Willowleaf Lane

Sometimes going back is the best way to start over

Candy shop owner Charlotte Caine knows temptation.To reboot her life, shed weight and gain perspective, she’s passing up sweet enticements left and right. But willpower doesn’t come so easily when hell-raiser Spencer Gregory comes back to Hope’s Crossing, bringing with him memories of broken promises and teen angst. A retired pro baseball player on the mend from injury—and a damaging scandal—he’s interested in his own brand of reinvention.

Now everything about Spencer’s new-and-improved lifestyle, from his mission to build a rehab facility for injured veterans to his clear devotion to his preteen daughter, Peyton, touches Charlotte’s heart. Holding on to past hurt is her only protection against falling for him—again. But if she takes the risk, will she find in Spencer a hometown heartbreaker, or the hero she’s always wanted?

Praise for RaeAnne Thayne’s Hope’s Crossing series

“A heartfelt tale of sorrow, redemption and new beginnings that will touch readers.”

—RT Book Reviews on Sweet Laurel Falls

“Plenty of tenderness and Colorado sunshine flavor this pleasant escape.”

—Publishers Weekly on Woodrose Mountain

“Thayne, once again, delivers a heartfelt story of a caring community and a caring romance between adults who have triumphed over tragedies.”

—Booklist on Woodrose Mountain

“Readers will love this novel for the cast of characters and its endearing plotline… a thoroughly enjoyable read.”

—RT Book Reviews on Woodrose Mountain

“Thayne’s series starter introduces the Colorado town of Hope’s Crossing in what can be described as a cozy romance…[a] gentle, easy read.”

—Publishers Weekly on Blackberry Summer

“Thayne’s depiction of a small Colorado mountain town is subtle but evocative. Readers who love romance but not explicit sexual details will delight in this heartfelt tale of healing and hope.”

—Booklist on Blackberry Summer

Willowleaf Lane

RaeAnne Thayne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my wonderful sisters-in-law, Karla Freebairn,

Melanie Child, Sherri Robinson and Rose Robinson.

I love the four sisters I was born with but I’m so grateful

I gained four more from my husband

and through my brothers’ wise choices.

Dear Reader,

I adore reunion stories and over the course of forty-three books, I’ve written many of them. I find something so sweetly perfect in the idea of two people rediscovering each other when each is in a much better place to find lasting joy together.

Willowleaf Lane is a little different from the typical course these stories might take. In this book, my heroine, Charlotte Caine, has always been in love with my hero, Spencer Gregory, but he barely knew she was alive. Growing up, she was shy and overweight, awkward and rather lonely. When he was young and immature, he was unthinkingly cruel to her at a very crucial turning point in a young girl’s emotional path and the scars of that haunted her for a long time.

Spence was once on top of the world, on track to become a Hall of Fame major-league baseball star. After a hard, painful fall, he’s come to Hope’s Crossing to heal—and finds himself turning to the one person in town who should least want to help him.

I loved writing about Charlotte’s and Spencer’s journey, especially helping Spencer discover what he should have seen in Charlotte all along. These are two people who truly deserve to find a happy ending.

All my best,

RaeAnne

Contents

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER ONE

CHARLOTTE CAINE CONSIDERED herself a pretty good judge of character.

Being morbidly obese most of her life, until the serious changes she had made the past year and a half, had given her an interesting insight into human nature. She wanted to think she had seen the best and the worst in people. Some people pretended she was invisible; others had been visibly disgusted as if afraid being fat might rub off on them, while still others treated her with true kindness.

Given her skills in that particular arena, she liked to play a game with herself, trying to guess the candy preferences of the customers coming into her store. Jawbreakers? Lemon drops? Or some of her heavenly fudge? Which would they pick?

When Sugar Rush was slow, like right now on a lazy July day late in the afternoon, it made a pleasant way to pass the time.

By the looks of the skinny preteen with the too-heavy eye makeup, Charlotte guessed she would pick a couple packs of chewing gum and maybe a handful of the sour balls the kids seemed to love for some reason Charlotte didn’t understand.

But she could be wrong.

“Is there something I can help you with?” she finally asked with a smile when the girl appeared to dither in front of the long counter that held the hand-dipped chocolates.

The girl shrugged without meeting her eye. With all that makeup, the dark hair, the pale features, Charlotte was reminded of a curious little raccoon.

“Don’t know yet,” she answered. “I haven’t decided.”

She stopped in front of the fudge, her gaze going back and forth between items inside the display.

“The blackberry fudge is particularly delicious today, if I do say so myself,” Charlotte said helpfully after a moment. “It’s one of my better batches.”

The girl looked from the silky fudge to Charlotte. “You made it? For real?”

Charlotte had to smile at the disbelief in her voice. “Cross my heart. The brand-name candy in my store comes from a distributor, but Sugar Rush produced everything in this display case.”

She didn’t try to keep the pride out of her voice. She had every reason to be happy at the success of Sugar Rush. She had built up the gourmet candy store from nothing to become one of the busiest establishments in the resort town of Hope’s Crossing, Colorado. She had two other full-time employees and four part-time and might have to expand that in the future, given the rapid growth in her online orders.

“Wow. That looks like a ton of work.”

“It can be.” She loved the candy-making part but hated the inevitable accounting required in running a small business. “It’s interesting work, though. Have you ever seen anybody dip chocolates by hand?”

Her young customer shook her head even as an older couple came into the store. They had probably come from the big RV she could see parked in a miraculously open spot. She smiled at them as they migrated instantly to the boxed jelly beans displayed against the far wall.

“It’s pretty cool. My crew usually starts early in the morning and wraps it up by about noon, when it starts to get too warm for things to set up.”

When she first opened the store, Charlotte had made everything herself but she inevitably ran out of inventory by the end of each day. Now she had three people who came to her back kitchen before 6:00 a.m. to hand-dip the sweets. She still made most of the fudge herself, prepared in the traditional copper pots with wooden spoons.

“You’re welcome to come watch,” she said. “Are you staying in town long?”

“I really hope not,” the girl muttered fervently, her expression dark.

“Oh, ouch.” Charlotte smiled. “Some of us actually choose to live in Hope’s Crossing, you know. We like it here.”

The girl fiddled with the strap on her messenger bag adorned with buttons and pins. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m sure it’s a nice town and all. But nobody asked me if I wanted to move here. Nobody cares what I think about anything.”

Sympathy welled up inside Charlotte. She knew very well what it was like to be this age, feeling as if her life was spinning completely out of her control.

Who was she kidding? She had spent most of her life feeling out of control.

“So you’re moving here. Welcome! You know, you might discover you really like it. Stranger things have happened.”

“I doubt that.”

“Give it some time. Talk to me again after you’ve been in town a few weeks. I’m Charlotte, by the way. Charlotte Caine.”

“Peyton,” the girl offered and Charlotte had the strange feeling the omission of her last name had been quite deliberate. The fairly unusual first name struck a chord somewhere in her subconscious but she couldn’t quite place where she might have heard it before.

“Would you like to sample a couple flavors so you can choose?”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure. We give customers sample tastes all the time. It’s quite sneaky, actually. One taste and I’ve generally hooked them.”

Small pieces of the different variations of fudge were arranged in a covered glass cake tray on the countertop. She removed the lid and after a moment’s scrutiny, separated a few flavors onto one of the pretty plastic filigree sample plates she kept for that purpose then handed it to the girl.

“These are our three most popular flavors. Blackberry, peanut butter and white chocolate.”

She waited while the girl tried them and had to smile when her eyes glazed a little with pleasure after each taste. She loved watching people enjoy her creations, even though she hardly tried them herself anymore except to test for flavor mixes.

“These are so good! Wow.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you like it.”

“No. Seriously good! I don’t know which to choose. It’s all so yummy.”

“See why the samples are a sneaky idea?”

“Yeah. Totally. Okay, I guess I’ll take a pound of the blackberry and a pound of the peanut butter.”

“Good choices.” Two pounds of fudge was a large amount, but maybe Peyton had a big family to share it with.

“Oh, and I’ll take a pound of the cinnamon bears. I love cinnamon.”

Charlotte smiled. “Same here. Cinnamon is my favorite.”

She enjoyed finding yet another point of commonality between them. Maybe that explained her sympathy for the girl, who appeared so lost and unhappy.

While Charlotte hadn’t been uprooted at this tender age to a new community, she might as well have been. Her entire world, her whole perspective, had undergone a dramatic continental shift at losing her mother. She had felt like she was living in a new world, one where nobody else could possibly understand her pain.

While Charlotte cut, weighed and wrapped the fudge, Peyton wandered around the store looking at some of the Colorado souvenirs Charlotte stocked.

The husband half of the older couple clutched a bag with saltwater taffy while his wife had several boxes of jelly beans in her arms. The two of them moved to the chocolate display and started debating the merits of dipped cashews versus cherries.

Charlotte smiled politely, waiting for the argument to play out. When Peyton approached the cash register, Charlotte held out the bag of sweets.

“Here you go,” she said.

“Thanks.” Instead of taking it immediately, Peyton reached into her bag and retrieved a hard-sided snap wallet with splashy pink flowers on a black background. She pulled out a credit card and Charlotte spied several more inside the wallet.

She felt a moment’s disquiet. Why would a girl barely on the brink of adolescence need multiple credit cards? Had she stolen them? Charlotte wondered fleetingly, but discarded the idea just as quickly.

She had certainly been wrong about people before. She would be delusional to believe her instincts were foolproof. History would certainly bear that out. She had instinctively liked Peyton, though, and didn’t want to believe her a thief.

She probably had self-absorbed, indulgent parents—divorced, more than likely—who thought throwing another credit card at her would fix any heartbreak or trauma.

Charlotte slid the card back across the clear counter. “Tell you what. No charge. Why don’t you consider this a welcome-to-Hope’s-Crossing sort of thing?”

Peyton’s mouth dropped open a little and she stared at Charlotte, obviously astonished by the simple kindness. “Seriously?”

“Sure. It’s a gift for you and your family.”

At her words, the look in Peyton’s dark eyes shifted from incredulity to a quiet sort of despair before she veiled her expression.

“I don’t have a family,” she declared, her voice small but with a hint of defiance.

Was she a runaway? Charlotte considered. Should she be alerting Riley McKnight, the police chief of Hope’s Crossing, so he could help reunite her with whomever she had escaped? With the vague idea of keeping the girl talking so she could glean as much information as possible, she glanced at the other couple and saw they were busy sampling every variety of fudge.

“Nobody at all?” she asked.

Peyton shrugged, the movement barely rippling her thin shoulders inside the T-shirt that looked a size or two too large. “I had a mom but she died last year.”

Ah. Maybe that explained Charlotte’s instant empathy, that subtle connection she felt for the girl.

“I’m sorry. My mom died when I was about your age, too. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

Peyton made a sound that could have been a snort or a rough laugh. “You could say that.”

“So who do you live with, then?” she asked with studied casualness.

“My stupid dad,” Peyton said and Charlotte felt herself relax. Okay. The girl had a dad. One she wasn’t crazy about, apparently. No need to jump to conclusions because she said she had no family.

“Where is your dad?”

She pointed out the door. “He stopped to take a phone call. I got bored waiting around so I came in here.”

“No brothers or sisters?”

“No. Just me.”

“So you and your dad are moving to Hope’s Crossing together?”

“Yeah.” Her mouth tightened. “He took a job here even though I told him I didn’t want to move. I had to leave all my friends in Portland, my best friend, Victoria, this boy I like, Carson, and the mall and everything. This dumb town doesn’t have any good stores.”

Charlotte, for one, had hated clothes shopping when she was Peyton’s age. Even before her mom died, she had been pudgy, with plenty of baby fat that stubbornly clung on. Afterward, the pounds just piled on until she couldn’t find a single thing that fit in any store except what she had considered the fat old lady stores.

Now her favorite thing was to go into a clothing store and actually have choices.

“We have a pretty decent bookstore and a couple nice boutiques that specifically cater to teens. And a killer candy store,” she added with a smile.

Peyton didn’t look thrilled about any of those offerings. “Yeah. I guess. It’s not the same as Portland. I could buy anything there.”

Charlotte wasn’t sure the shopping options were the measure of what made a good town, but she decided not to offer that particular opinion.

“The good news is, as long as you’ve got an internet connection, you can still find everything you like. And Denver’s only a few hours’ drive.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Peyton still didn’t look convinced of the wonders of Hope’s Crossing. Charlotte couldn’t blame her. Change could be tough for anyone, especially a young girl who had no control over her own circumstances.

“Thanks for the fudge,” Peyton said.

“You’re welcome. Come back anytime. Next time maybe I’ll have cinnamon fudge for you.”

“You make that? Really?”

“Sure. It’s generally something I have only around the holidays but I’ll see about a special order.”

The small cowbell hanging on the door rang out. Charlotte looked up from Peyton, donning her customary friendly smile of greeting—then the smile and everything else inside her froze when she caught sight of the man who’d just walked through.

Oh, crap.

Her stomach dived like the time she accidentally wandered into a black-diamond ski run when her older brother Dylan took her up to the resort once.

“There you are.” The man was gorgeous, with a square jawline, a slim elegant nose and hazel eyes fringed by long lashes.

Smokin’ Hot Spencer Gregory. The cameras and sports magazines had loved him, once upon a time.

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to leave? One minute you were there, the next I turned around and you were gone.”

The curious girl who had tasted Charlotte’s fudge with such appreciation disappeared, replaced by a sullen, angry creature who glowered at the man.

“I did,” she muttered. “I said I wanted to come in here. I said it like three times. I guess you were too busy with your phone call to notice.”

He frowned. “Pey, you can’t just wander off. I was worried about you.”

“What did you think was going to happen in this stupid town? I was going to die of boredom or something?”

Right now, Charlotte would give anything to be wearing something sultry and sleek. Black, skintight, with some strategically placed bling, maybe. Instead, after all these years she had to face him with little makeup and her hair yanked back into a ponytail, wearing jeans and a simple blue T-shirt, covered by an apron that had Sugar Rush emblazoned across the chest.

At least she wasn’t wearing the ridiculous hairnet required while making fudge. Small favors, right?

She had barely registered the thought when the full implications of the moment washed over her like molten chocolate.

Peyton. Peyton. Why hadn’t she figured it out? That’s why the name had seemed familiar—somewhere in the recesses of her brain, in the file marked Spencer Gregory that she had purposely buried as deeply as she could over the years, she suddenly remembered Spence had a twelve-year-old daughter. Named Peyton.

And the said Peyton had just mentioned that her father had taken a job in Hope’s Crossing and they were moving to town.

Oh. My. Fudge.

Spencer Gregory, the only person on the planet she could honestly say she despised, was back in Hope’s Crossing. Permanently.

Why on earth hadn’t anybody bothered to tell her this particular juicy rumor? She had to think that, by some miracle, the news hadn’t made the rounds yet. Otherwise it would have been the topic of conversation everywhere she went.

The bag with its silvery Sugar Rush logo still lay on the countertop. She picked it up and held it out.

“Here you go,” she said to Peyton. Her voice came out cold and small and she widened her smile to compensate.

“Um. Thanks. Thanks a lot.” The girl finally reached out and grabbed it and shoved it into her messenger bag.

“How much does she owe you?” Spence reached into his wallet with what one of the women’s magazines had once declared the sexiest smile in sports.

If she had known Spence Gregory would be eating some of her fudge, she might have had second thoughts about tossing it around indiscriminately.

“She said I didn’t owe her anything. It’s a gift to welcome us to town,” Peyton stated.

Spence looked just as stunned by the gesture as his daughter had. “Wow. Thanks.”

He should be astonished. Charlotte sincerely doubted anybody in town would be standing with open arms to welcome back their native son. As far as many people were concerned, Spence Gregory had taken the clean, charming image of Hope’s Crossing and, as her brothers might have said, hawked a loogie all over it.

“Wow. Thank you. That’s very kind of you.”

“You’re welcome,” she lied gruffly.

His smile deepened as he gazed at her without a trace of recognition. There was a certain light in those hazel eyes, something bright and warm and almost...appreciative.

The nerves in her stomach sizzled. Oh, how she would have loved to be the recipient of that kind of look from him when she was fifteen. Back then—okay, even as recently as a year ago—she never would have dreamed it was ever within the realm of possibility.

Instead of making her giddy, having Spence Gregory smile at her now, after all this time, only infuriated her.

She deliberately turned away from him to his daughter. “Peyton, come back anytime. I’ll see what I can do about the cinnamon fudge.”

The girl gave her a hesitant smile that meant far more than her father’s well-practiced one. As she did, Charlotte became aware that the browsing couple that had been in her store for what felt like hours was in the middle of a whispered argument.

Finally the husband stepped forward. “You’re Smoke Gregory, aren’t you?”

Spence stiffened, his friendly smile melting away. “Yeah,” he said tersely.

“I knew it. Didn’t I tell you I knew it?” he crowed to his wife. “And you said he wouldn’t dare show his face in public!”

“Darwin, hush!” she said, her face turning scarlet.

Spence had gone completely rigid, a hard, solid block of granite in the middle of her store.

“Well, I just want you to know, we’re big baseball fans. We love the Pioneers. We live in Pendleton and drove to Portland several times just to watch you play.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. You were a darn good ballplayer. Shame about everything else.”

“Isn’t it?” he bit out.

“And for what it’s worth,” the woman said, her face still red, “we don’t think you killed your wife.”

Charlotte could only stare at the couple, appalled, as what little color was left in Peyton’s pale features seeped away like spring runoff.

Fury sparked in Spence’s gaze and Charlotte shivered at the heat of it. He placed a big hand on Peyton’s shoulder, who went taut.

“Good to know,” he said coldly.

“Could we have your autograph?” the woman asked in a rush. “Our grandson followed your whole career. Had a poster on his bedroom wall and everything, right up until...” Her voice trailed off at something she saw in Spence’s dark features.

After a moment, he seemed to take a deep breath. He lifted his hand from Peyton’s shoulder. To Charlotte’s astonishment, he managed to look almost calm.

“Do you have anything for me to sign?”

After an awkward pause, the husband of the couple grabbed one of Charlotte’s printed Sugar Rush napkins and thrust it at him, along with one of the pens she kept by the register in a pretty beaded canister she had made.

Spence used the countertop to sign the napkin with a flourish. From her vantage point, she managed to read the message upside down. Generic and succinct. Best wishes. Spencer Gregory. Along with the number forty-two he had famously worn through more than a decade as a starting pitcher for the Portland Pioneers.

The wife gripped the napkin and Charlotte realized they had dropped all their purchases atop a bin full of root beer barrels. They left the store without buying anything, leaving behind a vast, echoing silence in the store.

Charlotte never expected she would have a moment’s sympathy for Spence Gregory, not after everything, but in light of that painful encounter, she couldn’t help a little tingle of dismay. Was it like that for him everywhere he went?

“Are you ready to go?” he asked his daughter.

She nodded and headed for the door.

“Thanks again,” Spence said. He cocked his head, his gaze narrowed. “You look familiar. I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot now I’m back in Hope’s Crossing. Did I know you when I lived here before?”

For a horrifying moment, Charlotte didn’t know how to answer him. He didn’t recognize her. How could she tell him they’d sat across from each other a couple nights a week at her dad’s café for years? That she spent night after night helping him with his English homework?

That he had once broken her heart into a million tiny glass shards?

She had to say something, even though she knew perfectly well what his reaction would be.

“Yes,” she muttered.

He scrutinized her harder, obviously trying to place her. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid you’re going to have to help me out.”

She didn’t have to do anything. Just for a moment, she wished one of her older brothers was around to politely encourage him to leave her store. They were just as big, just as tough as Spence Gregory. In fact, she thought Jamie might even be bigger.

“Charlotte Caine,” she finally murmured.

Just as she expected, his eyes widened with disbelief first and then astonishment.

“Char... Of course. Wow. You look fantastic!”

“Thanks,” she said, her voice clipped.

“Really fantastic. I wouldn’t have recognized you.”

“You didn’t.” She pointed out the obvious.

“True enough.”

“I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you. Somehow I hadn’t heard you were coming back.”

“You mean nobody has started a petition yet to keep me away?” He said the words in a joking tone but both of them knew it wasn’t far from the truth.

“Not that I’ve signed yet.”

Though his mouth quirked up with amusement at her pointed reply, she thought she saw just a hint of bleakness in his gaze. Again, she felt that flutter of unexpected sympathy.

“Harry Lange brought me in to be the director of the new recreation center in town,” he answered. “I’m starting tomorrow.”

Of course. She should have known Harry Lange was somehow involved. The town’s richest citizen didn’t seem happy unless he was stirring up trouble somewhere. Still, this seemed a bold move, even for him. Why would he select a man for the job who had, by the skin of his teeth, just barely avoided going to prison for supplying steroids and prescription drugs to his teammates? And whose wife died under mysterious circumstances the very day those charges were thrown out?

“I suppose getting engaged at seventy years old can make a man lose a few brain cells,” she answered.

The words tasted ugly on her tongue and she wanted to call them back. Usually she liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, but she just didn’t have it in her to be objective when it came to Spence Gregory.

His mouth tightened and he looked almost hurt, though she knew that couldn’t be true. What did he care if she welcomed him with somewhat less-than-open arms?

“Apparently,” he murmured. “Yet here I am. For the next six months, anyway. It’s a temporary position.”

That was something, anyway. She could endure anything for six months, even having him back in the same zip code.

“Let’s go, Peyton.”

“Okay.”

Peyton looked subdued instead of angry now and Charlotte directed her sympathy where it rightfully belonged—to a young girl who had lost her mother far too young and spent her days under the cloud of her father’s scandal.

Having to live with the man many considered responsible for her mother’s death couldn’t be an easy situation for a young girl.

She gave her a warm smile. “See you around, Peyton. It was really nice to meet you. Enjoy the fudge.”

“I’m sure I will,” she mumbled. She pushed open the door and walked out into the summer afternoon.

Spence hesitated, looking as if he wanted to say something else, but he finally lifted a hand in a wave and followed his daughter.

After the door closed behind them, Charlotte pressed a hand to her stomach, fighting the urge to rush over and flip the sign to Closed, lock the door and sag against the counter.

She liked to think she was a pretty good person most of the time. She volunteered at the animal shelter, she always paid her taxes on time, she tried to throw a little extra into the collection plate at church on Sundays.

She didn’t consider herself petty or vindictive. She was friendly with just about everyone in town, even the cliquey girls who had once made her life so painfully hard at school and had grown into cliquey women with the same prejudices.

But a small acrid, angry corner of her heart despised Spence Gregory with a vitriol that unsettled her.

What was Harry Lange thinking? She had to wonder if Mary Ella knew what her fiancé was up to, bringing back the man who had once been the darling of Hope’s Crossing but was now considered a pariah.

Maybe it was one of Harry’s twisted schemes. The man appeared to have been turning over a new leaf in the past year since reconnecting with his son Jack and the granddaughter he didn’t know existed, but maybe it was all for show. Maybe Harry wanted the recreation center he had basically financed to fail so he could sweep in and somehow make money off it for his own purposes, perhaps as a tax write-off for a business loss.

Whatever the reason, she couldn’t believe she would be the only one in town upset at this new development, though she had very personal reasons to be angry about the return of Spence Gregory.

The cowbell clanked suddenly and, for an instant, fear spiked that she would have to deal with him again, while she was still trying to come to terms with his return.

Seeing Alex McKnight rush in, her long blond curls flying behind her, was a sweet relief.

“Hi, Alex.” She even managed a smile, envious, as always, at Alex’s effortless confidence. She was smart and sexy and a brilliant chef—and was comfortable enough in her own skin that none of it mattered to her except the chef part, of which she was fiercely proud.

“Guess who I just saw walking Front Street?” Alex said, her green eyes wide.