When Morning Comes Around - Summer Lake Silver, Book 13 (ebook)

When Morning Comes Around will be the thirteenth book in the Summer Lake Silver series. This is Dominic and Sadie’s story.

Life has a way of leading you where you’re meant to be—even if the journey isn’t what you expected.

After losing his wife years ago, Dominic has been searching for a place to belong. Moving to Summer Lake to be near his twin brother, Damon, seemed like a chance to start fresh. While his easygoing nature has already won him plenty of friends – and a few admirers – behind the flirtatious smiles lies a heart still quietly grieving. He doesn’t believe anyone could fill the void his late wife left behind – he wouldn’t want them to.

Sadie’s life in Denver had already begun to unravel when her father had a fall, forcing her to return to Summer Lake. Her marriage, held together by little more than obligation, ended in spectacular fashion when she discovered her husband’s betrayal. Coming back to her hometown to care for her dad and help with his small nursery and garden center feels like a retreat – and a chance to figure out who she is without the weight of her past.

When Dominic and Sadie cross paths, neither is looking for love. Long conversations and stolen moments under the stars remind them both of what it means to feel alive. While healing old wounds and taking a chance on love again is never easy, they’ll discover that sometimes the most beautiful mornings follow the darkest nights.

With its beloved cast of characters and the charm of Summer Lake small-town life, When Morning Comes Around is a heartwarming story of rediscovery, second chances, and the power of love to light the way forward.

Chapter One

Sadie exited the gas station and walked slowly back to her vehicle. She hadn’t wanted to stop here in town, but she hadn’t had any choice. The minivan was on the verge of overheating, and she’d needed a bathroom break.
She climbed back behind the wheel, closed her eyes, and held her breath as she turned the key in the ignition, hoping that the temperature gauge wouldn’t shoot straight back up into the danger zone. When she opened her eyes, she was relieved to see that the engine had cooled off some, but she had a feeling that situation wouldn’t last long once she got back on the road.
She should probably give it a bit longer. She wanted to get to her dad’s place before it got dark, but she had a while yet. She glanced across the street at the grocery store. She could kill two birds with one stone if she picked up a few necessities and gave the old minivan a bit more time to rest.
She parked in a spot at the far end of the lot. It’d do her good to stretch her legs – over the last few days on the road, she’d done far more sitting than walking. And besides, the longer she took, the longer the minivan would have to cool off.
She looked around as she walked toward the entrance to the store, trying to calculate how long it had been since she was here last. She’d had a weekend job at this very store when she was in high school; that was more years ago than she cared to count.
In the early years of her marriage, she used to come back twice a year to visit her dad. Her heart sank. Dale and her dad hadn’t gotten along. Initially that had made things tense, and eventually it’d made things impossible. She was such a damn fool!
Hindsight was a wonderful thing. It was easy to see now that her dad had been right all along – Dale really was an asshole. But she’d been so determined to make her marriage work that she’d sided with her husband instead of her dad after that last big blowup argument they’d had. Dale had refused to come visit after that and he’d made her life hell whenever she came. Guilt sat heavy in her chest when she realized that it had been over two years since she was last here – since she’d seen her dad.
The fact that she was only here now because he’d had a fall made the guilt weigh even heavier.
She quickened her stride. She couldn’t change the past, but she was here now. She decided to buy some of that awful saltwater taffy that they sold for the tourists. Her dad loved the stuff even though he couldn’t chew it. He’d worn dentures for as long as Sadie could remember, but he used to joke about the taffy lasting longer since he could only gum it and not chew in the traditional sense.
When she entered the store, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of three huge men standing next to the line of carts. A little laugh bubbled up from her chest at the thought that there must be some kind of big man convention in town. It was a ridiculous thought, and she knew it, but she couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation for there being three good-looking men, who each had to be over six foot two or maybe three inches tall, all looking as though they spent an unreasonable amount of time in the gym, standing beside the line of shopping carts.
She stifled another laugh at the thought that perhaps she was just imagining things. She’d been on the road for a few days, but it felt like weeks, and even before that she’d barely slept for a week or so – ever since she’d found Dale and… That memory wiped the smile off her face.
When she realized that she was standing in the entrance to the store, gawking at the three giants, she forced herself to move forward. Perhaps they’d disappear in a puff of smoke when she went to get a cart.
They didn’t disappear, but one of them – she wanted to call him the dark-haired one, but his head was shaved. In her opinion, the best looking one, turned toward her as she approached.
“Sorry, we’ll move out of the way.” He herded the other two away from the carts to let Sadie pass.
She grabbed a cart and nodded her thanks. The other two continued talking, but he caught her gaze and smiled.
Holy smokes, what a smile! His eyes were kind – there was no way she could know that he was a kind person just from a smile but somehow, she did. She didn’t think she’d ever seen kindness presented in such a sexy package before – and definitely not such a large package.
She gripped the handle of the cart tightly as warmth bloomed in her chest and more unfortunately, on her cheeks. She felt incredibly foolish. Yes, it had been a long time since a man had smiled at her – and wasn’t that a sad confession for a woman who’d been married for over thirty years? But it had been even longer since a man’s smile had that kind of effect on her – the effect of making her insides feel fuzzy, and her legs feel a little shaky.
She tried to smile back, but she imagined that it must look more like the grimace of a crazy woman. Then, she scurried away, hoping that the big man convention wouldn’t be in town for long – and that she wouldn’t run into them again and further embarrass herself.
She couldn’t help it; before she turned down the first aisle, she glanced back over her shoulder for one last look. Greybeard and the largest of the giants were still talking, but… Oh! The darker one, the handsome one, he was staring right back at her, and when he smiled again…
She smiled back before scampering around the corner out of sight. She really was a crazy woman. The way he smiled at her had seemed as though he was curious about her – maybe even interested in her – and she highly doubted that was true. She was just thinking crazy thoughts because after what had happened with Dale – after what she’d seen – some part of her apparently needed to feel that she might still hold some appeal to a man. She’d do better to remember what Dale had told her – that it wasn’t her fault that she’d reached the point in her life where she was less appealing as a woman; it was just a fact of aging.
She pushed the cart at a half jog toward the candy section in the back of the store, trying to forget the mean look on Dale’s face as he’d added that although aging wasn’t her fault, she had no one else to blame for the fact that she’d let herself go.
~ ~ ~
“So, what do you say?” asked Cal. “Are you going to join us later?”
Dominic shrugged. “I don’t think so. I might have a drink with you guys when I come in to collect my dinner, but I’m looking forward to an evening at home.”
Dalton chuckled. “I get it; working with Taryn would take it out of anyone. When you get a night off, you want to chill in peace, right?”
Dominic shrugged. “Something like that.”
Cal turned to Dalton. “And what about you?”
“You know I’ll be there,” said Dalton. “I won’t stay for long; I want to get to the restaurant. It’s not like I’m much use to her – Taryn runs the show, but I like to hang out, be there in case she needs me.”
The rest of what they were saying faded away when Dominic noticed a woman come into the store and stop dead as she stared at them. He watched her curiously; she wasn’t afraid, at least he didn’t think so. He’d understand it if she were – he knew that his size sometimes intimidated people, and Dalton and Cal were each slightly bigger than him.
The woman seemed to get over her shock and took a step forward. Dominic herded the other two away from the carts. “Sorry, we’ll move out of the way.”
She nodded her thanks and grabbed a cart, looking distinctly uncomfortable. For a moment, he thought he’d misjudged – that she was in fact afraid of them. It was only when he noticed the flush on her cheeks that another possibility occurred to him.
He met her gaze and smiled. Something about the way she smiled back hit him square in the chest. She looked uncomfortable, unsure of herself, but she held his gaze. Then, she turned and scurried away, leaving Dominic wondering what it was about her that had piqued his curiosity.
Since he’d moved here to Summer Lake, he’d grown used to women flirting with him. He enjoyed it, it was a fun way to connect on a superficial level. But he didn’t take it beyond the superficial. He felt as though he connected more deeply through just one look with the woman scurrying away from him than he had with any of the women he’d shared drinks and dances with over the last few months.
He still wasn’t paying attention to Dalton and Cal while he watched her walk away. He realized that he was biting the inside of his cheek, willing her to look back before she disappeared. He didn’t even know why he wanted her to – until she did.
She met his gaze, and he smiled. When she smiled back, an old familiar feeling filled his chest with longing. It felt like the two of them shared a connection that no one else was aware of. It was the way he used to feel all the time with Polly.
He frowned. And there was no reason in hell that some stranger in the grocery store should make him feel that same way.
He came back to the moment with a jolt when Dalton grasped his shoulder. “I’ll see you later, then.”
“Yeah, but like I said, I won’t stay for long.”
“Me neither,” said Dalton. “I’ll just have one with you guys before I head over to the restaurant.”
After he’d gone, Cal raised an eyebrow. “Was that someone you know?”
“What? Who?”
Cal folded his arms across his chest and waited.
Dominic let out a self-conscious laugh. “No. I don’t know what the deal was. She just… I dunno.”
Cal cocked an eyebrow. “And you don’t want to know, right? You flirt enough to keep everyone off your back, but you’re not looking for anything.”
“I’m not. I know that you guys have found yourselves second chances with some amazing women. But I’m not looking for a second chance – my first chance was all I ever wanted.”
Cal nodded solemnly. “That’s what I thought, but the way you reacted just now...”
Dominic shrugged. “I know, it caught me by surprise, too. But… I dunno.” He shrugged again.
“And you don’t need to know. You don’t need to explain it to me, or anyone else.” Cal met his gaze. “But I get the feeling that one day, maybe even one day soon, you might need to explain it to yourself.”
Dominic gave him a puzzled smile. “I doubt it. I doubt I’ll ever see her again.”
“Maybe not. I need to get going. I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, see ya.” Dominic looked toward the corner where the woman had disappeared. Even if he went after her, he doubted that he’d bump into her. And the thing was, there was no reason that he should want to. He hurried to the breakfast aisle to collect the syrup that he’d come in for. He was still sharing the house with his nephew, Jake, and it had become something of a tradition for them to have pancakes for breakfast on the weekends.
As he made his way back out to his SUV, he scanned the parking lot, but there was no sign of the woman. That was probably a good thing. Even though his brother, Damon, and the rest of the guys tried to encourage him that finding a relationship might do him good, he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t. He knew that he’d been lucky in love the first time. After Polly, he’d known that he wasn’t going to be looking for someone new.
~ ~ ~
“Come on, please make it, please make it, please make it!” Sadie leaned forward in her seat as if she could somehow encourage the minivan to make it to the top of the hill.
It had done well; the temperature gauge had stayed on normal as she made her way out of town and had only started to creep up as she made her way along the east shore of the lake. She should have known that she wouldn’t make it to the top of the hill, but she’d decided to go for it anyway.
She was regretting that decision now. She could see steam escaping from under the hood. The minivan was going slower and slower, and when the steering wheel started to vibrate in her hands, she knew it was time to pull over.
There was a pullout a little further up the hill. If she could just make it… She let out a yelp when the engine quit, and the minivan started to roll backward. She hit the brakes and then eased off them slightly as she tried to steer toward the side of the road and onto the shoulder. She wasn’t good at steering in reverse at the best of times – and this was far from the best of times.
Once the minivan was safely off the roadway, she put it in park and pulled the handbrake. The last thing she needed was for it to roll all the way back down the hill – given her luck lately, it’d probably end up in the lake. With that thought, she climbed out and searched for a couple of rocks to wedge behind the wheels. With that accomplished, she went to fetch her purse from the passenger seat.
It was only once she had her phone in her hand that she realized she didn’t know who to call. Dale had insisted that they should let their AAA membership lapse last year. She scowled as she wondered how else he might have spent that money. At the time, she’d thought that he was simply going through a frugal patch. In light of what she’d learned over the last few weeks, it seemed more likely that he’d been diverting the money – their money – toward his own pleasures.
She stared at her phone. Fuming about Dale wasn’t going to help her. She needed to get her act together. She stared at the screen for a few moments. She didn’t want to call her dad to ask him for the number of a towing company. She was supposed to be here to help him – not to worry him and ask for his help. But who else…?
“Yes! Nina.” She started scrolling through her contacts. She hadn’t really kept in touch with anyone from the lake for the last few years. When she used to come back to visit regularly, she tried to meet up with Nina and Terry. She still exchanged Christmas cards with them, and as she found Nina’s number, she was hoping that calling for help after a few years of no contact at all didn’t make her a terrible friend.
“Sadie? Sadie Baker? Is that you? Please say it’s you!”
Sadie smiled. “It’s me. And thank you.”
“Me?” Nina asked with a laugh. “What are you thanking me for? I’ve been feeling so bad that I haven’t called you in forever.”
“You have nothing to feel bad about – I haven’t called you either, remember?”
Nina laughed again. “No, I don’t remember. I vote that we forget all about who hasn’t called whom for how long and we just go with… It’s great to hear from you. How the hell are you?”
Sadie closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the side of the minivan. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Oh, don’t give me that crap! Life gets in the way; we all know that. Let’s just put that aside and move on, shall we?”
“I’d love to.”
“So, what’s new in your world? Any chance that you might come to visit soon?”
Sadie let out a short laugh. “There’s a hundred percent chance. In fact, I’m here right now.”
“Oh, how wonderful! Are you at your dad’s? Do you want to get together while you’re here?”
“I haven’t quite made it to my dad’s yet.”
“Are you here in town?”
“No. I broke down. I’d love to see you soon, but what I’m calling for right now is to ask if you have the number of a towing company.”
“Oh no! I’m so sorry! And here I am asking you a dozen questions. Where are you? I can come get you.”
“Aww, thanks, Nina. But you don’t need to do that. I’d love to see you, but I don’t think the two of us are going to be able to fix my minivan, and I really don’t want to abandon it up here.”
“Up where? Where are you?”
“Almost to the top of the hill on the way to Hidden Valley. I made it all the way up the east shore, but the hill proved too much for it.”
“Okay, well, we don’t want to leave you stranded up there for too long. There hasn’t been a towing company in town for a while – ever since old Art Jurgens retired. But one of the kids is opening up a garage – I know he’s going to do repair work, and bodywork, but I don’t know if he’ll have a tow truck. Let me call around and see what I can figure out for you.”
“Aw, thanks, Nina. You’re the best. I don’t want to make it your responsibility, though.”
Nina laughed. “You’re hardly doing that. I’ll tell you what, while I call around and see what I can arrange here, you should Google Taylor’s Towing. They’re all the way out past the mall on Route 20, so it’d take them ages to get to you, but they’re the only official company around here these days. If you manage to get ahold of them, just see what they say – how long it would take them to get to you. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to get someone to you sooner, but we might as well cover our options.”
“Thanks, Nina.”
“My pleasure. I’ll call you back as soon as I’ve figured something out.”