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Chapter two

Summer Shelton Holt finished bagging up the last of her mom’s clothes and dropped down on the edge of the bed. Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, she looked around the room, and a palpable sadness washed over her. Her mom had passed away six months ago, and it had taken all this time for Summer to finally go through her mom’s belongings. To say she’d been dreading it would be an understatement. It was the worst of the worst. It made her loss feel more permanent. Of course, her mom was gone and nothing would change that, but emptying the room made it very, very real.

But it hadn’t been all terrible. Through tears, she’d found old pictures and mementos, and they’d reminded her of so many good times. Funny moments when they’d both doubled-over and laughed so hard their stomachs hurt. Inside jokes. Favorite trips. Countless amazing memories. She took comfort in those reminders of what a wonderful life she’d had with her mom. Even though her parents had divorced, and she’d never been close to her father, she felt blessed and grateful to have had Carol Shelton as her mother.

Saying goodbye to a loved one was never easy. But saying goodbye to the woman who was also your best friend…

Summer sucked in a harsh breath. The tears still came at the most random moments. She’d be fine one second and then bawling out her eyes the next.

Grabbing a tissue, she blew her nose, swiped at her eyes and looked down at Flossie, her cream Pomeranian mix. The only family she had left. Her heart dog. “Don’t forget our deal. You’re going to live to be twenty-five, okay?”

The small ball of fluff wagged her tail and pulled a smile from Summer. Thank God for animals. If she didn’t have Flossie to cuddle and hold, she would’ve lost herself in despair months ago.

Summer pushed up off the mattress and gave a firm nod. “Okay then. I’m going to drop these clothes off at the donation box, not shed any more tears today, feed you and go get good and hammered. Please don’t judge me.” Flossie yipped with what sounded like approval.

Dragging a black trash bag into the hall, Summer paused before pushing it down the stairs, watching it tumble down and hit the foyer floor. During those last few months, her mom hadn’t been able to climb up and down all those steps, so Summer had set up a hospital bed in the family room. Other than going in and out of her mom’s upstairs bedroom for a few things every now and again, she hadn’t spent much time in there. Everything her mother needed had been downstairs. Clothes, personal items, medications.

As a former traveling nurse, Summer had experience caring for people. So when her mom’s health took a turn for the worse and her body—and memory—began failing her, Summer quit her job to become her mom’s full-time caretaker. It was a lot, but she’d never considered it a burden. She had all the skills and knowledge necessary, so why wouldn’t she do it? Her own mother needed help and handing her off to someone else while she traveled around the country caring for strangers made no sense to her.

Plus, it was the perfect excuse and kick in the ass for her to leave Scott. Not that she needed any more reasons than the hundred she’d already compiled.

As she went back to retrieve the last two bags, her thoughts turned to her ex. She’d met Scott Holt when she was still a traveling nurse. Of course, the job had been fantastic—flexibility of geographical location, only eight-to-thirteen-week assignments and high pay—but the man who’d become her husband? Not so fantastic.

At the time their paths crossed, she was forty-two and, sadly, she figured it was him or no one. Her frequent traveling schedule made it difficult to form lasting friendships, and she had almost zero time for dating. She’d been working in Boston, and they’d run into each other at a coffee shop by the hospital. All she’d wanted was some caffeine to help get her through a long shift, and she’d ended up with a lot more than she’d bargained for when Scott asked her out.

It’s not that he was a bad person. He just made a lot of really bad decisions.

Once she and Scott started seeing each other, she decided to extend her contract in Boston. Things progressed fast. Too fast. They spent whatever time she wasn’t working with each other, began sleeping together within weeks, and, before she knew it, they were engaged and he was living with her. That should’ve been her first sign—the way he’d been so quick to move in and fast track their relationship.

Since she received a stipend for her housing and food, all of a sudden Scott did, too. He didn’t exactly come across as a mooch, at least not at first. But he constantly struggled financially—sign number two—and she was making well over two grand a week, while he sometimes went a month without a paycheck.

The problem was, her ex-husband always believed he was one lucky break away from success, but he never put in all the work truly successful people did. Scott might’ve been well-meaning, but he was chronically overconfident that he was one step away from hitting it big. He couldn’t resist the lure of making fast money and it led him to become involved in sketchy situations. Things like pyramid schemes and selling personal data. He’d gotten involved with crypto and bitcoin, and on and on it went. Whatever the newest side hustle was, Scott tried it.

Nothing ever panned out and he always ended up in some kind of mess, and she’d have to bail him out. Summer had paid for everything—the bills, the apartment, the food—and Scott kept flitting from “job” to “job,” all the while telling her to trust him.

“This one is it, babe. I can feel it. Trust me.”

If she had a dollar for every time she’d heard that, she’d be a millionaire.

He’d never even bought her a ring, always promising to do it after some money came in. “And it will. Real soon. You just gotta trust me.”

She stopped trusting him, and she began resenting him. Because eventually she had to start traveling again for work, while Scott continued to follow her around the country, living off her earnings. Adding insult to injury, she continued having to bail him out when his latest scheme went belly-up, because nothing was free. He’d always have to buy into something or pay for supplies to get him going.

Then her mom got sick and, after three years of supporting Scott and his start-up schemes, she was done. Completely exhausted, she’d told him she was returning home to Montana to be her mom’s full-time caretaker. He didn’t like it or understand, and she hadn’t expected him to. She’d filed for a divorce, packed up her things and flown home.

For six years, she’d cared for her mother, all day, every day. After losing her, Summer felt lost. Without a purpose. She was now fifty-two and had no idea what to do with the rest of her life. It felt too late to go back to her career and, to be honest, she didn’t have the energy she once did when it came to picking up every couple of months and going to an entirely new city. Besides, she had Flossie now, and leaving her alone all day or night while she worked a twelve-hour shift wasn’t an option.

And finding a man? Ha! That seemed impossible. Hell, she’d barely found Scott, and look how that turned out. What a mess. To top it all off, she lived in a very small town and could count the number of bachelors on one hand.

Three. There were exactly three unmarried men in Silver Creek, Montana: Buck, Bob and Brody.

Buck was ninety-two years old, and while she wouldn’t mind dating an older man, a forty-year age gap was a little more than she would like.

Bob didn’t like animals. Rather, he liked to hunt them, and that was a dealbreaker for Summer. An enormous red flag. She loved her fur baby and the wildlife way too much to ever deal with a man who could look an innocent doe in the eye before releasing an arrow into her beautiful heart. Screw that.

And then there was Brody. Far too attractive, extremely polite, a bit younger…and he preferred men. Didn’t all the best ones?

Summer swung the final bag down the flight of steps then scooped up Flossie in her arms and started down the stairs. “It’s just me and you, Floss. ‘Til the bitter end.” She set the small fluffball down and placed her hands on her hips. “I suppose that makes you happy since you sleep on the pillow next to me.” Flossie smiled at her.