As Greg closed his locker, his eyes snagged on the old damaged photograph taped to the inside of the metal door. If he knew where the other copy was, he’d replace this damaged one, but it’d been missing for years.
His father passed him just at that moment, also noticing the photo of Greg and his mother. Martin gave a soft sigh and looked down. It’d been almost two decades since his mother passed, but Greg felt her absence every day. As each lonely year passed, it stung that he’d been raised by such warm loving parents, but he was still alone.
The solution to his problem was on that train. He hurried to his truck and drove through town with a little more speed this time. Never really being off-duty, with his cop instincts on full blast, he scanned the town and watched out for potential trouble. The hardware store manager dragged out shovels and buckets of ice melt for the next big snow storm. The bagel shop already had a line out the door and massive SUVs jockeyed for position outside the Starbucks. Some unlucky day-shift officer would get a fender-bender call any moment.
Greg sped away faster.
He skipped the chaotic designer-coffee scene, preferring his morning-joe from a cart in the south parking lot of the train station. With a steaming cup in his hand, he sat in his truck and waited.
Today, today could be the day. The day he found his balls and talked to Faith. Why, he’d ask her.
Just tell me why, so I could move on.
Closure was the goal. There was no moving on without it. Okay Skye, you win, miss smarty-pants. Or those tight suits she always wore. With skirts too damn high.
The train glided past the crossing, dragging his thoughts away from his single sister who’d been secretly lusting after a fireman.
Steam drifted across the platform in white plumes from the cold mixing with the hot diesel engine.
He wondered why they even ran this train. Only a handful of people were coming from New York City at that hour.
His heart pounded, and he tightened his grip around the ice-cold door handle.
Bundled in a coat and speaking on her phone, the woman he’d been working up the nerve to confront stepped off the double-decker car. From a distance, he could see her flushed face, as red as the long hair flowing out of her hat.
She’d moved back to Darling Cove months ago and Greg didn’t know how long she planned to stay in town this time. For years, she’d lived in Manhattan after returning from that damn news assignment in Iraq, seven years ago.
Her so-called excuse for calling off their wedding. Greg hadn’t bought it then, and ten years later, still felt deep down in his cop bones, there’d been another reason.
If he had the truth, he could forgive her and move on.
His breath seized in his lungs, though. Seeing Faith still made him freeze up. That horrific heartbreak she whacked him with when she ran off crept up and socked him in the gut, like it’d happened yesterday.
Breathless and empty, Greg could only raise his cup of coffee and in a hoarse whisper say, “Good morning, Faith.”
“THANKS FOR THE CALL, Carter.” Faith chatted with the director while walking to her car.
“When can Mobile One get new camera equipment?”
The fate of her reporters had weighed heavily on her mind the rest of her shift and during the entire train ride home.
“I put the request in, should be a couple of days,” Carter answered, yawning.
“Okay, thanks. See you Sunday night. Have a good weekend.”
Overnight shifts were screwing with her equilibrium, too. No matter how tired she was, she couldn’t sleep deeply during the day. It left her in a constant state of exhaustion. Yet when her show was on the air, she remained focused enough to come up with quick retorts for Michael and made split-second decisions about camera angles. All other times she wandered around in a fog. Like now.
“Excuse me,” she said bumping into a soft white coat, she hadn’t seen.
“Faith?”
She looked up and her dry throat tightened. “Hey, Gwen.”
Despite the early hour, Greg’s sister looked flawless. Dark sable hair styled perfectly, sapphire blue eyes shining bright, and she smiled with the glowing cheeks of an expectant mother. News traveled fast in Darling Cove. The man responsible for Gwen’s condition got out of the car parked next to hers.
“Faith, this is my husband, Andrew.” Gwen looped her arms around a man so tall Faith had to look up.
When she did, she stopped herself from stumbling backward. Holy. Good. God. Handsome didn’t begin to describe this man. Her best friend from childhood scored a hotty.
“Nice to meet you.” Andrew, dressed in a stylish car coat held out a hand covered in a handsome leather glove.
That’s right, they both work for Prada.
“Same here.” Faith shook his hand then shoved sweaty bangs further up inside the wool hat she bought at Target.
“Oh my gosh, Faith.” Gwen grabbed her shoulders. “It’s so amazing that I’m running into you.”
“The train’s coming in a minute, my love,” Andrew announced, tugging his wife’s arm.
“Yeah, yeah. Just a sec.” Gwen faced her again. “I had a whole photography thing set up for this weekend. Reserved the tasting room at the winery, threatened my family to be there. Andrew’s parents are coming from the city. And my photographer just bailed.”
Uh-oh.
“Train.” Andrew pointed to the lowering gates and flashing lights.
“Is there any way you can do it for us? I’ll pay you,” Gwen asked with a pleading smile.
Faith shifted her bags to another arm, discomfort crawling across her skin like spiders. Twenty-four goes into seven hundred and sixty.
With an eye roll she asked, “Greg will be there, right?”
“He is part of the family,” Gwen answered with her usual snark.
“Is she...” Andrew whispered in Gwen’s ear. When she nodded, he said, “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Faith fought against the anxiety making her heart do violent flips. The tiny hairs on her arms and the back of her neck shot up from just the idea of being trapped in the same room with Greg Mallory.
She sighed to herself, pushing away the fear. This could be her chance to apologize...again. When she’d left ten years ago, her words had been tied up in muffled sobs and she’d really been apologizing for something else, something unsaid, something she’d kept deep inside herself.
When she’d learned that after all this time, Greg had never married, her heart had broken all over again. Faith had more to apologize for. In the five months since she’d been back in Darling Cove, it didn’t look like he had any intention of talking to her.
This engagement thing could be her chance to ask for forgiveness. Get the past behind her once and for all.
Gwen’s dark blue eyes bore down on her while she snuck looks at her husband.
Faith waved her hands to break the tension. “Sure. It’ll be fine. We’re adults. And it was a long time ago.”
“You’re a lifesaver!” Gwen shoved a business card at her. “Text me your info and I’ll send you the details.”
“I feel more like a life- ruiner,” she mumbled to herself. “Now I’m an ambusher.”
She sighed and caught the last glimpse of the beautiful couple running for their train hand in hand.