The Way Back to Hope: A Sweet Small Town Romance (Aspen Valley Homecoming Book 3) by Carolyne Aarsen

Author:Carolyne Aarsen [Aarsen, Carolyne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Misty Ridge Publishing
Published: 2021-08-24T16:00:00+00:00

“Jacob, why don’t you come with me and Roxie?” RayAnn said when supper was done. She flashed a smile at Klint, who suspected they were leaving for a very specific reason. To give him and Shelby some time alone.

He didn’t mind at all.

Jacob looked up from the game he was playing again on Roxie’s phone, frowning at them. “Why?”

“We have to pick something out at the bakery for dessert on Sunday, that’s why. And DeHeerdt’s will be closed pretty soon.”

“You don’t need to go right away,” Shelby said. “We can get something here.”

“No. JennaLyn told me she was trying some new desserts today, and I want to see what she has,” Roxie said.

At the mention of the bakery, Jacob perked up. “Okay, but this time I get to pick what we have.”

“We’ll see about that.” Roxie waved her hand at Shelby, who still hadn’t finished her dinner. “Don’t rush. You’ll get indigestion if you eat too fast. Just give me your debit card, and we’ll be back in a shake,” she said.

Shelby dug in her purse just as RayAnn hustled Jacob away from the table.

As they left with Shelby’s card, an awkward silence followed in their wake. Shelby poked at her dinner, and though Klint was glad of the time alone with her, he guessed she felt uncomfortable.

He shouldn’t have touched her shoulder, but he couldn’t help himself. She looked so distressed over Jacob’s complaint, and he felt so helpless. It was the least he could do.

“I’m thinking the girls did that for a reason,” Klint said.

“I’m thinking you’re right.” Shelby pushed her plate away, obviously not hungry anymore, then crossed her arms and turned to him. “You may as well know, they think we should get back together again.”

Trust her to get right to the point. That was one thing he always admired about Shelby. She was never one to edge around a conversation. Her feeling was that life was too short to waste time not understanding each other.

“How do you feel about that?”

Shelby sighed and lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I don’t know.”

Not exactly what he wanted to hear, but then he had to be realistic as well. He had only been here a few weeks, so he could hardly expect that both of them would jump back into what they had before. He wasn’t the same person, and neither was she.

And yet…

“What don’t you know about?” he pressed, wondering if maybe, after all this time, he might find out why she had broken up with him.

She fiddled with her fork, as if playing for time.

A man walked past them and as they glanced his way, Klint recognized Quinn. Someone both of them knew in high school. Quinn–tall, slender, narrow features shaded by stubble–was far too handsome for his own good.

“Hey you two, what’s up?”

You two. A hearkening back to a time when they were a couple.

“Not much,” Klint returned, resisting the urge to lay his arm across the back of Shelby’s chair, knowing how that would look.

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