View With Your Heart (Heart Collection #5) - L.B. Dunbar Page 0,2

isn’t for sale,” I told her for the five hundred-millionth time.

“Everything is for sale.”

She’s absolutely wrong. Some things you just can’t place a value on.

With this in mind, I’m grateful again for Henry. He suggested I leave early to take this momentary breather before picking up Gee. The pressure from the Sterling Realty company can be relentless, especially considering the weight of the unpaid tax bill on Leo’s property. Some days, I can handle Rebecca. Today was not one of those days.

Because the second issue of the day was recalling the film festival begins in the next town over, and I’ve seen the program announcing featured films. In big, bold, black, and white was the image of a man from my past who haunts me every day.

Gavin Scott.

I didn’t know he made movies as I hadn’t seen or heard from him in thirteen years. He’s also the last person I’d like to see. Of course, the chances of that happening is like the angsty moment in a movie, where you hope you’ll see all the hot passion play out between a couple only to have the film fade to black.

Ghosted.

That’s what happened when Gavin left me in a hotel room thirteen years ago.

Then again, I could be living that scene in a horror film where you’re screaming at the screen, telling the silly female not to open the door because a mass murderer is ready to stab her in the heart on the other side of the barrier.

It’d be the same sensation as Gavin’s absence.

Heartbreaking.

Taking a deep breath, I walk along the boardwalk, leading under the highway overpass and connecting to the inner lake’s boundary.

As soon as I hit a small beach area on the other side of the Rogue River bar, I kick off my shoes and wade along the lake’s edge. My toes wiggle through the water licking at them. Kicking up a spray of droplets, it’s refreshing, and instantly, I calm.

Late July can get surprisingly warm in this small town. Being the Midwest, it won’t last. This summer especially, fall feels like it looms around every corner, like a dark cloud ahead, bringing with it more than a change of season. A change I can’t explain but feel within me. I don’t like the omniscient sensation. The last time I had this feeling, my world turned upside down.

Gavin Scott. A hotel room. The hottest weekend of my life.

By hot, I don’t mean the weather.

Since then, the past dozen years have been a tumbleweed of life changes.

To continue to calm my thoughts, I take a few minutes to comb my toes through the wet sand, feet flopping in the shallow water. My sandals dangle from my fingers, and I whip my head to the side as my long, blond hair wraps over my face. I should have brought a hair tie with me. However, the warm breeze feels wonderful, and I spin in a half-circle, allowing the wind to blow back more of my loose locks. Closing my eyes for a second, I sometimes pretend the sunshine on my face is a message.

I’m doing okay. I’m in a better place.

Raindrops on my cheeks have a similar effect. I consider them kisses from heaven.

Unfortunately, other kisses come to mind—eager, hungry kisses, full of promises for one wild weekend. Gavin’s lips on mine were memory and mistake rolled into a delicious combination of hard to resist, and I didn’t resist him—not one request, not one position. It was a moment burned into my brain like a favorite movie. Some days are like a release trailer—snippets and blips—of reminders, and other days, it was a full-blown film, haunting me in times of too much quiet. A reel only I can view again when I’m alone.

However, I’m hardly alone.

With that thought, I return to my initial quest. I need to pick up my son. Next to Rogue River is a newish condo building with a water adventure shack on the opposite side. Spencer Sports is a place to rent kayaks, canoes, Jet Skis, and paddleboards for the day. My nephew works there, and he lets my energetic twelve-year-old hang out with him some days. Theo is a good cousin to Gee and a godsend to me this summer.

I pause before the condominiums and look up at the three-story structure. The locals were not pleased when this building passed village codes, allowing for a multi-story, multi-housing complex to be built on these shores. Most residents of the building, and I use the term