A Promise Worth Remembering (Promises Collection) by Cyndi Faria Read Free Book Online Page A

with her trust and letting go of the past—could make things better between them? Even ending the century-old feud like Tucker suggested.
    Yeah, right. He left you…
    No. Risk trusting Tucker or risk falling into a life of cynicism and loneliness with nothing but memories to keep you company.
    She stared at Copper, at the way his head swished from side to side. The journey had weakened him even more. She couldn’t put him at further risk, but how did she turn around?
    One step at a time.
    She swiveled to face Tucker.
    He glared at the path, rather the watery non-path. “I get you, Bailey, but you’ve got to let go. Let me help you and Copper, like you helped keep me focused on our future.”
    She’d had nothing to do with Tucker’s focus.
    Focus came from within .
    Her uncle had focused on bitterness and how others had wronged him without changing himself. Pierce Sr. focused on terrorizing the Yants and claiming her land. Without Tucker’s intervention, his father might have succeeded. Jesse had focused on living for the moment.
    And good God, he’d lived every day to the fullest. Even though a young man, he’d lived an active life until the second he’d died on his motorcycle. Driving behind him, she’d witnessed the entire accident. Milliseconds before his death, he had the wind on his face, the feel of complete freedom, up until the oncoming car suddenly swerved into his lane. The coroner assured her Jesse hadn’t suffered. But she held an image of him, his shoulders rounded, his wrist twisted forward and accelerating around the bend that comprised the final minutes of his life—he and his bike were the perfect example of living in the moment.
    And Tucker focused on the future. A future he had little insight of except blind faith and a life that included her. She could do the same—focus on him in her future. Picture the idea, not of the past, but of her and Tucker’s future. Not for an hour, not for a day, but forever.
    That someone or something responsible for keeping them apart had been her. She’d stood in the way of her future and fulfilling her dreams. Not hunters. Not Pierce Sr. Not Tucker. Not a magical rock.
    Her.
    A zing of happiness smiled through her body. But no longer.

Chapter Four
     
    Tucker shouted over the hum of the river, but something undecipherable. Then he U-turned and stalked up the embankment. He disappeared into the brush, scattering a quail covey.
    Copper startled and leapt toward the direction Tucker had gone and sprayed water into the air. He slogged through the water and, finally, landed on a tiny gray slab not two feet away from the steep edge.
    Bailey stared at Tucker’s back when all she wanted was to declare to his face that she’d made her decision to trust him. Wind rippled through the treetops, but the sultry air brought her no relief. The image of Tucker’s back, she pushed away. To escape the safety of the past, she had to go after her future even if she’d pushed him away, not intentionally, but by her indecision. “Tucker, come back!”
    The roar of an engine filtered through the undergrowth. Her body went on alert. Was it Tucker or someone else?
    The SUV crashed though the coppice, broken foliage burst into a maelstrom and splashed into the river.
    Her heart beat in her throat like hummingbird wings she couldn’t swallow away.
    Tucker…
    A suede-colored boot landed on the sand. He stepped out and lifted a gun to his chest. “The cat’s in trouble, Bailey. Look at his respiration and his white gums. He’s lost too much blood to safely cross the river now.”
    Her mouth opened as if to allow additional hummingbirds to nest in her throat. She coughed and slipped on the rock. “Don’t shoot him!”
    Tucker pulled something she couldn’t quite make out from his pocket and engaged the gun barrel.
    A bullet ?
    “What are you doing? You’re not putting him down.”
    “No. I’m doing what I should have this morning, instead of getting side tracked by the