Those Cassabaw Days
A BOND THAT NOT EVEN TIME CAN BREAK…As kids, Emily Quinn and Matt Malone were thick as thieves in the tightly knit community of Cassabaw Station. Then Emily's world crumbled into tragedy, and she was sent away. She's just returned to run a beachside café she now owns. A free spirit… with a guarded heart.But while this town still feels like home, Matt is nothing like the boy she remembered. He is a man lost to shadows and doubt. As he helps Emily restore the café, however, their childhood bond reignites and unfurls into bittersweet longing. Now they face the greatest test of friendship… love.
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A bond that not even time can breakâ¦
As kids, Emily Quinn and Matt Malone were thick as thieves in the tightly knit community of Cassabaw Station. Then Emilyâs world crumbled into tragedy, and she was sent away. Sheâs just returned to run a beachside café she now owns. A free spiritâ¦with a guarded heart.
But while this town still feels like home, Matt is nothing like the boy she remembered. He is a man lost to shadows and doubt. As he helps Emily restore the café, however, their childhood bond reignites and unfurls into bittersweet longing. Now they face the greatest test of friendshipâ¦love.
What if?
What if he had kissed Em? Would she have pushed him away? Matt highly doubted it. Her body language had spoken volumes. He could tell she was completely in tune with him. He could see it in the shine of her eyes, in the way she leaned into him, and the light touch of her fingertips against his shoulder. The way sheâd stumbled over words. Sheâd felt the same pull he had.
So strong was the current between them that Matt had literally wanted to pull her hard against him, dig his fingers into her hair and find the perfect angle of her head, just before lowering his mouth and fitting it to hers. So close heâd come to tasting those full lips, that long, soft throat, and holding her lithe body in his hands.
âDammit!â Matt muttered under his breath, willing the images to go away. They wouldnât. They stayed. Grew. Morphed into more than just a kiss.
Those Cassabaw Days introduces Matt Malone and Emily Quinn, childhood friends separated by time and now reunited on the small barrier island they grew up on. But this is more than simple romance. More, even, than just falling in love, experiencing the rush of butterflies, the fever of passion. Itâs about building a friendship rooted in childhood innocence. Itâs about having memories and making more memories. And itâs about overcoming all the barriers that stand in the way of forever.
I wrote this novel from many of my own memories: the place I grew up, people I knew and loved, and beloved recollections that still resonate within me when I inhale a certain scent or hear a particular song.
I hope you enjoy these memories embedded in Those Cassabaw Days, the unique souls who inhabit the island of Cassabaw Station, the families and hearts who fall desperately in love. It might even set you on a journey to find such a placeâeven if within the pages of a novel.
Happy reading!
Cindy Miles
CINDY MILES grew up on the salt marshes and back rivers of Savannah, Georgia. Moody, sultry and mossy, with its ancient cobblestones and Georgian and Gothic architecture, the city inspired her to write twelve adult novels, one anthology, three short stories and one young-adult novel. When Cindy is not writing, she loves traveling, photography, baking, classic rock and the vintage, tinny music of The Great Gatsby era. To learn more about her books visit her at cindy-miles.com.
For Wimpy and Frances Hardenâ
they really did fall in love as kids and grow old together.
For the Greatest Generation of our timeâ
the men and women of World War II.
For Deidre Knightâ
someone who always believes and is always my champion.
For my mom, Dale Neaseâ
best cheerleader ever!
And for Logan, Liam and Lachlan Pierceâ
my crazy Texas monkeys who fill me with joy.
Contents
Island Cemetery Cassabaw Station August 2000
WHAT WAS IT about death and rain, anyway? Emily Quinnâs grandma had said it was the angelsâ tears falling from Heaven, and they were sad that Mama and Daddy had to leave us behind to join them. Sheâd also said God was full of euphoria to have two new angels beside Him to do His work. What was euphoria, anyway? And why didnât God do some of His own work? There were plenty enough angels in Heaven. Emily and her little sister, Reagan, needed Mama and Daddy more than God did. But it didnât matter to Him. He had them now, and was keeping them. Forever. No take backs.
Emily stood just outside of the cover of her grandpaâs umbrella, staring at the cemetery workers as they turned a metal crank, lowering her father into the grave. She wondered whoâd dressed him in that stupid dark gray suit. He looked stuffy and pinched and uncomfortable with that tie yanked up close to his throat. Daddy hated suits. He liked shorts and T-shirts and his favorite old brown leather flip-flops. Theyâd also brushed his unruly sun-bleached curls to the side. He never, ever wore his hair like that, and it looked dumb. Even now she wanted to fling that lid open and ruffle his hair so it was messy and Daddy. No one had listened to her, though.
