Picture Perfect Summer by Marquita Valentine

Author:Marquita Valentine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: second chance at love, contemporary romance, steamy contemporary romance, kings of castle Beach, single dad romance, beach read, marquita valentine
Publisher: Marquita Valentine
Published: 2019-01-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

True

It’s been one month since the memorial for Laird took place.

I flew in for the service, sneaked in the back row at the last minute and left right after the last prayer was said. My heart broke for the boy I knew, for the girl who loved him, and for the kids I spent a perfect summer getting to know while I dated their brother.

I had to pay my respects, but I couldn’t face the King family. Luckily, no one saw me. Although, I did let Ophelia know I’d be there. We didn’t have time to talk, other than through text messages.

Now... now I’m not sure so I’ll get out of Castle Beach or Royal Bay without notice.

I drive the extremely large, retro black convertible—top down, of course, along the tree-lined streets of Royal Bay, my mind on the one man who has never left me. Well, never left me in my dreams, anyway.

Honestly, he didn’t leave me at all. I’d been the one to leave.

My heart pinches at the thought, so hard and so painful that it shocks me. I didn’t realize that simply thinking about him could do so much damage. After all, he hadn’t been the one to leave ten years ago, that was all me.

Now I’m back. A sort of homecoming on my part, if you will, without all the fanfare of a church picnic. Only it’s not fall, barely anyone knows I’m in town, and my goal is to get my parents’ house in order and staged to put on the market, then haul tail back to Scottsdale before anyone’s the wiser.

By anyone, I mean Duke King.

After ten years, I should be completely over him. It’s not like I pined for him from across the country, never dating and remaining an old maid who collected cats and books.

Okay, so I do collect books, but as for the rest, I tried. I really, really tried to fall in love again

My only problem? I measured every man against Duke and almost all of them came up short.

Linc was the only one who came close, but in the end, we broke off our engagement because he refused to compete with the man who owned my heart.

Until those words were spoken eight months ago, I never thought about it that way. I never thought that my heart had never come back to me once I left North Carolina all those years ago.

This is exactly why I need to break all ties to home. A clean break, with no reason at all to come back to Royal Bay or Castle Beach. I found love once, thought I had it with Linc, so it stands to reason that I’ll meet another man, this time without anything to tie me to my past.

With a deep sigh, I pull the black convertible into the driveway of my childhood home, warm, soft memories replacing the sharp, cold ones. A smile replaces my frown and I hop out of my car, house keys in hand.

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