A Better Man by Candis Terry Read Free Book Online

forgotten all about her. He’d moved on to scoring goals, making money, and bedding hot w omen.
    The sudden and horrific loss of his parents had shifted the order of everything. He hadn’t been blowing smoke when he’d told his family he was all in. For the first time in his life he needed something more than the glory of slapping the puck between the pipes and the roar of the crowd. For the first time he felt the need to be more than part of a team that went their separate ways after the arena lights shut down.
    He needed to be a part of his fa mily.
    Running into Lucinda solidified the necessity of righting his wrongs. Unfamiliar territory, to be sure, but one he was willing to make happen. He believed in second chances. Hell, he’d been given more than that during his career. Now he had to make the most of the opportunity he’d been given, no matter in what ugly manner it had come. It was too late to make it up to his mom and dad, but there were still five siblings he could beg for m ercy.
    And there was Lucinda, who no doubt might be his toughest cr itic.
    As he drove out of the high school parking lot and turned the rented Lincoln Navigator onto Main Street, he noticed there were still no big box stores in Sunshine. No one-­stop shopping conveniences. Instead, time had pretty much stood still. As it had been when he’d been a kid, mom-­and-­pop businesses and cozy boutiques ruled both sides of the tree-­lined road. A great majority of those shops were food-­related, which didn’t help the rumbling in his empty sto mach.
    Back in the day his parents hadn’t been able to afford much in the way of dining in fancy restaurants. Which worked fine for the town of Sunshine, because at the time the most extravagant had been Ben’s Burger Barn, a red-­striped operation that touted twofer Tuesdays and all-­you-­can-­eat fried clams on Fri days.
    These days a place called Cranky Hank’s Smokehouse sat in the old Burger Barn location, and the red striped exterior had given over to a rustic wood siding. Next to that sat Grandma Daisy’s Pie Company, where a sandwich board on the sidewalk announced the specialty of the day was cranberry-­pear tarts. From his left, the mouthwatering aroma of warm cinnamon rolls drifted from Sugarbuns Ba kery.
    Jordan remembered the birthday cakes his mother had brought home from the pastel pink building and the sugary rewards he and his brothers had received when they’d bring home a good report card. Straight ahead, the Milky Way Moose professed to have the smoothest chocolate in the Pacific Northwest. Jordan thought if he actually strolled down this street he’d probably gain ten po unds.
    A little farther down Main Street, the Back Door Bookstore took up the small space at the corner of Main and Burgundy and sat next door to the local newspaper, Talk of the Town , while Sunshine Gifts and Treasures took up residence in the old Laundromat building. Above the store there was still the vintage Maytag Laundry sign with the figure of a washerwoman scrubbing clothes on an old washboard. Divine Wine and Beyond the Vineyards had tasting rooms located directly across the street from each other, like gunslingers ready to draw on the first patron to cross the side walk.
    The building designs were a crazy mix of Cape Cod and Old West, with a little New Age thrown in to keep things really interes ting.
    If he continued farther he knew he’d come to the city park that ran along the shoreline of the Columbia River—­a perfect place for wind sailing. And across the iron bridge was a new eighteen-­hole golf co urse.
    Surrounded by rugged mountains and rolling hills, the town was pretty and welcoming. Still, as a teenager there hadn’t been much to do in a place with the population of roughly eight thousand souls. In those days Sunshine had been just a speck on the map on the way to Vancouver or Portland. Now the town