Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series, Volume 2 by Debbie Macomber Page B

stop writing you, either.”
    â€œI phoned,” he said, “and your mother said you were out. Later, someone else told me you were seeing some other guy. I got the message.”
    â€œI didn’t date anyone other than you until after I left for college that September.”
    The silence seemed to hum between them.
    â€œMy mother,” she breathed slowly. “My mother was the one who took out the mail every day and collected it, too.”
    â€œShe didn’t like me?” Troy couldn’t remember Mrs. Carroll being particularly hostile toward him.
    â€œShe liked you fine, but she thought we were too young to be serious,” Faith said. “I made the mistake of telling her I hoped you’d give me an engagement ring for Christmas.”
    The irony was, Troy had planned on doing exactly that.
    â€œYou mean to say you believed I’d just stopped writing?” Faith asked. “Without saying a word? You honestly believed I’d do that to you?”
    â€œWell, yes,” Troy admitted. “Just like you believed I’d given up sending you letters.”
    She hesitated, then reluctantly agreed. “Did you try to get in touch with me when you finished basic training?” she asked. “You came home on leave, didn’t you?”
    â€œOf course I did,” Troy told her. “I went to your house—that was in late August—but by then you’d already left for college. I wanted to talk to you, but when I asked for your new address, your mother said it was probably best not to contact you.”
    â€œMy mother,” Faith groaned. “I never suspected she’d do anything like that.”
    â€œI didn’t, either.”
    They both seemed at a loss as to what to say next.
    Finally she whispered, “You broke my heart.”
    He hadn’t come out of the relationship unscathed, either. “You broke mine,” he told her.
    Faith exhaled softly, then said, “It seems my mother has a great deal to answer for.”
    â€œIs she still alive?” Troy didn’t figure there was much point in dwelling on the sins of the past.
    â€œNo. She died ten years ago.”
    â€œDespite everything, our lives worked out well, didn’t they?” he said. “Maybe not the way we expected, but…”
    â€œYes,” Faith said. “I met Carl at Central Washington and we got married in 1970.”
    Funny little coincidences. “Sandy and I were married the same year. In June.”
    â€œWhat day?”
    â€œThe twenty-third. What about you?”
    â€œThe twenty-third.”
    This was too weird. They’d each been married on the same day and in the same year—to someone else.
    â€œChildren?” he asked.
    â€œTwo—a boy, Scott, and a girl, Jay Lynn. Scottie lives in Cedar Cove, like I said, and teaches at the high school. Jay Lynn’s married and the mother of two. She’s currently a stay-at-home mom. What about you?”
    â€œOne daughter, Megan. She works at the framing shop down by the waterfront.”
    â€œOh, my goodness! Scottie just had her frame a picture I gave him of his great-grandparents. It was taken in the 1930s on the family farm in Kansas.”
    Their lives had intersected more than once. And in the last few years, she’d visited town to see her family; they could have run into each other at any time, yet never had.
    â€œSo you’re the sheriff these days,” Faith said.
    â€œYeah, Cedar Cove’s always been my home. I never wanted to live anywhere else. There aren’t that many of us from our graduating class around anymore.”
    â€œI heard about Dan Sherman’s death,” Faith told him. “Poor Grace. Scottie called me when his body was discovered.”
    â€œThat was a rough one,” Troy said. He knew Dan but they’d never been close friends. “Grace is remarried—to a local rancher.” He paused. “You’d