Twice in a Lifetime

When I moved away from Hope Valley at eighteen years old, I told myself it was for good. There were too many unpleasant memories, too much history, and too many reminders of the boy who had broken my heart.

Years passed and I built a life and a family with a man I loved. Then, in the blink of an eye, that life was ripped away from me, and the secrets he'd kept from me refused to follow him into his grave.

Now I'm back in my hometown, a shell of my former self, trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered life and fit them back together. My heart has been broken for the second time in my life, but I have to put on a brave face and fake it for the sake of my kids and the people I love.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding the pain, but there is one person I've never been able to fool. One person who was always able to see through the masks I tried to wear, and he is determined to chase my shadows away.

Rhodes Bradbury is all grown up now. The boy who had been my first love is now all man. And to make matters worse, my body still reacts to him the same way it did all those years ago. My heart still races in his presence, and a single look from those deep, dark eyes is enough to make my skin tingle. The voice in the back of my head is screaming at me to steer clear, but there's just one problem.

The boy he was might have broken my heart, but the man he is now wants a second chance. He isn't afraid of my baggage. In fact, he wants nothing more than to carry it for me.

I'm trying my hardest not to repeat the mistakes of the past. But he's doing everything in his power to convince me that most people aren't lucky enough to have what we had even once, let alone twice in a lifetime.