The room was dead silent as she climbed onto the stage. But it wasn’t only because she was new to the town. She was just that incredible. And as she turned toward the audience, she looked anxious as if she wanted to be any place but on the stage.

My throat tightened as she stepped reluctantly up to the microphone.

“Hey, Tash,” I said quietly.

She gazed down at me with a pleading look that seemed to say ‘help me’. There was something so familiar about it, it nearly kicked the breath from me. It took me a second to find my voice. “Knock ‘em dead, Woodstock.”

The guitar music thrummed through the bar. Everyone stood stock-still watching the girl on stage. She wrapped her fingers around the mic and her lips parted.

The ache in my chest deepened. The first time I saw her I was saving her guitar from my brother’s clumsy hand. I figured she could probably hold a tune. But this wasn’t just singing. The sound of her voice put a whole new meaning into the word heartbreak. I stared up at her and wondered if in the shitty darkness that was my life, I was looking at my moment of light.

I hadn’t noticed that Dane had walked up next to me until he spoke. “Guess we should have figured she’d have a voice to go with the rest of her.” It took a lot to get my brother’s attention, but Tashlyn had definitely grabbed it. We both stared up at her and listened to her sing.

“Fuck, there goes my five hundred bucks.”

Chapter 11

Tashlyn

Everly had labeled it flirting but I’d insisted that it was just two coworkers engaging in meaningless conversation, like people standing around their work cubicles on a Monday morning, chit-chatting over coffee until the boss arrived. Only we’d been standing in a crowded bar, and Jem was definitely no ordinary coworker. It had been the first time that Everly and I had exchanged terse words. Although terse wasn’t really a good word for our exchange in the car, it was more a mild string of warnings from Everly and a mild string of counterarguments from me. The final end to the conversation had come when I reminded her that Jem had saved Finn from drowning.

The smell of bacon coaxed me from bed. I’d come home with a nice pot of money which I’d promptly handed over to Everly for my part of the living expenses. She half-heartedly refused to take it at first, but with my persistence, she gave in and accepted it.

I shuffled down the short hallway to the kitchen.

Everly smiled as she glanced back at me from the stove. “Eggs and bacon?”

“Surprisingly, yes. I was sure I’d wake feeling as green as those apple martinis but I’m fine.” I sat at the table. “Of course, if someone put one of those damn martinis in front of me right now, I would turn green for sure.” I was relieved that Everly had already pushed our Jem Wolfe conversation behind her.

Everly turned around with two steaming plates of food. “Are you still interested in going to Alice’s book shop? I already let my uncle know that I was going to walk you over and introduce you to Alice and that I might be a few minutes late. I’m sure Alice will have no problem with you combing through her newspaper collection. She has everything super organized, so you should be able to find just what you’re looking for. She’s always happy when someone wants to look at the old stuff. Gives her a reason for hoarding it.”

“That would be terrific.” I braced myself to do some detective work, work that would probably include a lot of details about my dad’s death. But I saw no other way around it. I needed to take a look back in time. I needed to find out how I’d ended up here as a lost and scared seven-year-old.

I picked up a piece of bacon. Everly had cooked it to perfection. “Delish. Fried fat. Who knew? Actually, I guess everybody knew. I mean fat and frying does sort of lend itself to deliciousness.”

Everly took a bite of bacon. “Our hearts and arteries might say otherwise, but I figure as long as I’m not chowing on the stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” She poured herself some orange juice. “Did you figure out the bus schedule?”

“Well, there’s not much I can do since the bus schedule and the sawmill hours are off by an hour either direction. But the good news is that Mr. Stevens gave me a key to the office, so I can go in and get started. I’m going to lock up too. That way I don’t have to sit alone at the bus stop for long. And there’s so much to do in that office. Hal said he’d pay me the overtime if I wanted to work and get more done.”

“Great. That works. Thanks again, Tash, for the money. It’ll come in handy, and I’ll use it to buy groceries today. The nights are getting cold enough for hot cocoa and whipped cream, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.”

We sat uncharacteristically silent for a few minutes while we ate our breakfast. We always had so much to talk about. It was as if we’d known each other for a long time instead of just a few days. I also knew that when Everly paused her end of the conversation, she was thinking about something.

She took a bite of toast and stared at the bread in her fingers. “I did let him cheat off my test.”

It took me a second to figure out what the heck she was talking about. “You mean when you and Jem got sent to the principal?”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “My uncle was so mad that I got in trouble for that. Especially because it was Jem.” She put her toast down. “I knew I was supposed to stay clear of Jem and Dane, and I always did.” She breathed a quiet sigh. “Growing up, I always felt really sorry for the brothers, especially Jem. Dane was always sort of out there, kind of oblivious to everyone and everything, but Jem was different. You could tell he had a much deeper soul, a scarred soul but a deep one. The day of the math test, I remember he’d come to school wearing the same dirty t-shirt he’d been wearing all week. He had big dark rings under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept. When it was time to go to the lunchroom, he, as usual, didn’t have enough money, so the food service lady gave him the traditional pathetic milk and crackers. When the bell rang to go back to class, everyone walked out of the cafeteria, but I’d forgotten my lunchbox. I went back to get it, and Jem was digging in the trashcan for leftovers. He never saw me, thank god, because even at that age, he would have hated that. But I remember thinking, maybe he was always in trouble because he was always tired and hungry.”

My stomach soured around my few bites of breakfast as she told the story. “I’ve only had a few encounters with the guy so that doesn’t make me an expert, but I do wonder if this town has judged him too harshly.” For a fleeting second, I was sure I had her joining my side of the Jem Wolfe opinion.

A sharp laugh shot from her mouth. “Like you said, you’ve only had a few encounters. Believe me, he’s owed every harsh opinion. That scar on his chin happened while he was in juvenile hall, or did you forget that little detail?”

Again, disappointment. Her impression of Jem was set in stone, and I wasn’t going to change it. And since she’d known him her whole life, I could only assume she was right.

We cleaned up, changed and stepped out into the brisk morning air. I pulled my jacket tighter around me.

Everly had pulled on a heavy sweatshirt. She looked at my faded denim jacket and shook her head. “That coat is cool, but it’s not going to cut it up at this altitude. Did you bring something else?”

“This is about as winter prepared as my wardrobe gets. We didn’t have much cold weather back home.”

“We’ll have to do something about that soon, or you’ll be freezing your cute little bohemian butt off.”

Aside from thin white clouds, the sky was a crystal blue. The atmosphere over Blackthorn Ridge was so thin and fresh, it almost made you lightheaded just to breathe it in. Wherever your eyes landed, you could find a copse of tall, lush evergreens. “This place must be beautiful in the winter.”