Her instantaneous excitement told him that her heart was already well on its way to healing. Maybe all she’d really needed was closure, a chance to say goodbye and make sure that she hadn’t lost a friend. If he’d been half so insistent on closure before he’d taken off from Texas, maybe he and Melissa would have been married by now, instead of trying to rebuild their shattered trust.

Janey would be okay. He was sure of it. In the meantime, though, he had another heart to worry about. He had a feeling patching up the holes in Melissa’s trust wasn’t going to be nearly so easy to accomplish.

Melissa broke three glasses during the breakfast rush at Dolan’s on Monday. As each one shattered, she heard a heavy sigh of resignation from Eli. She knew exactly how he felt. She’d had her fragile hopes shattered—again—the day before when she’d arrived at White Pines to find an adorable, sexy woman waiting on the doorstep for Cody.

As she swept up the debris from her latest round of clumsiness, she wished it were even half as easy to tidy up the aftermath of a broken heart.

When she finished sweeping, she glanced up and discovered Mabel sitting at the counter, curiosity written all over her face. To try to forestall the questions that were clearly on the older woman’s mind, Melissa grabbed the coffeepot and poured her a cup.

“How about a Danish, Mabel?” she asked. “We have cheese and cherry left.”

“No, thanks. So, did you and Cody have another fight?” Mabel inquired point-blank.

“No,” Melissa replied honestly. They hadn’t fought. She had taken off before her disillusionment could come pouring out in a wave of accusations.

“Now, why is it I don’t believe that?” Mabel murmured. “You never broke a glass until that boy came back into town. Since then, you’ve been smashing them up so fast poor Eli’s liable to go bankrupt.”

“I’m going to reimburse Eli for the glasses,” Melissa told her stiffly.

“No need for that,” Eli called, proving that he’d heard every word of the discussion of her love life. “Maybe Mabel and I ought to sit that boy down and give him a stern talking to, though.”

Mabel shot their boss a sour look. “What would you know about straightening out a lovers’ tiff, old man?”

“As much as you do about starting one,” Eli shot back.

Melissa stared at them. For the first time she noticed that their bickering carried the unmistakable sting of two former lovers. Eli and Mabel, she thought incredulously. Surely not. Then again, why not? She knew of no one else in either of their lives. Maybe that was so because they’d spent years carrying the torch for each other, unable to heal some foolish rift.