Janice Carter - Past, Present And A Future

Gil looked at Clare a few more seconds, trying to decipher the expression in her eyes, but he couldn’t. At least she’d made the right choice. They had to finish what they’d begun.

Once inside, he helped her off with her coat. He froze when he brushed against her neck, mesmerized by the memory of the first time he’d touched it. He wanted desperately to stroke her skin and press his lips against her hair.

“Something wrong?”

Clare’s words brought him back to life. He whisked her coat off her shoulders and took it to the hall closet. Her footsteps echoed behind him.

“Didn’t we try to do this the other day?” she quipped as she came into the room.

He realized what she meant when he saw her nod toward the writing supplies on the table. “Maybe we’ll have better luck the second time around.”

Dear Reader,

Most of us, at one time or another, have attended a high school or college reunion and have learned that seeing old friends can sometimes be hurtful as well as exhilarating. Going back isn’t always easy to do. In fact, it can be downright risky—as Clare Morgan discovers in Past, Present and a Future.

Returning to Twin Falls, Connecticut, for the first time in seventeen years is much more than a trip down memory lane for Clare. What started out as a visit to attend the christening of her best friend’s new baby becomes a confrontation with Clare’s worst memories of her senior year in high school. Betrayal. Distrust. Murder.

And a key player in her memories—Clare’s former boyfriend, her first love, Gil Harper—has returned for the christening, as well.

Going back offers Clare an opportunity to put things right—to lay to rest for once and for all the painful memories of her seventeenth summer. Only then, Clare realizes, can a future with Gil Harper be possible.

Enjoy!

Janice Carter

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Susan Hess, valued friend, great sister-in-law and terrific brainstormer.

Not to mention the best aunt in the world.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

GOOD NEWS and bad news. Funny how the two often came together. Clare read the e-mail a second time. Her best friend since elementary school was the proud mother of a baby girl named Emma. Clare felt a rush of emotion that was a mix of joy and envy.

The bad news was that Laura wanted her to be the child’s godmother, which meant going back home to Twin Falls, Connecticut. And home—somewhere she hadn’t visited in the last seventeen years—was the last place on earth Clare Morgan wanted to set foot.

She quickly sent a return congratulatory message, expressing delight at the request but avoiding a definite reply by saying she’d telephone on the weekend. That would give her two days to come up with a plausible excuse to politely decline. She was flattered that Laura had thought of her, but she couldn’t see herself in the role of a godmother.

Such as? Clare leaned back in her chair. There was no way she could refuse. Laura Kingsway, nee Dundas, had been her best friend since they’d started school together at Mountview Elementary in Miss Goodfellow’s kindergarten class. Their friendship had weathered upheavals such as the divorce of Clare’s parents when she was nine, along with boyfriend troubles during their high school years. Though their separation due to college and careers had altered the nature of their relationship to one of phone and e-mail—in fact, the last time Clare had seen Laura was at her marriage to Dave Kingsway two years ago—they were still close.

Twin Falls. Clare had difficulty uttering her hometown’s name even in her head. She still couldn’t believe that Laura and Dave had chosen to move back there. But then, Laura hadn’t been affected by the whole sordid mess seventeen years ago in quite the same way that Clare had.

Clare shut down the computer. She was having lunch with her editor to discuss changes to her upcoming book tour to promote her second novel. It was an important meeting and one that Clare had been anticipating for several days. The book had—to Clare’s astonishment—recently made the New York Times bestseller list a mere three weeks after its launch. She just hoped today’s news wouldn’t diminish her enjoyment of the celebratory luncheon.

“SALUT!” Alix Bennett clinked her champagne flute delicately against Clare’s.

Clare took her first taste of Cristal, savoring its crisp fruitiness and thinking she could get used to the trappings of success.

“So when can we expect the next proposal?” Alix asked.

“Maybe a couple of weeks?”

Alix nodded. “Try to get it in as soon as possible. It’d be nice to be able to mention it during some of your appearances.”

“You haven’t even offered me a contract yet.”

“After the success of Growing up in Paradise I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Not after what you’ve already told me about this new one.”

“Tina really likes it,” Clare said, referring to her agent.

“Too bad she couldn’t make it for lunch today.”

“She’s unbelievably busy but promised to make the next one.”

“You mean the signing celebration for the new one?” Alix smiled.

Giddiness swept through Clare. She still had difficulty believing that all this heady success was indeed happening to her. “Assuming you buy it,” she repeated.

“Given the initial sales of Growing up in Paradise, it’s a done deal. But don’t quote me on that,” Alix said with a mischievous grin. She paused while the waiter set down their appetizers. After he left, she asked, “So, what’s new in your life these days? Aside from the dizziness of fame?”

Clare smiled. Her editor loved to tease and had a penchant for hyperbole—certainly a plus when it came to pitching a book to the honchos who made the final decisions. “My best friend just had a baby girl. She wants me to be godmother.”

“Ahh, that’s nice. And a compliment.”

“Yes. Laura and I haven’t seen each other for a couple of years. Her family lived just down the street from mine in Twin Falls. We met in kindergarten.”

“Wow! Not many people can lay claim to that kind of long friendship.”

“She married a guy from Twin Falls, too. Dave. They dated briefly in high school, then split up and got back together again in college.”

“No kidding? When I think of the guys I dated in high school, no way would I want to end up with any one of them.”

Thinking of just such a guy, Clare averted her gaze from Alix to the table. She waited for the usual uneasiness that accompanied thoughts of Gil Harper to surface but when nothing happened, she raised her head with an almost audible sigh of relief.

“You okay? Thought I’d lost you there for a sec.”

“Must be the champagne,” Clare said. “I’m not used to drinking at lunch.”

“Hey, you’d better get used to it. I see lots of celebrations ahead in your future.”

“Book sales will be good enough for me, believe me. All of this,” she gestured toward the plush interior of the Plaza, “is wonderful but not really my thing.”