Merlot glared. “I’m serious, Dad. I'm excited about someone for the first time in a long while. Everyone in this family has been on me to date. I find someone I’m interested in and now you’re picking on me for it.”

His father lifted his hands. “It’s not that. But she is only here temporarily. Perhaps you might want to pick a girl who’s going to stick around.”

“Wait until you hear the marketing ideas she just came up with. Maybe I can get her to want to stay.” The only problem with doing that was this intense feeling that he could be replacing his past with someone who reminded him of everything he’d lost.

Something he needed to reconcile before he pursued this any further.

“Great news on the ideas, but you tend to pick women who are either only out to make themselves a River, or they aren’t willing to make Candlewood Falls their home. That’s a problem and I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“I appreciate the concern. But I’m a grown man, capable of making my own decisions regarding my love life.”

“I’m still your father and I will always voice my opinion whether you like it or not. Just be careful,” his dad said. “Now, I’ve got a nice romantic night planned with your mom, so I’ll grab that wine and be on my way.”

Merlot adored his parents. They always had his best interests at heart. And if he were being completely honest with himself, his father was right.

He did have shitty taste in women.

But this time, his father was wrong.

Talbot was different. Special. Unique. And maybe,the one.

4

CARTER

There was no way in hell Carter would let this go on a second longer. He knew the truth. Larry had all but confirmed it to the best of his ability. The underground wouldn’t—couldn’t—give out Daisy’s new identity or where she landed, but Larry had worked his magic and found enough information to link Daisy to Talbot.

Carter marched up the porch steps. He glanced at his watch. It was nine in the morning. It wasn’t an unreasonable hour to be banging on someone’s door. But to do so unannounced could be considered rude. Although, in Candlewood Falls, it wasn’t uncommon.

He planted his hands on his hips, did his best to rein in his frustration, and waited.

The door rattled and squeaked.

Talbot stuck her head out. “Oh. Hi, Carter.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “What brings you out here this morning?”

“May I come in?”

“Um, well, I’m kind of busy today.”

“It’s important,” he said.

“It’s really not a good time. I’ve got a bunch of phone calls to make, and then I need to help Claudia with—”

“Claudia can’t take help from anyone,” Carter said with a little more edge to his voice than he wanted.

“Oh. I know. What I’m working on with her has nothing to do with the renovation but potentially our next employment gig.” She held on to the door, keeping it as a barrier.

“If you want to do this with me standing on your front porch, we can.” He glanced over his shoulder. Why Andy and whoever his business partner was refused to sell this prime piece of real estate was beyond Carter. It would make for an excellent home for a lovely family, but instead, it sat empty most of the time. “There’s no one around, so I have no problem having this discussion right here.” Damn, he needed to change his tone. He had no idea if he had the right to be this angry. He was generally a contemplative man. He always listened to both sides before making any judgment. But this situation could easily blow up in Merlot’s face, and he couldn’t stand to see his boy’s heart destroyed again.

It nearly killed Carter the first time.

“Fine.” Talbot stepped aside. “I guess this has to do with my ideas. I’m sorry if I overstepped.” She turned and made her way to the small family room.

He glanced around. The place looked a lot better than when Lyra had been living here. “Your marketing concepts were spot-on. We’re going to implement them. Thank you for that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“You and I can’t pretend we don’t know.” He pointed his finger to himself and then to her. “I know who you are and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why the hell you would come back here.”