Sam didn't say a word. It wasn't true, because Alli wasn't alone. She had a sister—a sister who was coming home. He couldn't stop the sudden quickening of his pulse.
Alli's eyes suddenly changed, and he wondered if she could read his mind.
"Oh, my God! William called Tessa, didn't he?"
Apparently she could read his mind, or she'd simply added up the equation. Despite the animosity between the two sisters, Phoebe MacGuire adored both of her granddaughters.
"Yes, he called Tessa." It felt strange to say her name out loud. And stranger still to think of seeing Tessa again, her blond hair, her blue eyes, her generous smile. Not that she'd be smiling at him.
"Is she coming back?" Alli asked, her face so tense she could barely get out the words.
"Yes."
"Then those divorce papers can't come a minute too soon."
Sam touched her arm, but she shrugged him away.
"Don't touch me, Sam. You don't have to pretend you care about me anymore. We both know it isn't true."
"I married you, didn't I?"
"There it is again, your favorite refrain—you married me. That was your gift to me. And I'm divorcing you. That's my gift to you. Now I guess it's Tessa's turn."
* * *
Chapter 2
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It was nine hours from Milan to New York, another six to Portland, and then a couple of hours more in a plush black stretch limousine to the southern Oregon coast. As a supermodel, Tessa MacGuire was used to waking up in one city when she'd gone to sleep in another, to living on black coffee, lemon water, and lettuce. She'd become accustomed to calling her post office box home, spending the holidays with strangers, and smiling no matter how tired or unhappy or lonely she felt.
Most people thought she acted only in front of the camera, but deep down inside Tessa knew she acted almost every day of her life. And no one suspected. No one saw through the smile or the laugh or the cheerful wave. And that's the way she liked it, easy, impersonal, safe.
As Tessa looked out the window at the passing scenery, she knew she'd long ago passed safe. The meadows and dairy farms had given way to the thick forested hills, the last barrier between the valley and the coastline, her new life and her old one. Even the rivers and streams had gone from lazy and peaceful to wild and reckless, the weather changing just as quickly, the clear blue sky suddenly taken over by gray, threatening clouds. She'd heard on the news that it had rained most of the night. Maybe it would storm again. Maybe she wouldn't be able to get home.
Home. The word slipped into her mind unbidden. Tessa didn't want to think of Tucker's Landing as home, but the familiar scenery had begun to awaken her dusty, musty memories from their almost decade-long cocoon.#p#分页标题#e#
On impulse, Tessa lowered the window and took in a deep breath of cold, crisp air that smelled of wet pine and fresh grass. A mile or two later, her breath caught in her throat as the forest gave way to sharp rocky bluffs, and as they turned south, the right side of the road fell away in a sheer drop to the blue-green ocean below.
The sea was magnificent—tall, booming waves hitting the rocky shore, spraying a fine mist over the rocks and a few sea lions basking in the sunlight. The coastline wove in and out, the tides pushing and pulling at the beaches below with a relentless beat. She'd forgotten how overwhelming the ocean could be, consuming everything within its reach.
It was all too familiar—and all too much. Tessa rolled up the window and leaned against the leather seat, closing her eyes against the view, steeling her heart against the memories, the hurt that went right down to her bones whenever she thought about Sam and Alli.
God, how she'd once loved Sam Tucker! He'd been her best friend, her boyfriend, and now the last man she ever wanted to see again. And Alli … how could she look at her sister and not think of her betrayal? How could she face either of them?
Sam and Alli were married now. They had a daughter together, a daughter who was eight years old. Tessa shook her head, unable to believe how much time had gone by. It seemed like only yesterday they had all been teenagers, young, restless, in love, with their lives stretched out before them. The future had been filled with possibilities; now there was only uncertainty and fear.
Tessa's thoughts turned to her grandmother. She hoped and prayed that the news wasn't as bad as Mr. Beckett had implied. Perhaps by the time she arrived in Tucker's Landing her grandmother would be awake and smiling and telling them it was all right. "I can't die yet," she'd say, "because I'm not through living."
It had been Grams's favorite expression, Tessa remembered fondly, words meant to reassure her that unlike her parents, who had died in a car accident, her grandmother wasn't going anywhere. Every night before bed, they would look out at the stars and her grandmother would point out two that appeared to be winking at them and tell Tessa to blow a kiss to her parents. Then Grams would tuck her into bed and say, "I can't die yet, honey. I haven't finished counting the stars, and don't you know, my darling girl, that you will never be alone, because there is always love, and love lives forever."