Coming back to Kittering Creek felt like stepping into a trap I'd spent ten years avoiding. The whispers, the sideways glances, the memories of lies that cost me everything. And there's Shane Kittering, acting like he didn't stand by while my life imploded. Like his silence didn't hurt just as much as Savannah's poison.
The worst part? My body apparently didn't get the memo about not trusting him. One look and I'm seventeen again, watching him across the hallway and pretending I wasn't. My mother warned me about Kitterings with her dying breath. She knew something, and I should have listened better.
But here I am, letting him help with the estate sale. Letting him near Daphne. Letting those warm brown eyes chip away at defenses I built for good reason. Some lessons you're supposed to learn the first time around. Guess I'm a slow learner when it comes to cowboys who look at me like I matter.
Ember
Ten years I've carried the weight of not standing up for her. I was eighteen, scared, and I believed the wrong people. Coward doesn't even cover it.
Now Ember's back, and I thought I'd get a chance to make things right.
Maybe prove I'm not that kid anymore. Except every time I'm around her, I'm not thinking about redemption. I'm thinking about the way she laughs when she's caught off guard. The way she holds Daphne like she'd fight the world for her.
And Daphne. That little girl grabbed my finger and my heart in one go. Never thought I'd fall for a nine-month-old, but here we are.
The problem is Ember doesn't trust easy, and I gave her every reason not to. Her mother warned her about Kitterings with her dying breath. Can't blame her for listening. But I'm hoping, praying really, that she'll give me another shot. Not to fix the past, but to build something new.
Shane
