The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber Read Free Book Online Page A

friend and watched as the town of Cedar Cove sat in judgment of her.
    For more than ten years, Abby had managed to avoid returning to her hometown. Eventually even her parents had found it necessary to move away. Oh, they’d used a convenient excuse, careful not to lay blame at her feet. But Abby knew the truth even if they were too generous to admit to it. No one needed to spell it out for her. Her parents hadn’t been able to face their friends, or the Whites … especially the Whites.
    Her father claimed he’d accepted early retirement from the shipyard, the largest employer in Kitsap County, and shortly afterward her parents had settled in Arizona. Her brother was already living in Seattle by the time of the accident, a corporate executive at Seattle Best Coffee. Of all the women he’d dated over the years, why oh why couldn’t he have fallen in love with a woman from Seattle or Alaska … or Timbuktu? Anyplace other than Cedar Cove.
    Well, there was no help for it. Abby was here now, like it or not. Here and miserable and afraid, so very afraid. A counselor she’d talked to years ago had suggested she confront her fears. Good advice, she supposed, as those fears were currently front and center. She’d run away from them for so long and now the awful memories were nipping at her heels, keeping her awake with the nightmare she’d spent the last fifteen years trying to forget.
    It’d all started out so innocent, so fun. Abby and Angela had been best friends all the way through high school; Abby’s mom had nicknamed them “The A Team.” BFFs for sure. Angela was the best friend Abby had ever had. They were both on cheer squad, both in soccer, both in drama classes, and were practically inseparable all through high school. It was more than being best friends though. Angela had been the one person in the world Abby felt free to share anything and everything with, knowing she’d never be judged. They could talk for hours, and often did. And oh how they could laugh.
    Following graduation, Abby had headed for the University of Washington in Seattle while Angela attended Washington State University in Pullman, the arch-rival school and her mother’s alma mater.
    Even though they were an entire state apart, they’d communicated daily, and both of them had looked forward to Christmas break. Abby had saved a hundred things to tell her best friend, but mostly she wanted to update Angela on her relationship with Steve, her brother’s roommate, whom she’d recently started dating. It’d only been a couple of months, but Abby was sure this was love, she was absolutely convinced of it. Real love. In retrospect, Abby realized she had known nothing about love … and even less about loss.
    Over the years a few friends from Cedar Cove had attempted to stay in touch, but Abby hadn’t responded to their letters or returned their Christmas cards. She hadn’t kept in touch with Patty, Marie, Suzie, or her other good friends since she’d moved away.
    How would she ever be able to celebrate Christmas again? Abby did her best to ignore the holiday completely. It was the worst time of the year for her and it never seemed to get better.
    For a time she had made an effort to keep in touch with Angela’s family, but they wanted no reminders of what had happened totheir daughter. The truth was, they wanted nothing to do with her ever again. Although she desperately needed to hear from them, her letters were returned unopened.
    When Abby could stand it no longer she asked her mother about the Whites, worrying as she did about them, but Linda Kincaid sidestepped her questions. When pressured, her mother confessed that matters had been difficult between the two families. Strained.
    Not more than six months later, Abby’s father announced that he’d taken early retirement and the family home was on the real estate market. Abby had long suspected that her father’s retirement and the sudden desire to move had been prompted by