“Rose, can you turn it up? They’re talking about the body again.”

“Which is why I turned it down, Paul. People are eating,” Rose complained, but she still grabbed the remote off the counter and turned the volume up a few notches.

“Police have questioned the family that had owned the property for over thirty years, but they are not suspects at this time. Ken and Molly Eden reported Tommy missing the morning after he disappeared. What happened after Tommy left and how he ended up in that shallow grave is still a mystery.”

“You must’ve known the dead kid,” he pointed out. “You were going with one of the Eden boys back then, weren’t you?”

“I was. And I did know him, but I didn’t have much to do with him.” She didn’t elaborate. She wasn’t keen to invite this topic of conversation. The news crews were hot for people to interview who might’ve known Tommy or the Edens back then. Rose didn’t want any part of it.

Paul watched the television thoughtfully. “I’ve heard he was a pretty rotten sort. His own parents couldn’t handle him, so the state took him away.”

Rose nodded, pretending to listen, as she had every day since Tommy Wilder’s body was identified. Instead she cleared a few empty plates, scooped a few dollars’ tip into her apron pocket and went back into the kitchen to put the dirty dishes into the dish pile.

She hoped that by the time she returned, the segment would be over. And it was. It was fortunate since Paul was now gone and the flame-red hair of Tori Sullivan could be spotted at the far end of the counter. She was probably tired of the news, too.

“Hey, Rose,” she said in greeting.

Rose put on her best smile and headed in that direction. She poured a glass of water and set it down in front of her. She wasn’t unhappy to see Tori, but at the moment, she was trying to avoid anything to do with the Edens. Tori could be here to gossip, to get a piece of pie or to try and convince her not to be mad at Xander. She hoped it was the pie.

“What can I get you today? I just put out a beautiful lemon chiffon cake.”

Her blue eyes lit up, and then disappointment crossed her delicate features. “I’d love to, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” If anyone deserved cake, it was people with police officers traipsing through their yard.

“The wedding is coming up. I had my dress fitting last week and the seamstress threatened my life if I gained or lost any weight. Mostly gained,” she added with a smile. “That means no lemon chiffon cake for me.”

Rose nodded sympathetically. “Well, if you find you’ve somehow lost weight without intending to, you march right down here and get some cake to get you back where you need to be.”

Tori smiled widely. “I absolutely will.”

So she wasn’t here for dessert, Rose thought with a frown. “What about lunch, then?”

The woman eyed her, her pink lips twisting in thought. “I shouldn’t. I really didn’t come down here for food.”

Shoot. Why couldn’t it have been the pie?

“What can I do for you, then, Tori?” She wished she could say the restaurant was slammed and she didn’t have time to chat, but they were the only two people in there at the moment. It was that odd time that was too late for lunch, too early for dinner. Things would pick up in an hour or so, but until then she had nothing better to do, apparently, than talk to Tori.

“I wanted to talk to you without the boys or anyone else around.”

Rose leaned her elbows onto the counter. “About what?”

Tori tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy. “Come on, now, Rose. You can be honest with me. I mean, I know about Joey. This whole thing has to be hard on you.”

The sympathetic words brought an unexpected rush of tears to her eyes. “It’s okay. Really,” she argued, snatching a napkin out of the nearby dispenser to halt the flow. “I never really envisioned a life with Xander in it.”

“Liar,” Tori said. “You know you’ve spent the last decade fantasizing about him being back in your life.”

How did she know Rose so well? “And look what it got me, Tori. He’s a criminal.”

Tori nodded. “If Xander is a criminal, you know who else is? Wade. And I’m going to marry him anyway.”

Rose was taken aback. She’d assumed that Tori knew about what had happened, and yet she hadn’t ever considered that the wedding was happening despite that fact. “Did Wade tell you...?” Her voice trailed off.

“He told me some. The recent news has helped me piece together the rest of the story. But I believed it when Wade told me he’d do anything to protect his family and the people he loved, including me. Don’t focus on what they might have done. Think about why. About how important it must have been to protect someone they cared about. You’d do anything for Joey, wouldn’t you?”

Rose knew exactly how quickly her hackles got up where her son was concerned. Just thinking of when she got the call about him breaking his arm... If he was in true danger, she would do anything to protect him. “Of course.”

“I don’t know everything that happened that night, but I have to believe that it wasn’t with malice aforethought.” Tori smiled and shook her head. “Apparently, I’ve been watching too many crime shows trying to decompress from the wedding planning. But listen,” she added, flicking the bright red waves of her hair over her shoulder. “I know that your father going to jail was hard on you. I can only imagine how difficult it made life here in Cornwall. Small towns are rough, and when it comes to not fitting in, I’m at the top of the list. I never fit in anywhere, not even here, before Wade.

“But you can’t let other people’s opinion of you—or someone in your family—dictate your life or your self-worth. You’re not trash, Rose. Not your father or anyone else could make you that. You’re a good person. A great mother. A fantastic pastry chef. That’s way more important than the deeds of your family members.”

Rose felt a rush of embarrassment reach her cheeks. “You don’t need to say all those things, Tori.”

“Yes, I do. Because you need to hear it. And you need to know that Xander and your father are two very different people committing two very different crimes. Xander would never deliberately hurt you like your father has. He loves you. And he loves Joey. He may not have said it, but I’ve seen that sad, moony look in his eyes. He misses you both so badly. I think it killed him to have to go back to D.C. with things unresolved between the two of you.”

“He’s gone?” Rose asked, and Tori nodded.

Rose shouldn’t have been pleased to hear that Xander missed her, but somehow knowing he was suffering a little bit while they were apart was nice. He should at least be as miserable as she was, although she doubted he was. Tori might think Xander was in love with her, but he wasn’t. He was in love with the idea of their family and being a dad. Now that he was home and surrounded by his old life, he’d forget all about that.

“I won’t keep him away from Joey forever. I just need to make sure that whatever this is—” she gestured toward the television “—doesn’t blow up. I don’t want to tell my son who his father is only to have to visit him on Sunday afternoons during inmate visitation. I’d rather wait. We’ve waited this long.”

“And what about you?”

“What?”

“You said you wouldn’t keep Joey away from him forever. What about you? Are you going to keep your distance from the man you’ve loved since you were fifteen years old?”

“Maybe,” Rose admitted.

“What could he do to convince you to give him another chance?”

Rose shook her head and turned to look out the window. The sheriff’s car blew by, probably heading up to the Garden of Eden again. “I don’t know that there’s anything he can do, Tori. Maybe our chance ended back in the summer before college.”

Tori’s clear blue eyes were nearly penetrating as she looked at Rose. They were beautiful and icy, making her want to shiver in her uniform. After a moment, Tori got up from her chair and put a five-dollar bill on the counter even though she hadn’t bothered to order.