“I know it was tough for you to come here,” he volunteered, swiping at a yellow jacket that buzzed around his head.

“I’m worried about you,” she admitted.

“Yeah, but it’s more than that. You’re curious as hell about Brynnie and the girls.”

Lifting a shoulder, Bliss hoisted a bag from the back seat and hauled it toward the house. Her father carried a smaller case and followed her. “A little.”

“A lot, I’ll wager. Don’t blame you.” He eyed her as he held open the front door and the scents she remembered—of floor wax, smoke and cooking oil—greeted her. She fingered the old globe, sending countries that no longer existed spinning.

She walked along the short hallway and pushed open the door. Her room was as it had been for as long as she could remember. Double bed, old dresser with a curved mirror, tiny closet. Rag rugs were scattered over an old, dull fir floor.

He dropped her small case on the foot of the bed.

“I’m drivin’ over to Brynnie’s for dinner later. You want to tag along?”

“No.” She was surprised how quickly the word was out of her mouth, and hated the disappointment she saw in her father’s eyes. However, the truth of the matter was that she still needed time to settle in and grow more comfortable with this new life that was being thrown at her. Seeing Mason again didn’t help. Not at all. “Not—not tonight. Just give me a little time to catch up, okay?”

He started to argue, thought better of it and shrugged. “Whatever you say, kid. I just think it’s time to make peace. I’ve made my share of mistakes in the past and now I’d like for you and your sisters to be part of a family.” He scratched at the stubble silvering his jaw. “But I’ll try not to push you too fast.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she whispered, her throat clogging at his kindness. Crusty as he was, he had his good points. Somehow she’d have to get over her feeling that he’d betrayed her mother. She only wished she knew how.

She walked to the window and forced it open. Returning to Bittersweet might have been a mistake. A big one. Not only would she have to deal with this new patchwork of a family, but also, she was bound to run into Mason again.

So? He was just a man. What they had shared was over a long, long time ago. Or was it?

Chapter Three

His first mistake had been returning to Bittersweet.

His second was seeing Bliss again.

“You’re an idiot, Lafferty,” he told himself as he parked on the edge of Isaac Wells’s property just as night was threatening to fall. The woman had the uncanny ability to get under his skin. Just like before.

“Hell,” he ground out, chiding himself for believing that he could see her and not care. He’d been thinking about her ever since leaving the Cawthorne spread—a place he intended to have as his own, if only to prove a point.