Chapter 1
Hannah
“Good morning, Silas,” I called out as I entered The Mug And Jug with an armful
of cinnamon rolls.
It was early in the morning, but the door had been unlocked because Silas was
always expecting his morning delivery.
The elderly man stepped up to the counter of the establishment that served as both
a coffee shop in the morning and the local bar in the evening with a welcoming
smile. “Morning, Hannah,” he said. “Where’s Joy today?”
I grinned back at him at the mention of my mother’s name as I plopped the trays on
the bar. “She said she’s a little tired today,” I answered. “After she finished baking,
I told her I’d take the shift at Sweet Mornings.”
My mom had been operating the local donut shop for decades, a little takeout store
right across from The Mug And Jug on Main Street in Crystal Fork, Montana.
Delivering her cinnamon rolls to Silas to sell with his gourmet coffees in the
morning had been a routine she’d followed for as long as I could remember.
Silas frowned. “Is she okay? Didn’t she finish her cardiac rehab? I thought she was
doing good.”
My heart warmed because he looked so concerned. “She says she’s fine. She told
me that she got into a good movie last night and stayed up too late.”
Personally, I thought that my mother deserved to retire so she could do whatever
she wanted, but she said she’d be bored if she didn’t spend her mornings baking
and chatting with everyone at Sweet Mornings.
I worried about her a lot, especially since she’d had a heart attack that had required
emergency cardiac surgery several months ago.
She was doing well, but I’d decided that I never wanted to be in Seattle when my
mother was in Montana having emergency surgery ever again.
The time it had taken for me to get to her here in Montana had been agonizing.
Relocating back to Crystal Fork after my mom’s heart attack and surgery hadn’t
been easy for me, but it was better than me living in Seattle and worrying about her
all the time.
“Got time for a coffee and a little chat?” Silas asked with a grin.
“Always,” I answered and plopped my ass on a stool at the bar. “I’ll have the usual,
and I’d appreciate the chat since you’re about the only person who’s nice to me in
this town these days.”
The older man shot me a questioning glance as he started making me a latte. “That
can’t possibly be true. You’re one of the sweetest and prettiest girls in this town.”
I rolled my eyes.
I wasn’t a girl. I was thirty-four years old, but maybe I seemed young to a man
who had already seen his eightieth birthday in the rearview mirror.
I adored Silas, but I was also immune to his flirtatious compliments, no matter how
well-meaning they were.
I finally shrugged. “Everyone seems to think that I dumped one of Crystal Fork’s
heroes and ran off with another man to Seattle. There aren’t very many people
who like me here anymore.”
“Do you want my advice?” Silas queried.
I tried not to smile because I knew that however I answered his question, I was
going to get that advice, whether I wanted it…or not.
I’d known Silas all my life, and he was known for giving advice to anyone who
would listen.
“Sure,” I shot back and was rewarded with an approving smile.
“Ignore them,” he advised. “People in this town think they know the truth about
everyone’s business, but they don’t know squat. Honestly, what happened between
you and Tanner is old news. It was a long time ago. They’ll get over it when they
see that you haven’t changed a bit.”
Honestly, I had changed. I wasn’t the same woman who had been engaged to
Tanner Remington years ago.
I sighed as Silas slid the coffee across the bar to me. “Nobody really wants to give
me that chance of becoming reacquainted, unfortunately.”
Tanner and I had both grown up here in Crystal Fork. He was almost five years
older than me, so we’d never really known each other when we were younger.
He’d gone off to college, and I’d moved to New York City to go to cosmetology
school right after high school. We’d pretty much been strangers when we’d met up
in New York as adults.
Tanner had finished college, relocated to New York, and had started a new job on
Wall Street.
I’d just started my first job as a cosmetologist at the time.
Since my mother and his mother were close friends, they suggested that we meet
up so I could introduce Tanner to more of New York City.
That casual coffee meetup between Tanner and me in New York had turned into a
seven year relationship for the two of us.
I’d spent the majority of my twenties with Tanner.
He and his two brothers had built their own business during our time in New York,
and I’d advanced my career in cosmetology by learning as many extra skills as
possible.
We’d gotten engaged before the two of us moved back to Crystal Fork together
after Tanner’s older brother, Kaleb, had relocated the KTD Remington
headquarters back to Montana.
Our relationship had ended badly, but I wasn’t exactly a villain because I’d left
Tanner, and I definitely hadn’t left him for another man.
The people in this town assumed what they wanted to assume.
I’d grown up with a lot of the people in this town, and they were good people, but
they lived in a small world. Gossiping and speculating was a ritual in Crystal Fork.
“Have you talked to Tanner at all since you moved back home?” Silas questioned.
I curled my hands around the warm mug. “No,” I said flatly. “I think it’s better if
we don’t. He goes out of his way to avoid me most of the time, and I really have
nothing to say to him. We’ve both moved on. Like you said, it’s been a long time.”
If Tanner had something to say, he could have contacted me in Seattle, but he
hadn’t. He still spoke to my mother when he saw her, but he’d never once asked
her about me. She’d known exactly where I was, and knowing my mom, she
would have given Tanner any information he’d wanted.
“It wouldn’t hurt for the two of you to talk about it if it’s really water under the
bridge, Hannah. Maybe you can get some kind of closure.”
My stomach twisted at the thought of actually discussing my heartbreak with
Tanner Remington.
Breaking up with him had nearly destroyed me, and I wanted to leave that pain in
the past.
“Why?” I asked right before I took a sip of the coffee.
I let the taste of a good coffee roll over my tastebuds, closing my eyes for a
moment because Silas’s coffee was that good.
I’d lived in Seattle for seven years, but I’d never had a cup of coffee as good as
The Mug And Jug could brew up, and that was saying something since Seattle was
known for their coffee.
“Why?” Silas repeated. “Maybe I think he owes it to you to set the record straight
in this town. If people knew you were on good terms with each other, maybe
they’d stop ignoring you like you were at fault.”
Silas was one of the few people in town who knew my side of the story, and I
loved him for defending me, but I didn’t want to renew my acquaintance with
Tanner Remington.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “I’ll probably move to Billings once I convince
myself that Mom is really okay. I’ll still be close enough to her that we can still
see each other often.”
“Wouldn’t you rather be able to see her almost every day?” Silas asked.
I fiddled with the handle of the mug. “You know I do. Her heart attack scared me
to death, and she’s all I have. I guess that really woke me up to the fact that I
wasn’t spending enough time with her, and that she was getting older. I think
sometimes we get so involved with work and life that we forget what’s really
important.”
My mother and I had always been close, and she’d been so happy when I’d moved
back to Cystal Fork the first time with Tanner.
However, she’d been the first one to encourage me to take a great opportunity in
Seattle when Tanner and I had broken up, even though she’d rather have me closer.
She’d wanted me to be happy, even if that meant that I’d be moving eight hundred
miles away from her.
My only parent had always wanted what was best for me first.
Now it was time for me to think about what was best for her.
I was her only child, a daughter she thought she’d never have until she finally got
pregnant in her thirties.
She’d raised me well, and she’d done it alone because we’d lost my dad when I
was an infant.
Mom had just celebrated her seventieth birthday.
Granted, she was extremely independent and capable, but after that scare with her
heart attack and her cardiac surgery, I wanted to spend as much time with her as I
possibly could.
Even if that meant that I’d have to deal with the life and the heartache I’d left
behind in Crystal Fork years ago.
“The older you get, the faster time seems to pass by,” Silas pondered. “Joy will
love having you closer to her, but she doesn’t want to see you miserable in a place
where you’re not comfortable.”
I swallowed more of my coffee before I answered, “That’s just it. I’ve always
loved it here. I missed Crystal Fork and the people here. I guess I didn’t expect to
be treated like a pariah. Everyone adores the Remingtons, and I’m basically an
outsider now.”
“I’m not defending the way that people are treating you, Hannah, but he was pretty
heartbroken. He wasn’t himself after it happened, but he never wanted to talk
about it,” Silas mentioned. “I still think you should talk to him. He could set the
record straight.”
“I’m not sure he knows what happened,” I confessed reluctantly.
“Then maybe you can set him straight on the whole thing,” Silas suggested. “He
broke your heart, and he still thinks you left him for someone else.”
“I got over it,” I informed Silas. “And I’m not the same woman that I was seven
years ago, Silas.”
He shook his head. “I think you’re exactly the same woman you were seven years
ago. You just hide that soft heart of yours better than you used to.”
Ha! I didn’t just hide it. I’d shoved that part of myself that had loved Tanner more
than life itself so deep that it would never see the light of day again.
Our relationship was part of my past, and I’d probably never let myself be that
vulnerable to anyone again.
“I grew up,” I told Silas before I swallowed the last of my coffee.
I’d left Crystal Fork devastated, but I’d found success in Seattle beyond my wildest
dreams.
I’d gone to Seattle to start a business with two cosmetologists that I’d known in
New York, and we’d built that business into something special and lucrative.
Giving up my partnership in that business had been one of the hardest things I’d
ever done, but I’d had to do it to make the move back to Crystal Fork.
I’d lost that identity and reputation that I’d worked so hard for in Seattle, but the
experience and confidence it had given me was still incredibly valuable to me.
“If it means anything, I think you grew up way quicker than Tanner,” Silas
mumbled. “But he seems to have his priorities straight and his head more together
now.”
I took a quick look at the clock over the bar before I leaned forward and gave Silas
a quick kiss on the cheek. “I have to go. I need to open the store soon.”
Sweet Mornings opened early and usually closed by early afternoon because my
mother ran out of donuts.
“You call me if you need anything,” Silas insisted. “I’m right across the street.”
My heart warmed because of the sincerity in his gaze.
“Thanks for the advice and the coffee,” I told him with a smile.
“I’ve got more of the same whenever you want it.”
I wanted to kiss the older man again for being so kind to me.
Probably because kindness from the people in Crystal Fork was in very short
supply for me right now. ...
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