Chapter 1
Two years later…
Olivia stepped out on the sidewalk and smiled.
The warm summer air hit her, making her realize that she may have forgotten to put on deodorant that morning.
God, she hoped she hadn’t. It was going to be a very long day.
She couldn’t afford to sweat through her blouse.
Still, she could always purchase another bottle of her favorite lavender deodorant from the store.
It was one of the perks of working there, having access to all the goods. Some of the stuff really worked better than big-name brands. Even if they did cost double, Olivia knew that they were well worth the price.
But on her budget, she had to be careful not to spend too much of her paycheck on the things she loved. Even with the employee discount, she could easily overspend if she wasn’t careful.
Pulling the heavy rack of sundresses out onto the sidewalk, she took a moment to just breathe summer in.
The main street of downtown Silver Cove was abuzz with tourists already at this time of the day. Early morning was normally slow, since most of the out-of-towners were enjoying baked goods or home-cooked meals at one of the various diners, or just sleeping in at their rentals.
The streets were lined with brightly colored flowers that hung from the old-fashioned streetlamp posts or filled wooden and metal flower boxes on each street corner and shop window.
They were replaced once a month by a local group of older women in town that was hired by the city.
Each month the flowers were changed out with a new color, giving the town a new look.
This month’s color was purple, and the streets had never looked better.
At this point, she knew everyone in the small town of Silver Cove. Over nearly eight years, she’d made this her home, not just a place she’d been dragged to by her ex.
This was her place. Hers and Simona’s. She’d found a small cottage on the bay last year and had saved up enough money to purchase her first home. She never would have believed that she could be a homeowner.
She could credit Crystal and the rest of the Holley family for helping her stand on her own and recover after the police had hauled Brock in for questioning.
He’d denied breaking her arm, but it had only taken a few hours for his hand marks to show up clearly on her skin.
When she’d woken from surgery, she’d had a long discussion with Crystal and had finally admitted to what was going on.
She’d been convinced to tell the police and officially press charges.
It had been the best day of her life. She had finally earned her freedom.
Hers and Simona’s. To this day, she hadn’t looked back.
Brock had gone to court and Olivia had had to stand in front of a judge and tell the woman about the years of abuse at her ex’s hands.
She’d been lucky that they were divorced, or so the lawyer Crystal had found her had said.
That way there hadn’t been a big messy divorce amongst all the other issues.
She’d earned full custody of Simona that day, and Brock had been hauled off to the county jail with a five-year sentence.
She hadn’t had the guts to look into his eyes as he was hauled out of the courtroom in cuffs. But she’d held her head up high and promised herself once again that she would never allow anyone to push her around ever again.
She hadn’t expected to be as lonely as she was.
Sure, she’d gone through a sexual hiatus when she’d still been married to Brock.
Looking back at it, she was pretty sure it was due to the fact that he was getting it on the side with Bethany or whoever.
Actually, when she thought about it, she was thankful Brock hadn’t touched her back then.
Now, however, all these years later, she was beginning to realize that she didn’t know how much longer she wanted to be alone.
Letting someone in her life could mean going against her new life code, but there were ways around that.
If she could find someone who just wanted sex without a commitment…
But could she do that? Was she that kind of woman?
She didn’t want to bring anyone around her daughter that she didn’t trust, and trust came with a relationship. Right?
“Hard at work, I see.” Kayla stopped directly in front of her, pulling her out of her thoughts. She hadn’t realized she’d been standing on the sidewalk, staring, unseeing, at the busy street.
Kayla was pushing a stroller with two-year-old Willow fast asleep inside and Blue, their small rat terrier dog, snuggling up against the blonde-haired child.
“You caught me daydreaming,” Olivia admitted. “It’s so nice out here.”
“It’s why we decided to take a walk this morning,” Kayla answered with a smile.
“I hate to tattle, but both of your walking partners are fast asleep on you.” Olivia smiled down at the sleeping duo.
“Oh good.” Kayla sighed. “Willow was up early this morning, and I swear she only got a few hours of sleep last night. She’s going to go into preschool next year.”
“Scary.” Olivia shook her head.
“I know. CJ’s first day of school, I was a wreck. I don’t know what I’m going to do without my little Willow around for a few hours,” Kayla admitted.
“Sleep,” Olivia suggested with a smile. In the past few years, she and Kayla had become close. Closer than she had with anyone else. Maybe it was because the two of them had a lot in common.
They both had bad experiences with men in their past. Kayla’s ex, the father of her son Connor James, or CJ, had been a complete douche to Kayla and had ended up killing himself shortly before Kayla and Rowan had married.
Where Kayla was now completely happy with a perfect family while married to one of the sexiest and nicest doctors in town, Olivia was still sleeping alone. Well, at least when Simona didn’t climb in bed with her.
“I know, I just wish she would settle down to a normal schedule. I mean, she’s two.” Kayla sighed.
“A kid’s schedule can be knocked off kilter so easily.” Olivia remembered the struggles she’d had with Simona and smiled. “But she’ll get back in the groove soon enough. You’ll see.”
“I’m just thankful for Crystal. I swear the woman has more energy that both Rowan and I.” Kayla shifted and started rolling the stroller slightly.
Olivia laughed and then held the shop door open for a couple.
“Well, that’s my cue. Talk to you later.” She waved as Kayla took off down the sidewalk.
Olivia didn’t mind her work. She actually loved it. It somehow leveled and settled her.
By the time lunch rolled around, she’d hit a lull with customers. She found that the best time to restock items was shortly after lunchtime. She could get a lot done without being interrupted.
Crystal would be there with Simona in less than three hours, and she wouldn’t have time to do anything but help customers after her daughter arrived.
Normally, Simona would sit in Crystal’s small office after school and either do her homework or watch her shows on the secondhand iPad she’d purchased last Christmas. But since today was the very last day of school, she had a few extra plans for her daughter.
Sarah Rothschild, Crystal’s daughter, also known as Serenity, was going to pick Simona up for a playdate with her daughter Aurora.
The two girls were only a few months apart and the very bestest of friends, according to them.
Sarah and her husband, Ben, had another daughter, Luna, a few years younger, who trailed behind the friends and tried to keep up. The three of them always tried to convince everyone that they were sisters instead of just friends.
But Simona’s jet-black hair, which matched her own, was in complete contrast to Aurora’s and Luna’s pale blonde hair. Still, it was cute that the girls loved each other that much.
After the girl’s playdate, they were all going to meet down the street at Ed’s Pizzeria for a big end-of-the-school-year party.
Simona’s first-grade graduation was the next evening, but Sarah and Ben were heading to New York the morning after graduation to visit his parents in the city, so they’d decided to celebrate tonight.
Since Olivia was still the store manager, she’d scheduled Cora to fill in for her that afternoon.
The store wasn’t big enough that it needed two employees working behind the counter at one time, except during holidays.
Crystal and Daisy taught yoga classes at various times during the day in the large studio rooms in the back of the store.
Lea, their part-time massage therapist, had clients coming and going during the daytime and had two small private rooms with showers for her clients.
But for the most part, the store made its money from the items stocked on its shelves. Items that most locals came in and purchased on a regular basis. Tourists would also drop a lot of money during the season, attracted by the store’s eccentricity.
Serenity’s Attic stood out from the other almost identical buildings on the street because of the bright blue-and-yellow sun and purple moon designs painted on the front of the building.
The bright colors and designs covered every last inch of the storefront and marked it as an authentic hippie store.
White lights hung on the eves, showcasing the place and all the colors at night.
The front doors were painted bright purple with white stars covering every inch of them, a true testament to its owner’s belief in astrology.
Not a week had gone by over the last seven years when Crystal hadn’t read Olivia’s star charts. Olivia didn’t truly believe in the stuff, but it was interesting to hear it anyway.
This week’s reading had her meeting her soulmate once and for all. Olivia didn’t get too excited about that prospect, however, since in the past seven years, she’d had almost half a dozen of the same readings, all promising her soulmate was just around the corner.
This one, however, did cause her a moment of pause when Crystal mentioned that it was a child who would find her love.
Olivia had tried to see what Crystal read in the cards.
There were images on the front of each card, but how did she understand what they meant?
After all these years, she had no idea what any of the cards meant.
She remembered a handful of them, but each time, Crystal claimed they meant something different because of the other cards lying next to them.
As far as bosses went, Crystal Holley was by far the best one she’d ever had. It hadn’t taken Olivia long to rise up in the ranks of the store. Crystal had been basically the only employee back when she’d applied for a job there, shortly after she and Brock had moved back to Silver Cove.
In a way, Crystal was the reason she and Simona had stayed in the small town. Her kindness had been one of the only lights in an otherwise very dark year.
Being freshly divorced hadn’t affected her as much as being a single parent had.
Brock may have been terrible to her, and she’d had to deal with his attitude and his control, but he’d been a father to Simona.
Seeing her daughter go through father withdrawals had been hard.
Simona had cried every night for a while, and Olivia had to comfort her as she cradled her daughter in her unbroken arm.
She hadn’t wanted to tell her daughter how she’d hurt herself. After all, she didn’t want Simona to get the idea that her father was a complete monster. She’d read enough children’s health articles to understand what demonizing a parent could do to a child.
So instead, she’d lied to her daughter and told her that her father had to go away for a few years and that he loved her and would be back just as soon as he could. No one around her had wanted to break the mother code, so they had gone along with the ruse.
Olivia figured that she’d tell Simona when she was a little older and could understand what had happened a little better.
Then she’d had to juggle state-required counseling while dealing with a full-time job and a toddler whom she had to shuttle to and from day care each day. Crystal had made sure that she was paid enough to care for Simona and had even taken it upon herself to watch the young girl at times.
After a while, she’d fallen into a schedule and was thankful Kayla or Sarah had been available to fill in with Simona when she’d been unable to be there.
The three of them—four, if you counted Lilith Carriveau, Sarah’s best friend—had formed a tight group, as they all had kids around the same age. Lilith and her husband Adam had three kids a little younger than Simona.
The entire gang was going to be there later to celebrate, one of many times she knew they’d get together over the summer. It made the second half of her workday drag out. She was really looking forward to spending the evening with her friends.
By the time Crystal showed up with Simona, she was so ready for the workday to be over.
Holding her little girl was one of the best feelings in the world. Her daughter was full of stories about her special playdate with her friends from the moment she ran into the store and wrapped her little arms around her neck.
For the next few minutes, she listened while Crystal helped a few customers. It was her shop, after all, and she loved it as much as Olivia did, if not more.
When the customers walked out, several bags filled with their purchases in hand, Crystal turned to her and asked, “So, are we ready to party?”
“I am, I am.” Simona jumped up and down while waving her hands in the air.
Olivia laughed and swooped her daughter up into her arms, noticing how much bigger she’d gotten over the past few months.
When Cora showed up to take her place, she gathered her daughter’s many things and walked down the street to the pizzeria to meet their friends.
The place smelled wonderful and sounded like a playground. It appeared that every parent in town had the same idea they did. Kids of every age hung out at the old video games in the side room while their parents sat at the tables and cheerfully chatted and sipped their drinks.
They had a table in the back of the pizzeria where there was a little more room for the younger kids to play.
She had been really involved with a conversation with Sarah when she felt a presence hovering over her.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” a rich deep voice sounded directly behind her, “but is this your daughter?”