The Girl He Left Behind Read online

  Two Little Secrets

  It should be a dream come true for divorcée Eve Kelly. After a dozen years, her high school sweetheart Adam Crenshaw is back—and sexier than ever. But Eve has a problem. Two problems, to be exact. Her eleven-year-old twins. Twins their secret daddy can never know about...

  Home to care for his ailing mother, the big-time country music star didn’t expect to fall so hard for the small-town single mom...again. But Eve isn’t the same woman he left. It’s as if she’s hiding something. Adam is used to getting what he wants—and he wants Eve. This time, though, instead of a fling, he just may get a family—a family he didn’t know he had.

  “I’ve never forgotten you, Eve,” Adam said softly.

  “That kiss last night, it wasn’t an impulse. I wanted to kiss you from the minute I saw you at the shelter. My big hit, ‘Impossible to Forget,’ I wrote that song because of you.”

  Eve swallowed. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. Even when he reached for her hand, her gaze remained glued to his. When he gently pulled her toward him, her stupid heart began to race, and even though her brain screamed Danger! Danger! No! Stop! Don’t do it! she didn’t resist when he drew her into his arms.

  “I want you, Eve.”

  She closed her eyes as his lips grazed her cheek and drifted down to her neck.

  “I’ve always wanted you,” he whispered.

  Every nerve ending in her body seemed to be alive with sensation. And when he raised his head to capture her mouth, she moaned, and instead of stopping him, she kissed him back as if her very life depended upon it...

  * * *

  The Crandall Lake Chronicles: Small town, big hearts

  Dear Reader,

  I have always been fascinated by books dealing with themes centered around the road not taken. And one day, while listening to a love song written by a current pop star, the idea for The Girl He Left Behind began to form, quickly becoming an idea I couldn’t ignore. In fact, it seemed perfect for book two of The Crandall Lake Chronicles.

  I had tons of fun revisiting Crandall Lake and writing Adam and Eve’s story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it and that you’ll look for the next book in the series (coming in August 2016), which will tell Olivia’s story.

  I love to hear from readers. Come and visit me on my website at patriciakay.com.

  Happy reading!

  The Girl He Left Behind

  Patricia Kay

  Formerly writing as Trisha Alexander, Patricia Kay is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty-eight novels of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives in Houston, Texas. To learn more about her, visit her website at patriciakay.com.

  Books by Patricia Kay

  Harlequin Special Edition

  The Crandall Lake Chronicles

  Oh, Baby!

  The Hunt for Cinderella

  Holiday by Design

  Meet Mr. Prince

  The Billionaire and His Boss

  Callie’s Corner Café

  She’s the One

  It Runs in the Family

  The Hathaways of Morgan Creek

  You’ve Got Game

  His Best Friend

  Nanny in Hiding

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  This book is dedicated to Dick, with whom I shared fifty-three years of adventures. We all love and miss you!

  Contents

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  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

  Anna Cermak’s Pierogies

  Anna Cermak’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Halupki)

  Note from the Author

  Excerpt from An Officer and Her Gentleman by Amy Woods

  “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”

  —Mark Twain

  Prologue

  The boy stands under the overhang, guitar case in hand, his backpack stuffed with his belongings. The bus will arrive any minute. Beyond the overhang the rain falls steadily. It has been raining for days here in the Texas Hill Country.

  His gaze sweeps the station platform.

  Is she coming?

  He’d told her she had to be here no later than eight o’clock. The station clock now reads eight twelve. The bus is due to leave the station at eight fifteen. The boy looks at his phone again. Should he risk calling her house? But what if her father answers? For at least the hundredth time since they’d become a couple, he curses her father’s stupid rules. Eve is one of the few girls left in their senior class who doesn’t yet have a cell phone. He has no way of contacting her without alerting her parents.

  He looks around slowly, hoping this time he’ll see her, that she’ll be out of breath from hurrying, saying how sorry she is that she made him wait, that she didn’t say yes when he first started talking about her coming with him, that she made him worry. But she’s not there. The only other person on the platform is an older man who was already there when the boy arrived.

  She’s not coming.

  His heart thuds painfully as the truth sinks in. Yet he isn’t really surprised. Down deep, hasn’t he always known she wouldn’t come? That he’s never been good enough for her? Hasn’t he been lying to himself all along, pretending she would change her mind and come because he didn’t want to think about the alternative?

  You’re on your own. She doesn’t love you enough to defy her family. You knew she wouldn’t leave home. It was never gonna happen. Forget about her. The two of you together was always a fairy tale, and you’ve never believed in fairy tales.

  He thinks about how he’d once told Aaron to grow up, saying, “There ain’t no Santa Claus, kid, and you might as well get used to it!”

  He sighs. Yeah, there ain’t no Santa Claus. And there sure as hell wasn’t gonna be a happy ever after for him. Not with Eve anyhow. He’d have to make his own happy ever after by making his dream of a career in music come true.

  The hiss of air brakes heralds the arrival of the bus, and the boy pulls his baseball cap more firmly on his head and darts through the rain toward the opening doors.

  Two minutes later, as the bus pulls away from the station, heading east toward his future, the boy gives one last, long look at the town where he’s spent all eighteen years of his life so far.

  Then he turns resolutely away. No more looking at the past. From now on, he will only look forward.

  Chapter One

  Twelve years later...

  Eve Kelly stared at the headline.

  Adam Crenshaw and Version II Launching Fall Tour in Austin

  She could hardly believe her eyes.

  Adam.

  Adam was finally coming home. He would be performing
in Austin. Which was less than an hour away. Eve swallowed while the enormity of what she’d just read in the online version of the Austin American-Statesman sank in.

  Twelve years. It had been twelve years since the day Adam had ridden out of her life. Twelve years to wonder if she’d done the right thing or if her long-ago decision had been the worst one she’d ever made.

  She sighed heavily. Read the accompanying story quickly. There wasn’t a whole lot of information, just the fact that Adam Crenshaw and his band would be opening their North American tour in Austin at the Frank Erwin Center the first week of September, and that tickets would go on sale next month. The reporter also mentioned that this would be the first time Adam’s band had performed in Texas even though he had grown up in Crandall Lake. There was a photo of the band with Adam front and center, but it had been taken from a distance, and his head was bent over his guitar, so she couldn’t see his face.

  “Time to head out, Eve. You gonna come to Ernie’s, have a drink with us?”

  Eve started. She hadn’t heard Penny Wallace, one of her coworkers, approach. She glanced up and smiled. “Thanks, but I can’t. I have to stop at the supermarket, then pick up the twins and take them over to Bill’s.”

  “They spending the week with him?”

  Eve nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Okay. See you on Monday.”

  After Penny walked off, Eve shut down her computer and gathered her things. Her head was still full of the startling news about Adam, but she couldn’t sit here and think about it, nor could she call her cousin Olivia to tell her the news. Not if she wanted to get the twins to her ex’s by six thirty, as promised.

  Fifteen minutes later, she strode into her favorite supermarket and headed straight into the produce department. She was having Olivia for dinner the following night and needed fresh salad stuff. She also wanted to be sure to send some fruit with the twins tonight. Maybe she couldn’t compete with Missy, their stepmother, as far as baking cakes and pies from scratch, but she could make sure the twins had plenty of fresh fruit while they were there.

  The market was crowded, but Eve knew exactly what she needed and where to find it, so within twenty minutes she was standing in the checkout line. She’d chosen the shortest line, but there were still two people ahead of her. Friday nights were always so busy. People stopped in after work rather than have to make a separate trip later or the following day. Idly, she glanced at the magazine rack to her left while she waited. And did a double take as she saw the newest issue of People magazine.

  The cover screamed Sexiest Man Alive! Adam Crenshaw!

  And there was a head shot of Adam, smiling out at her, taking up the entire cover, and looking even handsomer than normal. She swallowed painfully as she took in his shining, longish brown hair and unusual gray eyes. His face bore a fashionable stubble, and the dimple in his left cheek was prominently displayed by his sexy, crooked smile. For years, ever since Adam had become successful, people had compared his good looks to another country idol, Keith Urban, but Eve thought Adam was even better looking. She knew Nicole Kidman would probably disagree with her. But then, both of them had to be prejudiced.

  Eve grabbed the top copy of the magazine and furtively put it into her shopping cart. She knew she was asking for heartache, but she couldn’t resist reading about Adam’s life. Reading about all the things she could have had and had rejected.

  The two of you would probably have split up by now.

  Eve closed her eyes, but the words in her head wouldn’t go away. It was stupid to speculate on what might have been if she’d made a different choice all those years ago, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Thankfully, before she’d had time to continue with her morose thoughts, it was her turn to check out, and she no longer had time to think about anything other than the task at hand—watching carefully to make sure she wasn’t overcharged for anything.

  But when the checker scanned the magazine, she grinned, and with a twang that announced she’d probably grown up in East Texas said, “He sure is a hottie, isn’t he? And to think he grew up right here in Crandall Lake!”

  “Mmm,” Eve said.

  “So do you know him?” the checker persisted.

  Eve frowned. “Me? Uh, no.” The last thing she wanted to do was discuss Adam Crenshaw.

  “Oh. I thought maybe you were about his age.”

  Eve shrugged, hoping she’d discouraged the girl.

  “I sure would love to see him. He’s comin’ to Austin, him and his band. Did you know that?”

  Eve forced a smile. “No, I didn’t.” Please just finish checking me out and stop talking!

  Finally the girl ran out of steam and a few minutes later, Eve was out of the store and loading her groceries into her car. Resolutely, she pushed every last thought of Adam out of her mind. Time enough to think about him again after the twins were gone tonight. Until then, she would simply be Eve Kelly, mother of Natalie and Nathan, and nothing more.

  * * *

  Adam Crenshaw swore softly. He’d been working on a new song for days and was having problems with the bridge. Nothing he tried sounded right. “Dammit,” he said again, frowning and setting his guitar down with a tired sigh. He rubbed his forehead. A headache had been hovering for hours, and he was afraid it was finally going to come. He’d better take some Advil and head it off. His headaches were notorious and could lay him low for days once one took hold.

  After gulping down the Advil and pouring himself a glass of iced tea, he picked up his phone and texted his brother.

  That contract ready yet?

  It only took a moment for Austin’s reply.

  Yep. Sending in a few mins.

  Adam smiled. The money he’d spent on his brother’s education hadn’t been wasted. Austin was a crackerjack lawyer and took care of every financial and legal aspect of Adam’s career. Adam trusted him more than anyone else in the world.

  Turning back to his guitar, he strummed the last few chords before the bridge, hoping for inspiration. And, as happened sometimes, an idea struck, but before he’d had time to get it down on paper, his office door opened and his publicist, Bethany D’Angelo, walked in.

  He looked up in annoyance. “Don’t you ever knock?” He didn’t try to hide his irritation.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Aren’t we in a bad mood today?” Parking her backside on the corner of his desk, she crossed her legs and grinned at him. “Did we get up on the wrong side of the bed, sweetums?”

  He gritted his teeth, hating the way she talked in the third person and called him various pet names. She was thirty-one years old, for God’s sake, and just because he’d stupidly become sexually involved with her a few months back didn’t give her the right to act as if she owned him. This wasn’t the first time he’d had the almost uncontrollable urge to fire her on the spot. But he stopped himself in time, and “I have a headache” was all he said.

  “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Did you take something for it?”

  “Yes, I took something.”

  “How about if I rub your shoulders and neck? That’ll help, too.” She dropped her voice to what she considered her sexy tone. “Then later, I could do something else for you, which I know would make you feel even better.”

  “I’m having problems with this new song,” he said, just as if he hadn’t heard her, “and I was just about to have a breakthrough when you interrupted me.”

  “Oh, you always say you’re having problems.”

  There was something about her airy dismissal of his concerns that nearly pushed him over the edge, but once again, he managed to control himself. Maybe he was being unfair. Just because he was bored with their relationship and wanted out didn’t mean he was allowed to act like a total jerk and be nasty to her. After all, she hadn’t thrown herself into his bed. He’d made the first move. It wasn’t her
fault he’d almost immediately known he’d made a huge mistake. So the right thing to do was tell her, straight-out, in a nice way, that from now on their dealings would be strictly business. Then, if she felt she couldn’t handle that change in their status, she would quit on her own. If not, they’d go forward as adults.

  Forcing his voice into a more pleasant tone, he said, “Did you want something, Bethany?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did. I wanted to remind you of your interview with Rolling Stone at seven tonight.”

  “Oh, crap.” He had forgotten all about the interview.

  “Now, Adam, landing the cover story of Rolling Stone is a remarkable coup for you. Coming on top of the People thing just a few months before the launch of your tour and a new album... Well, it’s fabulous!”

  He sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But I hate interviews.”

  “You’ve told me that a hundred times. And as I’ve told you, Aaron can’t do everything for you. There are some things you simply must do yourself.” Gone was the seductress voice. Now Bethany was all business.

  In mentioning Aaron, she was referring to the fact that his youngest brother now functioned as Adam’s alter ego in matters of publicity, especially his online presence. Aaron, who at twenty-five was five years younger than Adam, pretended to be Adam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, in responding to various blogs and fan sites, as well as interacting with his fan clubs.

  Adam hated all that garbage. Always had. He didn’t hate his fans, of course—he liked meeting them, especially at concerts—but if he spent all his time online and doing interviews, when would he be able to write his music? All he’d ever wanted was to write and perform, not blow his own horn about how great he was. It still amazed him that anyone cared about all that stuff entertainers posted. Hell, Aaron even told Adam’s followers what he, Adam, had supposedly eaten for breakfast!

  “Yeah, I know he can’t,” he finally said.

  Bethany studied him steadily. “So you won’t try to blow off the interview, right?”