Prologue
“You want to live here? In this ramshackle house?” Luke eyes me curiously. We are laid out on a blanket in his backyard staring up at the stars. An early summer heat wave hit, turning the house into a stuffy hot box, driving us outside where the cicadas are buzzing and the stars are twinkling.
“I love this house. It may not be pretty now, but it has potential,” I say, curling closer to his side, placing my chin on his chest so I can look into Luke’s warm blue eyes. I love his eyes, full of mischief and a softness whenever I catch him watching me.
“I rather build you a house, Amber” Luke says, giving me a small squeeze. “Your dream home.”
“I like this house. It feels… I don’t know, like it’s meant to be our place.” I shrug, rolling off Luke and lay on my back. I stare at the house Luke grew up in—the home I see us starting our lives in, where we will raise our children, and grow old together.
It’s a two-story house with white paint that is covered in dirt from years of neglect. The peeling paint is so dingy, the house is really more of a gray color, but I can picture it a gleaming white with a red door and crystal-clear picture windows. I see past the splintering wooden porch, rotten window frames, and missing shutters. I see what the house could be, not what it is.
The interior is just as bad as the exterior, with scuffed wooden floors, grimy walls that haven’t been cleaned in years, missing cabinet doors, and dated appliances, but there is beauty hiding underneath. The open-concept floorplan, with its large kitchen could comfortably accommodate a growing family. I see us having Sunday dinners with all of Luke’s brothers and my own family sitting around his mother’s long dining room table.
So what if all the doors squeak, they can be oiled. Who cares if the bathrooms look straight out of the ‘70s? Luke and I can update them together, turn them into mini spa retreats. The possibilities are endless.
Luke shifts to his side, propping himself on an elbow as his eyes focus on my mouth. “This place has some rotten memories.”
“But you had some good memories, too,” I say, turning my head to face him. He’s thinking about his dad, who is passed out in his recliner, oblivious to the world around him, and the pain he causes his sons. “Before your mom died.”
Sadness clouds Luke’s beautiful blue eyes whenever his mom is mentioned. She died too young, leaving behind four sons who cherished her and a husband who lost himself to alcohol, drinking his pain away.
Despite the crappy hand Luke was dealt, he managed to stay kind and charming. Shouldering the burden to care for his younger brothers and stepping into shoes meant for an adult. I admire him more every day when I see him step up, yet not sacrificing his dreams.
“Do you know how much I love you?” Luke asks and his blue eyes darken as he searches mine with desperation, as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear.
I don’t answer him with words but with a kiss that conveys more than words could ever say. A kiss that binds us together, that quickens my pulse and takes my breath away.
Our love was all consuming, so deep it merged our souls. He was it for me. My one and only love.
Until he wasn’t…
Until he broke all his promises.
Until he broke my heart.
Broke me.
1
- Luke -
Fifteen years later
“We are gathered here today to join this man and this women in holy matrimony,” Peak Valley’s Community Church minister speaks out to the guests. There are hundreds of people here to witness the wedding that will go down in Peak Valley history. Even I can’t believe it’s happening. “If anyone has any objections, please speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“I better not hear anyone one of you object!” Burns snaps to the guests, glaring at them. He never was a man of subtlety.
Burns has been the closest thing I have had to a father. Mine checked out not long after my mother died in a car accident when I was barely a teenager. He forgot he had four sons unless we got in his way, then hell broke loose. He was mean and drank his sorrows away until he died. I can’t image what we would have become if it was for Burns. I’m honored he asked me and my brothers to stand with him to tie the knot.
“Then do you, Alvin Burns, take Janet Johnson to be your lawfully wedded wife?” the preacher asks, pulling Burns’ attention back to his blushing bride.
“Hell yeah, I do!” he whoops, a toothy grin stretches across his wrinkled face, and he looks years younger than a man in his eighties.
“Do you, Janet Johnson, take Alvin Burns to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” Miss Janet politely says with a big smile and a twinkle in her eye.
“Can I kiss my woman now?” Burns asks the minister eagerly with raised eyebrows. The pride that shines in his eyes spreads a wide smile across my face. Call me a sucker for weddings but seeing a man gaze at his woman as if she is the only person in the room pulls at my heartstrings.
Another emotion, envy maybe, but it doesn’t really describe the longing I have to be in Burns’ shoes, with one person in particular, but she isn’t giving me the time of day.
“You may kiss the bride.” The minister nods with a chuckle, reminding me I have best man duties I should be focusing on. Burns wastes no time planting what I can only describe as an old man kiss on Miss Janet… wait now, Mrs. Burns.
Guests erupt into cheers and several aren’t afraid to grumble as they stand for the happy couple, who continue to kiss. Let’s be honest, they are full on making out, and it isn’t a sight I want permanently fixed in my brain. Looking away, my eyes zero in on their target. The woman who haunts my waking and sleeping hours, Amber.
She’s stunning in a red ‘50s-inspired bridesmaid dress. The sweetheart neckline draws my eyes to her cleavage before the dress flares out just above her knees. I silently beg her to look at me, just one glance this way. I sound desperate, but I have been in love with this woman for over fifteen years. I knew she was it for me after our first date, but I blew it not long after that. No, I didn’t blow it… I destroyed it.
“You’re drooling,” Jax, my youngest brother, says from the end of the groomsmen line. I face my annoying baby brother and my other equally annoying brother, Eric, who watch me with smug smiles. I mentally note to leave their asses here when I head for the reception. “Just ask her out already.”
“He can’t.” Eric chuckles. “She won’t give him the time of day.”
“Rough,” Jax says. “Now move.”
The new Mr. and Mrs. Burns step away from the altar and head down the aisle. I step from the altar as Amber steps down, sticking out my elbow. She takes it, and warmth spreads over me like melted butter. I could be putty in her hand if she would only pay me a little attention.
Her smile is dazzling, showing off her white teeth. The whole church receives her smile, except for me. Her hand, the slight pressure it makes, is precious—and I know it’s all I will get from her. She is walking with me out of respect and love for Burns and Miss Janet… I mean, the new Mrs. Burns. I reach across and place my own hand over hers, wishing she knew just how sorry I am with that one touch. Two emerald eyes flare up at me with annoyance, and I know I shouldn’t smile but I love when she gets fired up.