Oh. This was Main Street. She recognized the buildings from Instagram. The midwifery clinic, the bakery, the hair salon-slash-real estate office. Then, at the end of the main drag, she saw the lake in the distance. The street dropped away, down a hill that separated the town from the harbour, and there on the left, at the intersection of Main Street and Old Whiskey Harbour Road, stood a whitewashed building.
Red letters painted on the wall told her she’d definitely arrived at her destination.Kincaid’s Garage.
Monica parked her rental car in front of it and got out, taking her bearings. Across the road was a chilly looking lake that stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. The tired-looking marina had a parking lot full of cars. Just south of that, she could see the edge of what looked like an abandoned motel, and then the road curved away from the lake and into the forest again.
Heart pounding in her chest, she finally turned her attention back to the garage.
She knew, of course, that this was Josh’s pride and joy. She’d followed him on Instagram and TikTok under burner accounts. Watched him amass quite the following. Start flirting with another popular car restorer—that had been hard to see—and then, abruptly last week, walk away from his newfound celebrity. To focus on what really mattered, he’d said in a final, simple post.
This wasn’t the career he’d told her about that first night together. This wasn’t his dream. This was his reality, though, and she was about to blow it up again, right after he’d had a public mess to wade through.
From her probably inappropriate stalking of him online, she also knew that the easy-going, helpful man she’d fallen head-over-heels in lust with in a single night was long gone.
He wasn’t going to be happy to see her.
That was her fault. She deserved the icy-cold reception she would certainly meet. And it was already cold enough in Pine Harbour to freeze her SoCal tits off. She zipped her brand-new down jacket up the rest of the way.
The lights weren’t on in the shop, but she was pretty sure from his videos that he lived upstairs. She didn’t even have to go that far, though. There was a note stuck to the glass door of the office.
Closedfor the afternoon for a Kincaid wedding celebration. Come find us at the marina.
She heardthe party before she saw it. Loud laughter, clapping, and the clink of beer bottles.
When she turned the corner, she saw Josh right away. He was sitting in a chair, tilted back against a railing. Unlike her, he wasn’t dressed for winter weather. Of course, it wasn’t really winter here, not for them. It was spring, technically. Just.
She was freezing her butt off.
He was in dark jeans and a black zippered hoodie. Beneath it she saw a flash of a white t-shirt, and memories of their first night together spiralled through her mind.
But that was where the similarities ended between this stranger and the man she’d fallen in love with. When his gaze landed on her, he didn’t break into a curious grin. Instead, he stood up so fast his chair clattered to the deck, his face tightening into a fierce mask.
Another man, closer to where she stood at the edge of the deck, turned and smiled. “You look like you need a drink.” Everyone else on the deck fell silent, noticing Josh’s hostile approach now. The smiling man seemed oblivious. “I don’t think we’ve met. My name’s Trent. And you are?”
“Get away from her,” Josh snarled at the same time as she said, “I’m here to see Josh.”
Someone she recognized as one of the Kincaid brothers jumped between them, stopping Josh from shoving the other guy—Trent—way from Monica.
Josh sidestepped his brother, who was trying to diffuse the situation, but clearly the other men didn’t understand just how badly she’d fucked everything up.
Nothing would stop Josh from telling her to get out. She knew that. She was prepared.
And then he was in front of her, and everyone else faded away.
She’d once dreamed of this man being hers. Of a normal life with a mechanic husband, and babies who teethed on rubber wrenches. But she hadn’t been strong enough to fight for that dream, and it shattered before it could really take shape.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” Josh asked, his voice low. Her traitorous heart leapt at having his attention again after so long, even if he was vibrating with rage.
Trent grabbed his arm. “Hey, you can’t talk to her—”
Josh shook him off, but his gaze stayed glued on her. “Don’t fucking tell me how to talk to my wife,” he growled.
And the whole deck erupted in noise.
* * *
Not once inthe last week had Josh considered that he might actually see his wife during this new drama of needing to undo his marriage. A three-year-old marriage he hadn’t even experienced.
He was not prepared on any level for her to show up in Pine Harbour. And when Trent turned on her, like she was just another pretty face in the crowd?
