The Path Not Taken by Ruth Logan Herne

Author:Ruth Logan Herne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-08-12T18:36:52+00:00

* * *

“You’re having supper together? Every night?” Jordan whistled softly later that afternoon. “That’s an interesting twist of events.”

Devlyn wasn’t about to examine any of this too closely. She checked the time and winced. “I’ve got to get over to Doc Mary’s house. The kids will be getting home and I thought I’d get more done here today.” She indicated the sales area with a grimace. “The thought of filling all this space with goods is scary, isn’t it? It wouldn’t have been so bad before the fire, but—”

“You sure you don’t want to fill in with imported stuff to start off?” said Jordan. “You don’t want the displays to look too crowded, but you don’t want too much empty space, either.”

“I’m considering it,” Devlyn confessed as they moved to the door. “It’s not something I want to do, but it might be necessary. A broker called from Gatlinburg. He’s working with some shops there and he’s going to show me what’s available to get us through the next few months. It’s not my dream, but it might be a crucial initial step.” She pulled her hoodie on and brought the hood up over her head once she’d locked the door.

The skies opened up. The morning weather forecast had called for a soaking rain midafternoon and they were right. Jordan’s car was parked nearby. Devlyn had tucked hers in the church parking lot around the corner. As she raced to her car, her thoughts went straight to the men on that roof. Would they have the common sense to stop working?

Maybe.

But she knew Rye, and if a job needed to be done at a certain time, it got done. She pulled into the cabin driveway, and there they were, Rye and two of Shane’s work crew, scraping the last quarter of the cabin’s roof into the second dumpster in the pouring rain.

She started to fall for him all over again at that moment.

He didn’t need to do this.

He wasn’t a construction laborer. He had money. A great job. And she’d looked up his address online. He lived in one of his own developments, a waterfront complex with all the amenities anyone could ask for, but here he was. On a roof, in the rain, raking mildewed roofing tiles for an old woman he barely knew. Seeing him up there, working so hard, made her heart reopen to possibilities she’d sealed a long time ago. She threw together a quick potato casserole and set it in the fridge. She could stick it in the oven when they got home. She had to hurry back out, but he looked up when she drove past the cabin. He waved.

She waved back.

And then she drove to Doc’s to take care of their son and his friends.

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