CHAPTER 1
He felt odd.Strange.
Walking around as a civilian.
Buck had spent his entire adulthood, since the time he’d turned eighteen, in the Coast Guard.
Fifteen years. Fifteen years.
Why had he imagined that private sector life was a good idea? How could he have forgotten what it felt like, being in his hometown; undergoing scrutiny, whether real or imagined?
Not that it was all bad. He loved some of the people here. In specific, his parents. Because who didn’t adore Guy and Ellen Sothard? And they’dalwaysbelieved in him, no matter what circumstances had decried.
The problem wasn’t his brothers, either. A bunch of them weren’t even currently around. Trask, Vincent, and Julian were still in the military, and Seifer was off skiing for his college somewhere.
Mason and Kyle were local however, police officers with two different departments, one here in Orono, and one in Bangor. They were both being really chill about giving him the space he needed to acclimate. And Spencer? Well, Spencer was the brother with whom he was about to open a rescue divingbusiness. They’d almost signed a lease on a property in Lincoln, but they’d missed their appointment with the realtor, and before they’d been able to reschedule, they’d stumbled across a small, free-standing building for sale, south of Orono in Hampden. The location was closer to open ocean, more bustling, and fit all their needs. Instead of leasing the property up north, they’d purchased the Hampden one, and were undertaking renovations which should have them opening within two months.
It boggled his mind how fast that had happened.
One minute the two of them were at sea, and the next…Boom. They were opting out of their respective re-ups, and were going into business together, forming the core of their new company, Diver Downeast.
Right now, however, Buck had specters to abolish, which wasn’t proving easy.
He was jumpy in his skin. Walking around downtown Orono was a blast from the past, but not…the same. One time he’d been welcomed here; almost a fixture, being one of the renowned Sothard brothers. Then Buck’s world had come crashing down, and just like that, he’d been looked on with scorn. A pariah. Folks who had once treated him like a local son, had suddenly turned their backs and shunned him.
Buck hated the memories that flooded into his head as he strolled the length of the main thoroughfare. They weren’t the good vibes from his early childhood. Instead, the images imbedded in his brain were the ones that had followed him into the Coast Guard.Chasedhim into the Coast Guard, if he were honest.
Buck tried to recenter himself, and squared his shoulders after dragging in a deep breath.
He could do this.
He looked around. A number of businesses he remembered were still open, but an equal amount were brand new. On thestreet, certain faces passing by seemed familiar, yet he couldn’t put names to the people who looked at him with open curiosity before giving him a nod and moving on. It was all very…disconcerting.
Coming into town hadn’t necessarily been his idea. Spencer had prodded him—hadkeptprodding him—telling him he needed to face his past. Stare down his ghosts. So here Buck was, and it sucked.
Who knew that after fifteen years of being looked at by his fellow shipmates as a more-than-worthy and highly intelligent part of his unit, he could feel so…small.
Maybe it was his imagination. Maybe these almost-strangers were regarding him differently than he perceived. If he was being recognized after having served his country for more than a decade, wouldn’t the old town guard understand that he was a changed man? Not that he’d needed to change. He’d been fine just the way he was.
They didn’t know that, though.
The things he’d been accused of still boggled his mind. The allegations that had driven him into the Coast Guard had all been fabricated; a lie. In the end, however, only his family and a few close familial friends, like Chief Ildavorg of the OPD, had believed him. And thank God for the chief. Without that man’s intervention, Buck would have ended up in jail with a record, instead of working for Uncle Sam.
Now, on land once again, he could start over, fresh.
Not here, though. Not in Orono. He’d made it clear to Spencer when they’d discussed where their new business would be located, that farther north or south was good. Buck wanted a town where pretty much nobody knew him. And even if they did, his past might not be so well remembered.
They’d made that happen.
Buck hesitated in his forward trajectory. The place of his worst nightmares was just ahead, but he was no coward. He forced his footsteps to continue. He headed toward the hardware store which had now been closed for twelve years, hoping for hisownclosure.
A reset of sorts, for himself alone.
He knew a lot of long-time Orono citizens were still upset over the store’s departure from town, and that they blamed him for the demise. The owners, however, had assured Buck’s parents differently, never once thinking it had been their son who had been responsible for what had occurred.
But the stain on Buck’s reputation here, remained.
He sucked up his fortitude, strode forward, and made himself stop just outside the old building.
