1
Lacy
After so many years away from my hometown, I’m sure that the memories and pain that drove me from the place I’d always known as home would have faded away by now. But I’m wrong. As I drive down the main street to Forest Grove, Tennessee heading toward my family’s B&B, I feel myself tearing up over the bittersweet memories.
My plans after graduating high school were to leave this small town. My then boyfriend and I had big ideas that we would move to the city and create a whole new life together, one away from my family’s B&B and his family’s ranch. But tragedy happened and Trent’s parents passed away. I felt it all the way to my bones. Even now, three years later, it hurts. His parents were like my second parents, and I grieved their passing too. I knew they would need to put off our leaving Forest Grove, but then Trent dropped the bombshell. He wanted to break up, telling me he wasn’t in love with me anymore. So I left Forest Grove, planning to never come back.
But man, how plans change.
The last three years I’ve been taking business courses at a college three hours from here. Living in the big city wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And besides the one-day visits to my parents, I haven’t been back to Forest Grove for an extended amount of time since I left. But when my parents told me to either come home and run the B&B or they were selling it, I knew what I had to do.
At first, I thought I would regret my instant decision to come back, but I haven’t. I’m actually a little relieved. As I look around at the town as it passes by, it just feels right, and I’m happy to be home.
Driving through town, everything is the same, but still different.
I remind myself I’m not the lovesick teenager I was when I left as I blink away the tears. I can do this. I know I can. No way am I letting a single one fall. I’ve cried so many tears over the years for Trent Keller I’m not giving him another one. I’ve told myself that I’ve moved on, and even though I’ve dated other men, I’ve always compared them to him. No matter how hard I tried not to.
Pulling into the driveway for the B&B, my mouth drops open. I knew my parents had made some changes, but the beauty of it is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
The B&B looks great. The new pink accents are a cheerful and tasteful color, and the wraparound porch has some nice upgrades I didn’t anticipate. The outdoor heaters and lounge seating looks comfortable and welcoming.
I park near the garage and spot my parents sitting in a porch swing kissing like two teenagers. I sit there in a daze, remembering my youth. My parents are the epitome of marriage. It’s always been them against the world, and I can’t help but wish the same thing for myself one day. They were great examples to me of what a relationship should be like. They raised the bar high, and I make a promise to myself right then and there, as my parents walk toward me hand in hand, that I won’t settle for anything less. I want exactly what they have. They’re great parents, and I’m happy that they are retiring. They deserve to have some fun.
Now, all I have to do is avoid Trent Keller and move on with my life. Should be easy enough.
Trent
It’s just after eleven in the morning, and I’ve already put in a full day’s worth of work at the family ranch. I’ve got every intention of getting back to the ranch to work some more after I pick up some supplies at the feedstore in town.
Jason, my younger brother, is with me and being his chatty self with the clerk and burning daylight. I load up the truck and sit down in the driver’s seat, biding my time as I wait on my younger brother. I’ve never been called a patient man, and I honk the horn to put a little fire under Jason, thinking the I need to get back to the ranch. The cows aren’t going to feed themselves.
Jason is shaking his head when he comes out of the store with a big smile on his face. He must have gotten the cashier’s number.
“We’ve got a lot to get done,” I remind him.
“You should be glad I was getting the latest from Milly. She’s always got the best information that people want to know.”
I laugh and begin to back the truck up. “She’s a gossip,” I state, only half listening to my brother. There isn’t any gossip I’m interested in wasting my time over.
We barely get a block down the road, and it’s obvious that Jason is itching to say something. He can barely sit still. Finally, when he can’t stand it anymore, he turns in his seat and asks, “Don’t you want to know what I found out?”
Jason is the youngest of the three Keller brothers, and sometimes I think he is refusing to mature. He’s always goofing off and never seems to take anything seriously. So him sitting here, bouncing up and down in his seat, is nothing new. “No.”
“Even if it’s about Lacy?” Jason asks, dragging out the name of the woman who left town with my heart.
I perk up then and give my younger brother a look that lets him know he’d better talk if he doesn’t want a world of pain. I don’t mess around, especially when it comes to Lacy. I haven’t heard her name in probably a year, but I’ve thought about her every day.
Jason is too pleased with himself to keep quiet anyway. “Lacy came home. She arrived in Forest Grove not two hours ago.”
I can already feel my heart pounding in my chest. My high school sweetheart, the love of my life, the one I pushed away, is back in Forest Grove. “She is visiting her parents?”
Jason pauses for effect, but the look I give him tells him that he’d better spill it, and it better be fast. “She’s back to stay. Lacy’s gonna run the B&B.”
The rest of the ride out to the ranch is filled with Jason yammering on about one thing or another, but I don’t even pay attention. I’ve got my mind set on the fact that Lacy’s back, and it sounds as if she’s back to stay. With more gumption than I’ve felt in a long time, I tell myself I’m not going to screw this up. I’m not going to lose her again.
2
Lacy
“Did you stop by and see your old flame on your way into town?” my mom asks as I unpack my suitcase. She hasn’t stopped since I walked in the door. After the first twenty questions about what I’ve been doing and then to ask about the guy I dumped back in the city, I should have known that my mother would mention Trent. I hadn’t been seeing Craig, the man in the city, long, and I broke up with him before making the choice to come back and take over the B&B when I found out my parents wanted to retire.
I knew that my mom would ask, but I guess I didn’t think it would be in my first fifteen minutes home. I’ve done all I can to forget about Trent. And it’s been hard. I definitely don’t need to be reminded of him at every turn. “I’m not back here to see Trent, Mom. I’m here because I want to take over the family business. I’ve missed this place, the town.”
“The people,” my mom adds.
She’s not going to let up. You would think my mother wouldn’t like Trent. Especially the way he broke up with me and totally devastated my life, turning it completely upside down.