with other residents.

“So you’re really serious about living here year-round?” she asked.

Cherie nodded. “Living here will allow me not to have any distractions once I go back to college. Besides, there’s nothing in Connecticut that’s keeping me there.”

“What about your family, Cherie?”

“What about them?”

Kayana paused when Cherie answered her query with a question. And to say it had undertones of defensiveness was an understatement. “Won’t you miss them?”

Cherie stared at her clasped hands atop the table. It was a question she’d asked herself over and over since she’d decided to relocate, and each time the answer was a resounding no!

“Not really,” she admitted honestly. She glanced up and met Kayana’s eyes. “I’ve never really had a good relationship with my mother, and it worsened when my oldest brother was killed during a drive-by shooting.” She ignored Kayana’s gasp of surprise.

After Cherie was enrolled in the private prep school and witnessed a lifestyle that was the complete opposite from the one in which she’d been raised, she’d blamed her mother for not defending her when the folks in Edwina’s social circle called her a stuck-up ho, bougie bitch, or even worse. Not once did Edwina Thompson open her mouth to refute them, which only served to widen the rift between Cherie and her mother.

Cherie had what she thought of as a love-hate relationship with Edwina. She loved her mother because she had given birth to her and attempted to raise her the best way she could, but she also resented her because Edwina refused to better herself. She also refused to name the men who had fathered her children, which made Cherie reluctant to become involved with any of the boys in her neighborhood for fear she would be dating her half-brother or a cousin.

“I’m so sorry you lost your brother.”

Cherie closed her eyes as she attempted bring her fragile emotions under control. It was never easy for her to talk about losing her older brother. “I’d been pleading with my mother to move out of the neighborhood where we lived because it had become a cesspool for drugs and crime, but she claimed she didn’t want to leave her friends. Even after she buried her firstborn, she still refused. Once I graduated college and got a job, I moved into a studio apartment, and I found myself constantly preaching to my younger brothers that they had to stay in school and keep away from gangs. Thankfully, they listened; both were able to get into military academies, and this past May, they graduated from West Point and the Air Force Academy. I paid for my mother to fly out to Colorado with me, and it was the first time I ever saw her cry, and that was enough for her to talk about taking college courses so she can get a higher-paying job and move into a better neighborhood.”

“Didn’t you tell me that your mother had earned a GED?” Kayana asked.

Cherie nodded. “My mother is very smart, but what she lacks is motivation. I think seeing her sons become commissioned officers was the impetus she needed to change her lifestyle. Although when I told her I could get her a position at the childcare center, she turned me down, saying she wanted to find something on her own.”

A smile parted Kayana’s lips. “She sounds like a proud woman.”

Cherie made a sucking sound with her tongue and teeth. “It’s more like false pride.” She didn’t want to tell Kayana that she’d bought Edwina a used car because she’d had to take two buses to get to the diner for her late shift. Edwina had rounded on her, saying she didn’t need her handout until her boss threatened to fire her if she was late one more time.

“I just wanted to stop by to let you know that next year you will have two permanent book club sisters.”

Kayana slowly shook her head. “I could not have imagined when we met for the first time that Leah would leave her husband and move in with my brother or that you would relocate here when young men and women can’t wait to leave Coates Island.”

“Well, this thirty-something woman has had enough of the bright lights of the big city, and I’m now looking forward to, as they say, living my life by my leave.”

Reaching across the table, Kayana covered her hands with one of her own. “Good for you,” she said before removing her hand. “Will you have a problem selling your condo?”

“No. There’s a waiting list for two-bedroom units.”

“I suppose that solves your problem of trying to unload one property before you can buy another one.”

She didn’t tell Kayana that moving to Coates Island would be a renaissance, the rebirth of Cherie Renee Thompson, who would begin her life anew where she would be in complete control of her destiny.

Cherie knew relocating would solve a lot of her problems. And the first was distancing herself from Weylin so that she wouldn’t have to read about him in the local newspapers or see his image during a televised segment covering local and national politics. He’d been sworn into Congress as a representative six months before his thirtieth birthday, and less than a year later, he’d revealed that, after seven years of marriage, he and his wife were now the parents of a mixed-raced infant son through a closed adoption. What he’d neglected to inform members of the press was that he’d fathered that child with a woman with whom he’d had a clandestine affair for more than a decade.

Born into wealth, Weylin had it all: a beautiful wife and son, and a political career with endless possibilities, while Cherie was left with a condo in an exclusive Cos Cob, Connecticut, enclave and enough resources to allow her to live quite comfortably with or without employment.

Cherie still could not believe she had waited until she was thirty-four years old to do what she’d needed to do to make herself happy rather than concentrating on others whenever she reevaluated her life every ten years, beginning when she’d celebrated her fifteenth birthday. The events of that year were branded into her memory like a permanent tattoo. Unconsciously, she shook her head as if to banish the painful decision she’d made that had changed her life.

Pushing back her chair, Cherie stood, Kayana rising with her. “I have to leave now because I plan to stay in Philly overnight before heading out again tomorrow afternoon.”

Rounding the table, Kayana hugged her. “Drive carefully, and don’t forget to text me when you get home.”

Smiling, she pressed her cheek to Kayana’s. “Yes, Mama. Now you take care of your wonderful husband and give him my regards.” The year before, Kayana had married a man who had moved from Massachusetts to retire on the island.

A rush of color darkened the cook’s face even more. “I will. Do you mind if I let Leah know you’re going to move here?”

“Of course not. Although we probably won’t officially reactivate our book club until sometime early next year, I’m really looking forward to it.”

Kayana smiled and nodded. “So am I. Derrick and I have decided to close the restaurant for two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s, so hopefully you’ll move before that so we can help you settle in.”

“It all depends on Mr. and Mrs. Murphy. If I unload my condo before closing, then I’ll put my furnishings in storage down here and check into a motel on the mainland.”

“You don’t have to do that, Cherie. You can always stay in the upstairs apartment now that Leah is living with Derrick.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. Staying on the mainland and checking out the neighboring towns will help to familiarize me with my new surroundings.”

“Why spend money when you can live here rent-free?”

A beat passed before Cherie said, “It’s not about money, Kayana. If it was, then I never would’ve been able to quit my job before securing another. Money isn’t the problem. Changing my life is.”

Kayana’s smile was more of a grimace. “Okay.” She hugged her again. “Don’t forget to text me to let me know you arrived safe and sound.”

“I will.”

Cherie left the patio, walked out of the restaurant, and got into her car. As she drove along the bridge linking the island to the mainland, Cherie shuddered noticeably, as if she’d been dowsed with a bucket of ice-cold water. In that instant she wondered if relocating—or, if she were being honest with herself—running away from all she’d known was the best course of action. Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked back tears. It was something she would never know unless she did it.

As planned, Cherie checked into a Philadelphia hotel, showered, ordered room service, and then watched a cable news station until she turned off the television around two in the morning. She slept in late, checked out, and was back on the road by five. It felt liberating not to have to set the alarm on her cell phone as a reminder that she had to get up and go to work.

Years ago, Cherie had arranged with her mother to allow her twin brothers to stay over with her on weekends once she moved out of the studio apartment and into one with a bedroom. The boys took over the bedroom, while she slept in the living room on a convertible sofa bed. Straight-A students, both boys had talked about enlisting in the army to take advantage of the military’s educational benefits, but Cherie had another plan for them once she realized her affair with Weylin Campbell had benefits beyond his securing apartments for her in his family-owned properties. She’d solicited his assistance as a congressman to get them into military academies. And when they’d received their acceptance letters, she told her lover that there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him, unaware that he would take her up on that promise.

She pushed Weylin and what had been their fifteen-year relationship out of her mind as she maneuvered into the lot of the twenty-four-hour diner and parked in one of only a few empty spaces. She called her mother, something she rarely did, to inform her she would meet her at the diner, knowing it would be the last time they would get together in person for a long while.

Cherie walked into the diner and spied her mother sitting at a table in a far corner, talking to another waitress. At fifty-two, she was still an extremely attractive woman, and despite giving birth to four children, her petite body was still slender, a body type Cherie had inherited from her mother. That was their only physical similarity other than their eye color. People in her old neighborhood had called Edwina Kitty, the latter because of her shimmering, gold-green eyes and flawless mahogany complexion.

“Would you like a table or booth?”

Cherie smiled at the man monitoring the front. “No, thank you. I’m here to see Edwina Thompson. She’s my mother,” Cherie added when he continued to stare at her.

“She’s on her break. You’ll find her at one of the back tables.”

Cherie nodded. “Thank you.” She headed for the rear of the diner.

Edwina saw her and stood. She said something to her coworker, who glanced over her shoulder at Cherie, then slipped off her chair and walked away. “Come and sit.”

Cherie took the chair the other woman had vacated. “I’m not going to take up a lot of your break time, but I felt you should hear from me in person that I’m planning to relocate to North Carolina.”

Edwina looked at her as if she’d spoken a language she didn’t understand before her expression changed—became crestfallen.

She lowered her eyes. “Why?”

“Because there’s nothing keeping me here.”

“What about me?”

“What about you, Mom?” She answered Edwina’s question with one of her own.

“I can’t believe you’re deserting me, too.”

Cherie stared at her mother as if she’d taken leave of her senses. But the acerbic words on her tongue vanished the instant she saw tears welling up in Edwina’s eyes. It was only the second time she had seen her cry. Her mother hadn’t even cried when they’d buried her firstborn. It was as if she had been in denial, believing Jamal wasn’t dead but sleeping and would wake up whenever he chose.

However, it wasn’t like that for Cherie, and she knew her brother wasn’t coming back; the bullets from a high-powered automatic weapon had hit vital organs, killing him instantly. Her tall, handsome, kind older sibling, who’d had dreams of enlisting in the military, was murdered a month before his enlistment, and those responsible were never arrested. It was as if the neighborhood upheld the code that snitches get stitches. Even the girl he’d presumably been sleeping with denied she had been involved with him.

Reaching across the table, she grasped Edwina’s hand. “I’m not deserting you, Mama.” She closed her eyes once she realized it had been a long time, much too long, since she’d called her that. “I’m buying a house in North Carolina with enough bedrooms that if you want to come and visit you can.” She said visit rather than live because Cherie knew her mother would never consider leaving Connecticut. She’d been born and raised there, and it was also because of the connections she had with distant relatives and lifelong friends in the neighborhood.

Sniffling, Edwina blinked back tears before they fell. “Why North Carolina? Why can’t you buy a house here in Connecticut? I know you were talking about selling your condo, but I didn’t think you would move a thousand miles away.”

Cherie smiled. “It’s not a thousand, only seven hundred miles. It’s about a twelve-hour drive nonstop.”

“Why North Carolina?” Edwina repeated.

The seconds ticked before Cherie said, “It’s where I feel alive, Mama.”

“Alive? Are you saying you feel dead here?”

A hint of a smile tilted the corners of Cherie’s mouth. “I’m only speaking figuratively. I went to Coates Island on vacation these past two summers, and for the first time in a very long time, I didn’t have to live my life by a clock. I slept and woke whenever it pleased me, and if I decided to spend the entire day in bed reading, that’s what I did. I also met two older women who helped me to see myself in a different light.”

“And what’s that, Cherie?”

“That I should take control of my life and do what is good for Cherie Renee Thompson.”

Edwina blinked slowly. “And you don’t think that’s what you’re doing now? You have a job you enjoy, and you live in a wonderful development that you don’t have to leave for your daily needs. What more could you want?”

“I want to become a teacher.”

“You can’t do that in Connecticut?” Edwina questioned. “After all, you did graduate with honors from Yale.”

“I know that, Mom.”

She didn’t need her mother to remind her that she’d earned a full academic scholarship to the prestigious Ivy League college. But what Edwina failed to realize was that she’d studied around the clock to maintain the necessary grades to not lose the scholarship—and to prove to herself that she was worthy of becoming the wife of the man whom she’d loved more than herself.

“So why don’t you go back there for your graduate degree?”

“I don’t need another degree from Yale to prove that I wasn’t a fluke. I’ve spent the past twelve years working at the same place, and now it’s time that I transition from being a parent coordinator to a classroom teacher.”

“When are you going to hand in your notice?”

Cherie smiled. “I resigned in May.”

Edwina’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been out of work for two months?” Cherie nodded. “Do you plan to get another job while you go back to college?”

“If I work, then it will be part-time. I’d like to become a full-time student and hopefully finish in two years. If not, then I’ll sign up for two courses each semester until I graduate. Of course, I’ll have to do some student teaching and take a test for certification if I plan to teach in a public school. And if I’m really ambitious, then I’ll have to decide whether I want a doctorate degree and perhaps teach at the college level.”

She didn’t tell her mother that teaching in a private school was not an option for her. Spending four years at a private prep school had taught her that if parents had enough money or increased their endowments, teachers were pressured to pass their kids with grades they hadn’t earned.

Cherie realized she’d shocked her mother with the plans for her future. It had taken months after leaving Coates Island the year before for her to reassess her life, and she had concluded she’d been wishing, hoping, and praying for what would never become a reality. She’d fallen in love with Weylin at fifteen and had spent half her life fantasizing spending it with him.

He’d become her first and only lover, and she knew she would never be able to exorcise him completely until she put some distance between them. The place where she could reinvent herself was Coates Island, North Carolina. Cherie would move into her new house, and while she decorated it to her taste, she would reunite with her friends for their monthly book club meetings. She’d also planned to improve her cooking skills. There were so many recipes she wanted to try and perfect before hosting a book discussion.

“I know you don’t hear it enough from me, Cherie, but I truly am proud of you. If I’d had your focus and strength when you left home at fifteen to attend that private school, I doubt whether I would’ve let a boy talk me into sleeping with him without using protection.”

Cherie went completely still before she slumped back in her chair. It was the first time she’d heard Edwina talk . . .