Breaking Hearts Read Free Page A

stood again. “Objection, relevance.”
    “Your honor, it goes to her motive for seeking out Mr. Turner in the first place.”
    Grace almost popped her hip out of place coming around the desk, and for a split second, I thought she might wrap her hands around his neck instead of punching them against her waist. “Your Honor, we believed Mr. Shaw was going to be called because he was a first responder to the scene.”
    “She can’t tell me what to ask my witness.” Calvin’s voice climbed to a child-like whine.
    The judge cocked her head. “Approach, please.” They walked to the front of the courtroom, and I sat back in my chair, remembering.
     

Chapter 2
     
    How it all started.
    Since the moment I first noticed boys in fifth grade, Simon Hunter was the boy I saw myself growing old with. He had the best smile, the most expressive honey-colored eyes, and a way with people that made an entire town love him. Even when he didn’t know it, he was everything to me. Any minute I could sneak into his presence was a minute I savored and cherished.
    When we got around to the business of being adults, our schedules seldom coordinated, but we spent most Fridays together. I’d skipped out on the last three, wanting him to see what it would be like without me. I wanted him to miss me with a desperate passion.
    The missing only happened on my end, and I had the phone log to prove it. As it went to voice mail, I glared at my phone and left my tenth message…a pitiful, I-miss-you-please-call-me-and-let-me-know-you’re-okay kind of message. Since high school, he’d been my reason for waking up in the morning, the hero in the dreams I had every night, and the focus of all the moments in between. And damn it. Friday was our day.
    After a quick makeup check, I left my apartment, the one we’d planned to share up until a few months ago when he started making all those trips to LA with Gatlin. I kicked the jealousy away with the toe of my shoe against a rock on the sidewalk.
    For three full blocks, I took my frustration out on chunks of concrete until I strolled past the bakery. It took every ounce of my will not to press my nose against the window to see if he’d decided to loiter inside while his sister worked, or if he’d just run in to get some free pastries. His car was parked out front, so I leaned against it for a few minutes, waiting…remembering the first time he kissed me…the way his hand cupped the side of my face, the brush of his lips so softly over mine. Had we been sixteen? Seventeen? It was a lifetime ago.
    Thousands of kisses followed the first one, and I always wondered when that feeling of perfection would wear off. I guarded against it, always creating new ways for Simon and me to retain everything we had going for us. Maybe we needed to take a trip, somewhere tropical where bikinis and board shorts were the required wardrobe until the sun went down. Yes . He’d been on the Storybook Lake police department long enough he could wrangle a weekend off to be with me instead of Gatlin. My schedule would be much easier to rearrange. I worked at the resort. No one would miss me if I didn’t show up for a month much less a weekend.
    All I needed was a plan, and since I had one and the confidence that came with it, I pushed off the fender I’d been lounging against and strolled into the bakery. Simon glanced up from the table he occupied with Jocelyn. After a long moment, he stood.
    “Good luck, bud.”
    Her smile confused me, but I ignored it in favor of the euphoria of knowing Simon and I would be vacationing together very soon--as soon as I could get to a computer and book a trip. I bit my tongue to restrain an insult over her dye stained uniform and waited for Simon to join me by the entrance.
    “You too. I’ll expect to be an uncle soon.”
    As he followed me out, I looked over my shoulder at him. “What was that about?”
    He let the door swing shut behind us and shoved his hands in his pockets. We stood