Her Hometown Hero - Melody Anne Page 0,103

and the limits of her freedom.

Though her father had wanted a son—all men were like that, weren’t they?—she’d ended up being his only heir, so once every few years he would try to do something fatherly, such as give her the title to the land and house that he knew he’d never return to. Love from her parents always involved money. Hugs were unheard-of in her family, and real emotion was to be held inside. They had a reputation to maintain, after all.

Drawn to the piano, Grace trailed her fingers absently along the top, smearing them with dust along the way. She lifted the curved wooden cover of the ebony and ivory keys only to discover more filth. The instrument was out of tune, but it, at least, brought up good memories. She’d taken lessons her entire childhood, and though she was certainly not a master pianist, she still enjoyed the soothing music a piano could create.

Sitting down on the bench, she hung her head. “It’s time for a new start. First of all, this house needs to go, though I think I’ll keep the piano,” she said aloud, her eyes closed as she fought emotion. There would never be a day she could live within these walls again. She’d rather live in the tiny cabin tucked in the trees behind this monstrous home.

“I remember when you used to play for me.”

Grace didn’t need to turn around to see who had walked in uninvited. That voice had lived only in her dreams since the day he had so coldly walked out of her life—Camden Whitman, her first, and probably only, true love.

She stared at the dusty keys of the piano, unwilling to face him. “What are you doing here, Cam?”

“My dad told me you were coming back to town. Then Maggie said she spotted your car heading out this way.”

She turned slowly and saw him still standing in the doorway as if he was waiting for an invitation.

“I forgot what it was like to live in a small town. There’s no such thing as privacy,” she said acerbically.

And then their eyes met and something shifted deep within her. Only one person had ever made her feel the unquenchable love that consumed the entire heart, and what a fool she’d been to think that time and distance would make that feeling go away. Not even taking another lover had weakened it.

What was even worse was knowing that, although his features might appear composed to anyone else, she once had known his soul, and for one unguarded fraction of a second, she saw surprise leap into his expression before he snapped the shutters closed and gave her a cool, nearly mocking expression.

The moment was so brief that she wondered if maybe her heart was asking her to see something that really wasn’t there.

Instead of showing him pain, she allowed her all-too-familiar anger to carry her. How many times and in how many ways had she tried to forget this man? And in a single millisecond all of that hard work almost came to naught when she misread something in Cam’s eyes.

Though she’d called him a liar, a cheater, a heartbreaker, it was really she who deserved to be scolded, because she’d told herself those lies for years, so long that she’d almost started believing them.

The velvety sound of his voice brought her back from her grim thoughts. “That’s certainly true. You can’t do anything here without it being broadcast at full volume into everyone’s ears by morning light.” His tone was light, careless. That was Cam—the life of the party and everyone’s best friend.

The guy who’d decided she just wasn’t good enough for him.

“It’s good to see you, Grace. I’ve missed you.”

She stared at him incredulously for a few heartbeats before her lips curled in a sneer. The lyrics of an old Rihanna hit, “Take a Bow,” came to mind. He certainly was good at putting on a show, but she wouldn’t be fooled by him ever again.

“Well, now that you’ve seen me, you can go,” she replied with syrupy-sweet sarcasm in her voice.

“Have you spoken to anyone since you’ve been back?”

“Do you listen when I speak?” she countered.

“You haven’t spoken to me in nearly ten years, so I guess we’ll find out.” He leaned against the doorframe and smiled, the smile that had haunted her for so long.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone because I haven’t been ready to announce my return.”

“Are you staying?”

“That’s really none of your business,” she said.

Ignoring her