Page 2 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
The crowd behind them chuckled, and Lucy made a quick scan of them. April Hale, her mom’s best friend, was flanked by two of her daughters, Moira and Caroline, near a dessert table loaded with chocolate chip cookies and her mom’s lemon squares. Arthur Hale, the man who’d put Dare Valley on the map for outstanding journalism, was leaning on his cane beside the makeshift bar her dad had stocked with everything from beer to her mom’sinfamous cosmopolitans. His granddaughter, Meredith, and her husband, Tanner, stood next to him. Meredith was Moira and Caroline’s cousin.
Her mom cupped her face suddenly, making her look away from the other guests. “We’ve missed you, Lucy. So much. It’s past time you came home for good.”
Oh, heavens. Here she goes.“I’ve missed you too, Mom.” Lucy finally noticed the light highlights in her mother’s hair. “The new look works.”
Her mom flicked one of her curls after wiping a stray tear. “I told your father I wanted to go blond to see if they have more fun.”
“And do they?” she asked, feeling a bit trapped by her mother’s grip.
“I’m working on it,” her mom said with a twinkle in her eye. “Now that you’re back, we’ll work on it together.”
That sounded ominous. Lucy had never liked wearing peasant blouses and gypsy skirts. She hoped that wasn’t what her mother had in mind.
“Enough, woman,” her dad bellowed. “You’re hogging our only child. Come here, Lucy Lu.”
There was another tug on her arm, and her mother thankfully relinquished her hold. Her dad’s big arms brought her to his massive chest. While Lucy had outgrown her mother by four inches while she was in high school, her dad still towered over her at six-foot-six. He might be a little softer around the middle, but he still had the body of a bruiser.
“Ah, Luce,” he whispered so only she could hear. “I’ve missed you so, little one.”
For a big man, he’d always been gentle. Sure, he could yell like a warrior or throw a ruffian out of his bar, but hewas never like that with her.
“I missed you too, Daddy,” she said, smelling the hops and barley he always carried on his skin from all the beers he pulled.
“Let me look at you,” he said, pushing her back until she stood an arm’s length from him.
Studying her probably wasn’t a good idea. She wasn’t back to one hundred percent yet, and she didn’t want him to have an inkling anything was wrong. Not that there were any visible signs of what had happened to her, especially with her eye.
Maybe it was selfish, but she didn’t want to feel the weight of their worry. Besides, if her mom knew, she’d only double her efforts to talk Lucy out of going overseas again. She didn’t need her mother exerting that kind of pressure on her when she was this vulnerable.
Her dad’s eyes narrowed, like he saw something that concerned him, so she poked him in the stomach to divert him.
“Hey! Can’t a girl get a beer around here?” she asked, going for his Achilles. “I haven’t had a decent pour since I was home last.”
She caught sight of the spread on the dining room table. There was a honey-glazed ham, fresh bread, a fruit and cheese tray, and big green salad in a wooden bowl. Her stomach growled, but while she was hungry enough to eat a bear, there was no way she was choosing food just now. Not when so many people had come here to see her.
The corner of his mouth tipped up, but he didn’t take his shrewd eyes off her. “I’ll get you a Murphy’s right away, kiddo,” he said finally, giving her a wink. “Okay, who’s next in line?”
“I am,” she heard a familiar voice say.
Turning, she felt a smile bloom on her face. Andy Hale,her best friend since kindergarten, was smiling back at her. Together they’d learned how to color inside the lines, climb trees, and ride bikes. They’d stayed close despite how much time she’d spent away.
“Andy Cakes!” she cried, using his nickname, and then they were moving toward each other.
He hugged her tight. “You would ruin a perfectly good homecoming by calling me that.”
She knew he didn’t mean it. Everyone who truly loved him still called him by his nickname sometimes.
“How could you let my parents throw me a surprise party?” she whispered so only he could hear. “I’m still jet-lagged.”
“Like I would say anything,” he whispered back. “Everyone knows you don’t mess with Ellen O’Brien.”
“True that,” she said, letting him go and taking a moment to simply stare at him.
He’d been taller than her since the seventh grade, but not tall enough that she had to crane her neck. That had changed junior year, when he’d sprouted up to six-three. He looked incredible, she had to admit. His short, dark brown hair framed an expressive face anchored by a strong jaw and brow bones. When he wasn’t smiling, those angles probably looked harsh to some, but to her, they’d always described the contrast that was Andy Hale. He was as incredibly strong as he was sweet. Always had been.
When they were in high school, she’d felt occasional flashes of attraction to him, but she’d wanted out of Dare Valley too much to let anything interrupt her focus. They’d stayed friends and only friends, and she was grateful she hadn’t risked one of the most important relationships in her life.
Lucy had gone off to attend theprestigious School of Visual Arts in New York City, and Andy had gone off to the University of Colorado before finishing his medical degree at their famous School of Medicine in Boulder. He’d met his wife, Kim, through his sister, Natalie, gotten married and had a kid—everything everyone had expected Dr. Andy Hale to do. Then the story had suddenly and heart-wrenchingly changed. Kim had gotten breast cancer and died two years ago, leaving him to raise their son alone.
