Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove #8)(24)

“Apparently not,” Allan said. “She liked things done her own way.”

Dave was well aware of that, too. “I’m sorry I can’t help you any more. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He refused to answer anything else. He didn’t like Allan’s implications or the tone of his questions.

Geoff was in the hallway outside the office when Dave opened the door. He seemed startled to see Dave and moved quickly out of his way.

“I’ll call you soon,” Geoff told him. “About those marriage counseling sessions,” he added.

Dave responded with a nod, happy to be about his business. Because he was irritated and needed to calm down, he pulled out his cell and called home. Emily answered almost right away.

“How’s your Monday going?” he asked.

“Okay.” She sounded depressed.

“Just okay?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

“It’s Monday, all right.”

“How about lunch?” she said. “We could meet at the Pot Belly Deli or the Wok and Roll.”

Both were favorites of his but Dave automatically declined. “Not today.”

“Fine.” Her voice was reluctant; she wasn’t pleased and let him know it.

Dave hated disappointing her. “Maybe later in the week.”

She hesitated, then asked, “Where’ve you been all morning? You left the house with barely a word.”

“Sorry, sweetheart, I had to get to the hospital. Olivia Griffin was going in for cancer surgery. Her family’s pretty shaken up, and I felt I should stop by. The morning got away from me because I had to meet with Allan Harris right afterward.”

“Allan Harris?”

“Martha’s attorney. I thought—” He paused, feeling stupid now and annoyed with himself. “I thought she might’ve left something to the church in her will and that was the reason Allan wanted to chat.”

“She didn’t?”

“No…not that I’m aware. Of course, I would never have suggested it to her, but I had the idea in the back of my mind.” His presumption embarrassed him, and he felt guilty for having entertained the notion.

“So what did he want?”

Dave debated how much to tell his wife. He didn’t want her to worry about any of this. “He had a few questions for me.”

“Such as?”

“It was nothing important,” he said dismissively, unwilling to lie.

“You’re sure?” she pressed.

“Absolutely.” Rather than launch into a lengthy discussion, Dave made an excuse and got off the phone. He had somewhere else he needed to be—a place he didn’t want Emily to know about.

Nine

Moving back to Cedar Cove was a mixed blessing, Faith Beckwith decided as she prepared for her first day of work. The Cedar Cove medical clinic had advertised for a part-time nurse and she’d been hired right away. Her entire life had changed in the blink of an eye—or so it felt. It’d all begun with the sale of her home in south Seattle.

A widow for three years, Faith had rattled around the big house in the Seattle neighborhood where she and Carl had raised their family. It really was time to downsize, but she’d assumed that because of market conditions the sale would take months. Instead, the first family who’d stepped over the threshold had made a full-price offer with the stipulation that she be completely out of the house by Thanksgiving. If not for the help of her two children, Scott and Jay Lynn, Faith would never have been able to make the transition to Cedar Cove so quickly. Thinking about the last few weeks—and the way her whole life had changed—gave her a breathless feeling.

Faith would’ve preferred to start her new job after January first, but it became apparent that if she didn’t accept the position now, the clinic would hire someone else. Faith chose to start work.

With her children’s assistance, she’d unpacked nearly forty years of her life in a rental house on Rosewood Lane, one that belonged to her high school friend, Grace Sherman. Except, as Troy had reminded her, it was Grace Harding now.

While Faith enjoyed living near her grandchildren, it also meant she was in close proximity to Sheriff Troy Davis. Her encounter with him Thanksgiving week had upset her. Living in a town the size of Cedar Cove made such meetings inevitable, she supposed. Still, she didn’t expect to see Troy very often—especially if she was careful and Faith fully intended to be. She hoped to avoid any and all contact with Sheriff Davis.

The man had broken her heart, not once but twice. Okay, to be fair, her mother was responsible for the circumstances that had led to their breakup the first time. They’d been young; nevertheless, she still felt shocked that Troy could ever have believed she’d casually dump him for someone else after he went into the service. In retrospect, she wondered if he’d been so willing to accept her mother’s lie because he was looking for an excuse to break off their relationship. Her mother had made it easy.

The second time she’d mailed him a sympathy card after hearing about the death of his wife, and they’d reconnected. Just when she’d made a commitment to him, to their relationship, he’d ended it. Well, enough was enough.

None of that made any difference now, she reasoned, annoyed that she was thinking about Troy at all.

Faith parked in the clinic lot, collected her purse and her lunch and walked inside, feeling excited—and a little nervous—about her first day. She was assigned to Dr. Chad Timmons, whom she’d liked on sight. He was certainly attractive, and she imagined he’d broken more than one heart.