1. Everly

Chapter 1

Everly

U ntil now, I couldn’t picture myself getting arrested or into trouble with the law. I mean, I’ve done my fair share of stupid things, usually when I was a kid, alongside my best friend Hayley. But sitting on this front porch in the company of my best friend, taking in the setting sun and warm evening air, my mind drifts to all the possible ways I can get my ex-husband Richie to go far, far away and finally leave me alone. I picture him sailing away in a hot air balloon and never returning as I stand on the ground, happily waving goodbye forever. Then my thoughts go darker to him disappearing from the planet for good. And I could argue that I have just cause for these dark thoughts for all the hell he’s put me through. My patience is running very low on having to deal with him constantly doing things to get under my skin and trying to get me to come back to him. It’s never going to happen. Like signed, sealed, divorced, never going to happen. My lawyer is baffled at how much he gets away with since the judge apparently had ties to his father. Lovely. Second chances with Richie have never been an option, yet he can’t seem to get this through his dumb head.

Also, it’s not wrong to feel like I deserve a little bit of revenge for the years of hell he put our daughter, Willow, and me through. It’s like there’s no way out from his relentless pestering. So, yes, I dream of him falling off a mountain or relocating for good—preferably to another planet. Sometimes I wish he was on that little submarine that went searching for the Titanic . I’m just so tired of dealing with him. Just leave a girl alone to live and enjoy her autumn. The fall season gives me life, and I don’t need any nonsense right now.

When the thought of my daughter fills me with a warmth similar to a strong hug, I shield my hand over my eyes in a little salute. I squint at the sun beginning to set over the mountains draped in their fall golden hour glory and try to see her out in the field where Mack and one of his ranch hands are working on shoeing one of the horses. I heave a deep, satisfied sigh when I see Willow propped up on the fence near Mack, watching them intently work on the horse. She’s clearly fascinated and in her element. Just like I was at her age at this very same ranch. They’re too far away for me to hear what they’re saying, but I know Willow’s safe and having fun with Mack. The McCreedy ranch has always been a very special place for me while I was growing up, and it makes me happy that Willow is here making her own memories. Mack has always been like a father figure to me, and he and Anna treat Willow as if she were their own granddaughter. In fact, we’re lucky to have the McCreedy family, and I don’t know what we’d do without them. We wouldn’t be back here in Cozy Creek and safe without their support, that’s for sure.

My eyes scan the familiar ranch that has always felt like a haven to me, the landscape awash with breathtaking burnt orange, bronze, and viridian. Autumn is showing off big today here at the ranch, and it’s my favorite time of year. The mountains and all their stunning curves are full of the most vibrant autumn foliage I’ve ever seen.

The ranch is the most beautiful piece of land in Cozy Creek and has been in my best friend Hayley’s mom’s side of the family for three generations, Hayley being the fourth. Childhood memories fill me everywhere I look when I’m out here. The barn where Hayley broke her wrist when we took a donkey and a horse out for a ride without telling her parents, and the donkey had enough of our crap and bucked Hayley off. I had ridden back to get her brothers Nash and Kincaid to help us. The massive oak tree in the front yard that we took our prom pictures under and where I carved N + E up on one of the higher branches because I didn’t think anyone would see it. Of course, Kincaid, Hayley’s younger brother, found it and teased me relentlessly over it. So many memories here. And a few painful memories I don’t want to remember. Mostly of the eldest McCreedy, Nash. Those memories I stuff deep down, bury them, lock them up, and have hidden the key where even I can’t access them. Okay, well, I try not to access them, but it doesn’t always work. Even the happy memories are marred by the way things ended between Nash and me when I left Cozy Creek.

It’s basically a part-time job for me to avoid Nash in our small town. I didn’t come out to the ranch because I didn’t want to run into him. I’ve turned down so many family dinners because I’m too big of a chicken to talk to him. I don’t want to make it weird for him. It’s his family after all. I’m just the add-on who he probably considers annoying as usual. I’m just the girl his sister is best friends with who had a childhood crush on him that he didn’t reciprocate. He avoids me as well. It’s an unspoken thing between us that we don’t talk anymore. Hayley knows this, and while I know it bothers her, she’s helped me steer clear of him. At first, this frustrated her, but now she just goes with it.

“You think he’ll figure out it was us?” I ask as she looks over at me.

“Who, little Richie? Are you thinking about the shrimp again?” She crinkles her eyebrows at me as she chuckles, no doubt remembering what she did. “The smallest man who ever lived.”

I bite my lip and nod, trying not to laugh at her song reference. And she’s not wrong.

“That whole Taylor Swift album was like a dedication to your shitty marriage to little dick.”

When Hayley came to pick up Willow and me that night we left Richie, she had been at a party. When I texted her that we needed help and it was an emergency, she left the party right away and snagged the shrimp platter on her way out. When she got to my house, she left shrimp tucked inside the metal curtain rods all over the house. She didn’t tell me until a week later, and we both laughed until we thought we’d pee our pants. I’d asked her how and why she would think to do this. She simply shrugged and said, I thought I’d eat the shrimp on the way to get you. Then I was too angry and upset to eat the shrimp, so I had some time to think about it on the way to your house, and that’s what I decided to do . Are we childish? Probably. Did Richie deserve it? Absolutely. Will he retaliate? I don’t know. I don’t want to think about Richie anymore.

“I just want him to leave me alone.” I groan as I lean back in my chair.

“Yeah, he’ll definitely know it was us.” She snorts. “Who the hell else would stuff shrimp in his curtain rods to stink up his house?”

“You think we would look good in orange?” I raise my eyebrows, and she laughs.

“We so would. At least if we go to jail, we’ll go together. Oh, and you can start a book club there,” Hayley adds with a grin as she glances down at my oversized purse, which she no doubt knows holds my Kindle and at least one paperback. For backup of course. I can’t help it. I love books so much. She calls it my “Rory Gilmore-ing” when I bring an extra book in my purse just in case I get bored wherever I go. I can’t help it that fictional characters are often better than real people.

I snort and laugh. “It was still worth it.”

“Yeah, it was.” She sighs. “What brought this up? ”

“I don’t know. He’s just been quiet lately, so I know he’s got something planned. I can feel it. I know he’s going to do something to screw up my life. And waiting for the other shoe to drop with him makes me anxious.”

“Well, you have us now. You and Willow. You don’t have to live like you’re walking on eggshells. You feel worried or anxious? We’re here for you. Always. You’re back home where you belong, and we’re living our best lives as we should ,” she emphasizes as she reaches over and gently squeezes my arm.

Being back here around people who love me and make me feel safe feels so good. I didn’t have that for so long.

“You’re right,” I admit as I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh, crisp fall mountain air.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could just order you a good guy off DoorDash?” Hayley interrupts my thoughts by changing the subject. “He could just be dropped off hot and ready like a meal.”

“What?” I look over at her and shake my head with a laugh. “No, thanks. And I don’t even think DoorDash delivers this far out in the country.”

“But seriously, there’s just not a lot of options here in Cozy Creek. So I’ll resort to finding you a good guy instead,” she decrees as she sits opposite me on the oversized white rocking chairs on the porch of her parents’ sprawling ranch home.

“Nope, there’s no need. I’m good,” I admit. Even though my divorce has been final for months, I’m in no position to start a relationship right now. I don’t need to add to the chaos.

“Maybe we should just get away,” she murmurs. “Go on a trip or something.”

“You want to leave Cozy Creek?” Surprise fills me, and I realize that, for the first time, I don’t want to leave. Willow and I have been back here in Cozy Creek for a little over six months now, and we’re finally settling in and feeling at home. Plus, I can’t imagine not being here during my favorite season. Autumn in Cozy Creek is the absolute best place to be on earth, hands down. The fall foliage is gorgeous, the weather is perfect, and I live for the cozy cardigan season. I have a countdown going throughout the rest of the year. And yes, summerween is a thing for me, too. Most of my thrifted and treasured home decor resembles an autumn theme. I’m not even sorry about it. It brings me joy and peace. And right now, I value peace more than anything.

“I don’t know.” She shakes a bottle of dark red nail polish and looks over at me. “Sometimes I just want to run away, wander, and travel. Be free.”

I nod and sip the pumpkin spice latte I brought to the ranch for us. It has long gone cold, but it still tastes so good.

“Now there’s a cute guy,” I mutter as I stare at the guy in the field with Mack. New fantasy unlocked. A hot ranch hand. Black chaps on his long legs as he leans over, a horse foot tucked between his muscular thighs as he works off in the distance. He has a black cowboy hat pulled low and a black button-down shirt stretched over his massive back and chest. Maybe I need to have a fling with a hot cowboy. Nothing serious, just a little fun. I tilt my head and think about the possibility. Yeah, I could have a little fun with a cowboy .

“What?” Hayley looks up and squints at her dad out in the field. Her eyes dart to the barn where a few trucks are parked, and she looks back at me and full-on belly laughs. She doesn’t stop even after I playfully roll my eyes at her.

“What’s his name?” I continue as I pretend to fan myself over the guy who is too far away to see his face. “Is he single? Be right back, I’m buying a horse,” I murmur as I watch him straightens, run his hand over the back of the horse, and start on a different foot. I used to know most of the ranch hands since I spent a lot of time growing up here, but since Willow and I have been back, I haven’t come out to the ranch as often, so I’m not familiar with any of them anymore. But after watching this guy work on the horses, maybe I do need to come out here more often and not just for the gorgeous mountain views. I have my reasons for staying away from the ranch. And those reasons are the ones locked up and buried. This guy gives off Rip Wheeler vibes from Yellowstone, and he is hot in his black shirt and black hat.

Hayley’s still cracking up next to me in her chair and is now shaking her head at me with a big grin and a sparkle in her eyes. She looks like she’s planning something.

“What?” I exclaim as I rock in my chair and stare at the man bent over, putting a shoe on one of the horses. “I can’t even imagine myself dating after Richie burned me, but there’s no harm in enjoying hot eye candy.”

“Oh, nothing,” she says with a devious grin. “Hot eye candy,” she mutters with a chuckle.

She finishes painting her toes. “Richie didn’t just burn you; he torched you,” she adds with a look of disdain. “And that is why we don’t feel bad about the shrimp.”

This is what I love about Hayley. She’s a girl’s girl. She’ll have your back and will only seek revenge if necessary. She loves everyone around her deeply and has a big, loyal McCreedy heart. She’s my ride or die, and I love her so much.

I roll my eyes playfully and glance down at her nail polish, changing the subject. “What color is that? It’s pretty.”

“Vicious trollop,” she says, keeping a straight face.

I snort-laugh. “Yeah, right.” We’ve both watched Gilmore Girls a thousand times and repeatedly use phrases from the show. It’s like a love language between us that makes us laugh.

I look up and straighten. Mack, the hot mystery man, and Willow are headed toward the barn. He looks slightly familiar, but he’s still too far away. And with the black cowboy hat pulled low, it’s hard to tell. Maybe it’s Mack’s friend Dane’s son. I can’t remember his name… But that doesn’t seem right, either. Hmm.

Willow sees me watching and waves, and I wave back. She follows the two men into the barn with the horse.

Hayley tucks her nail polish in my purse next to the chair. “Here, you can go home and be a vicious trollop, too.”

“Thanks,” I say as I swallow the last of my drink. “Maybe you’re right, and we do need to plan a trip together. Get away from here and have some fun. Maybe this spring.”

I sense that Hayley needs to get away. She’s been in Cozy Creek her whole life except when we were in college together for the first few years before I dropped out. I want her to be happy, so if taking a trip with her means that, I’ll do it.

“We could always go visit my grandma Baa in Ireland. She’s not getting any younger, and I’d like to go over and see her,” she adds as she wiggles and examines her freshly painted toes.

“I don’t know what I’d do with Willow,” I admit. “But I’ve always wanted to visit Ireland.”

“We can take her with us. Or does Richie ever pull his head out of his ass and keep her for like two weeks in the summer?”

“He’s supposed to, but he doesn’t like to take her for overnights. He makes up excuses like he doesn’t want to make the drive. Says it’s too far.” I shrug as I shift in my chair and tuck my legs under me.

“It’s not that far.” She rolls her eyes. “Plus, I see him around town all the time. What’s he doing here?”

“Tormenting me,” I say with a deep sigh.

“Maybe she could stay with his parents,” she suggests.

“Doubtful. They don’t see her much, either. I could figure something out, though,” I say as I reach to pet one of the cats who trails along my chair.

“We would have so much fun. And we could find cute Irish guys.”

“Maybe you can introduce me to the cute ranch hand. He’s got a great cowboy ass. And that cowboy hat,” I mutter as I think about dating again. Navigating that with an eight-year-old will be tricky. But maybe I could do lunch and coffee dates on my breaks. I’m tired of being alone. I don’t know what it would be like to get dressed up cute and go on dates and spend time getting to know someone. Sounds so foreign to me, but exciting. I want to be me again.

“Oh, I’ll introduce you,” she says with a smug grin as she shifts in her seat with anticipation. “In fact, here they come now.”

Just the sight of this mystery man has my palms clamming up and my stomach knotting in anticipation. Whereas my mind and imagination are very much in working order, it’s been so long since I’ve felt an inkling of desire or stir of interest that my poor body is in revolt.