The Girl He Left Behind
TWO LITTLE SECRETSIt should be a dream come true for divorcée Eve Kelly. After twelve years, her high school sweetheart Adam Crenshaw is back – and sexier than ever! But Eve has a problem. Her eleven-year-old twins. Twins their secret daddy can never know about…Home to care for his ailing mother, the music star didn’t expect to fall so hard for the small-town single mum…again. Adam is used to getting what he wants, and he wants Eve. This time, though, instead of a fling, he just may get a family…a family he didn’t know he had!
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âIâve never forgotten you, Eve,â Adam said softly.
âThat kiss last night, it wasnât an impulse. I wanted to kiss you from the minute I saw you at the shelter. My big hit, âImpossible to Forget,â I wrote that song because of you.â
Eve swallowed. She wanted to look away, but she couldnât. Even when he reached for her hand, her gaze remained glued to his. When he gently pulled her toward him, her stupid heart began to race, and even though her brain screamed Danger! Danger! No! Stop! Donât do it! she didnât resist when he drew her into his arms.
âI want you, Eve.â
She closed her eyes as his lips grazed her cheek and drifted down to her neck.
âIâve always wanted you,â he whispered.
Every nerve ending in her body seemed to be alive with sensation. And when he raised his head to capture her mouth, she moaned, and instead of stopping him, she kissed him back as if her very life depended upon it â¦
* * *
The Crandall Lake Chronicles: Small town, big hearts
Formerly writing as Trisha Alexander, PATRICIA KAY is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty-eight novels of contemporary romance and womenâs fiction. She lives in Houston, Texas. To learn more about her, visit her website at www.patriciakay.com.
This book is dedicated to Dick, with whom I shared fifty-three years of adventures. We all love and miss you!
âThere is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.â
âMark Twain
The boy stands under the overhang, guitar case in hand, his backpack stuffed with his belongings. The bus will arrive any minute. Beyond the overhang the rain falls steadily. It has been raining for days here in the Texas Hill Country.
His gaze sweeps the station platform.
Is she coming?
Heâd told her she had to be here no later than eight oâclock. The station clock now reads eight twelve. The bus is due to leave the station at eight fifteen. The boy looks at his phone again. Should he risk calling her house? But what if her father answers? For at least the hundredth time since theyâd become a couple, he curses her fatherâs stupid rules. Eve is one of the few girls left in their senior class who doesnât yet have a cell phone. He has no way of contacting her without alerting her parents.
He looks around slowly, hoping this time heâll see her, that sheâll be out of breath from hurrying, saying how sorry she is that she made him wait, that she didnât say yes when he first started talking about her coming with him, that she made him worry. But sheâs not there. The only other person on the platform is an older man who was already there when the boy arrived.
Sheâs not coming.
His heart thuds painfully as the truth sinks in. Yet he isnât really surprised. Down deep, hasnât he always known she wouldnât come? That heâs never been good enough for her? Hasnât he been lying to himself all along, pretending she would change her mind and come because he didnât want to think about the alternative?
Youâre on your own. She doesnât love you enough to defy her family. You knew she wouldnât leave home. It was never gonna happen. Forget about her. The two of you together was always a fairy tale, and youâve never believed in fairy tales.
He thinks about how heâd once told Aaron to grow up, saying, âThere ainât no Santa Claus, kid, and you might as well get used to it!â
He sighs. Yeah, there ainât no Santa Claus. And there sure as hell wasnât gonna be a happy ever after for him. Not with Eve anyhow. Heâd have to make his own happy ever after by making his dream of a career in music come true.
The hiss of air brakes heralds the arrival of the bus, and the boy pulls his baseball cap more firmly on his head and darts through the rain toward the opening doors.
Two minutes later, as the bus pulls away from the station, heading east toward his future, the boy gives one last, long look at the town where heâs spent all eighteen years of his life so far.
Then he turns resolutely away. No more looking at the past. From now on, he will only look forward.
Twelve years later...
Eve Kelly stared at the headline.
Adam Crenshaw and Version II Launching Fall Tour in Austin
She could hardly believe her eyes.
Adam.
Adam was finally coming home. He would be performing in Austin. Which was less than an hour away. Eve swallowed while the enormity of what sheâd just read in the online version of the Austin American-Statesman sank in.
Twelve years. It had been twelve years since the day Adam had ridden out of her life. Twelve years to wonder if sheâd done the right thing or if her long-ago decision had been the worst one sheâd ever made.
