CHAPTER ONE

ADDIE

“Any fun plans for tonight?” my friend Ian asked when he walked up to my desk at the newspaper on Friday afternoon.

Eden Falls Weekly was one of the Hastings family’s many business ventures, so even though Ian and his family weren’t too involved in the day-to-day happenings at the small town’s newspaper, he did pop in from time to time to see how things were going.

“I don’t have anything too exciting planned,” I said, closing out of the graphic design software I’d been using and looking up at his tall, athletic frame. “Probably just hang out at home and read a book or watch a movie.”

You know, basically the same things I did every night.

“Well, that’s lame…” he said, a teasing look in his brown eyes. “Since when did you become such a homebody?”

Since my fiancé disappeared a year ago and I forgot how to socialize.

“I’ve always liked reading and watching movies,” I said instead, shrugging like I didn’t mind spending most of my evenings alone.

“Well, you should switch up your usual evening routine and come hang out with us at the club tonight.” He leaned his shoulder against the wall, creating the perfect image of a laidback businessman in his designer suit and tie. “Just because my little brother whisked your best friend away to Iceland for their honeymoon, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be having fun.”

“And clubbing is the best way to have fun?” I arched an eyebrow, knowing my friend who had earned the title of “local billionaire playboy” might have slightly different tastes than I did when it came to having fun.

“Well, I guess the real fun comes after I leave the club…” He winked, not needing to go into the details of what followed for him and his fling of the week after a night at The Garden.

Yes, Ian’s reputation was definitely well-known in our small town of Eden Falls. And if Rachel—the girl in charge of the Entertainment News and Gossip section of our newspaper—didn’t have to worry about upsetting the owners of the newspaper by reporting on Ian’s comings and goings, she could have brand-new content just from Ian and his escapades each week.

Ian and I were complete opposites in that way.

He was the perpetual player.

And I was the almost twenty-two-year-old spinster who was still holding out hope that her fiancé would return.

I glanced down at where my left hand rested on my desk. Running my thumb across the band of the diamond engagement ring I still wore on my ring finger, I wondered, not for the first time, just how much time would need to pass before I stopped wearing it.

It had been almost a year since Evan left for the trip to Miami that he would never return from.

Would two years be enough time for me to accept that the man I loved was never coming back?

Or would it be closer to three years?

Five?

I didn’t know.

But just as it had been a habit to slip the beautiful engagement ring onto my hand each day during those six months we’d been planning our wedding, the habit still stuck today.

If I was honest, I almost feared the day that I didn’t put it on.

Because not wearing the ring would be as good as accepting that hiring a private investigator as well as all the other search efforts we’d made the past year was for nothing.

It would mean accepting that Evan was truly never going to come back to Eden Falls—that he actually had disappeared into thin air.

Or worse, that he was dead.

I pushed those thoughts away, feeling the familiar swell of dread that came with wondering what had happened that September night when he was supposed to fly back from Miami.

I was at work right now. I needed to at least wait until I was home for the day to let my thoughts spiral.

“Anyway, after we loosen you up with a few margaritas,” Ian said, bringing me back to the present, “I can teach you my latest dance moves and remind you what it’s like to have fun again.”

What had we been talking about?

Oh yeah, he was trying to convince me to go to the club with him and our friends tonight.

“Won’t you be showing those moves to Leila, though?” I asked, reminding him that his latest fling probably wouldn’t enjoy watching him dance with another woman.

Even if we were definitely only friends—he was actually more like an annoying older brother most days—Leila seemed the territorial type.

“I don’t think Leila will care.” Ian shrugged. “We kind of broke up last night.”

“Already?” I raised an eyebrow, feigning shock.

But he just rolled his eyes at my attempt at astonishment and said, “Thanks for at least acting like you’re surprised.”

I lifted a shoulder, indifferent. “I gave it my best attempt.”

Ian didn’t do serious relationships, which meant he made sure every one of his flings expired within two weeks of the first hook-up. But he’d only met Leila a week ago at his brother’s wedding, so I’d expected them to last at least for a few more days.

You’d think women would steer clear of Ian—a.k.a. The King of Serial Dating—when they heard about his dating record. But since he was the stepson of the local billionaire and most likely to be the CEO of Hastings Industries when his stepdad retired one day, his conquests were usually pretty happy to turn a blind eye to his reputation.

I mean, trips to Europe and weekends on his family’s superyacht were a pretty appealing consolation prize—even if they never had a chance at actually getting his heart.

I’d never admit it to Ian, but I kind of envied his ability to stay so unattached to anyone. He was a master at a clean break. Never seemed to get his heart wrung out or go through the post-breakup blues.

Unlike Ian, who had been infatuated with close to a hundred different women in the four years that I’d known him, I was still hung up on the guy I’d fallen for during my senior year of high school.

The guy who had been my brother’s best friend, then my guardian and protector before eventually becoming just mine.

Yes, if I had even a tenth of Ian’s ability to move on, surely, I still wouldn’t be wearing this engagement ring or sleeping in the red hoodie that I’d received from the man who disappeared from my life without a trace.

“So, I’ll pick you up at nine thirty?” Ian said, clearly not catching onto any of the cues I’d given about not actually wanting to go clubbing tonight. “We already have the VIP section at The Garden reserved, so it should be a night to remember.”

“I really don’t know if I’m up for something like that,” I finally said before he could get too ahead of himself and his plans.

Even if hanging out at a club on a Friday night had been something I’d enjoyed once upon a time, The Garden just held too many memories.

But Ian stepped closer, saying, “You used to love weekends at The Garden.” He leaned forward and braced his hands on my desk. He looked into my eyes and sighed before adding, “And I know it’s different now, but…you can’t hide out in your house forever.”

“I know…” I said, a sudden swell of emotion making my voice wobble. “It’s just—” I pressed my lips together and glanced around, wondering if any of my co-workers were watching us. “What if going there is too much? What if we get there and it’s too overwhelming, and I just sit in the corner all night?”

“Then I’ll sit in the corner with you.”

“But won’t that make it hard to find your next girlfriend?”

“Naw.” He stood up straight again and waved my words away. “I’ll just find her tomorrow night instead.”

Of course he would.

“But if going to The Garden is still too much,” he said, his eyes becoming sympathetic again, “then we can throw out that idea and, I don’t know, just have dinner at Jacob’s Steakhouse instead.”

“Dinner would be nice,” I admitted. “And I have been craving their prime rib lately.” I considered it for a moment. Then I added, “Plus, it would be kind of fun to see what the gossip mill stirs up when they see you out with the local spinster.”

His lips quirked up into a smile. “You are far from a spinster, Addison,” he said with a chuckle in his voice. “In fact, I’m pretty sure if the paparazzi were out tonight, they’d be pushing a story with the headline that says something like: Local playboy finally lands a dinner with the beautiful Addison Michaels—a talented graphic designer who is way too out of his league.”

It was my turn to laugh now.

“I’ll make sure to give Rachel the scoop before we leave,” I said. “Then she can publish it to our Instagram page before anyone else gets the story.”

“So, does that mean you’ll come?” he asked. “To dinner and then fun at the club?”

“I’ll agree to dinner,” I said.

“Then you’ll see how you feel after that?”

And the look he got in his brown eyes in that moment reminded me of why he never got turned down by women.

It was the exact type of look that would have me melting into a puddle right there in my chair, if only I hadn’t already been charmed by a set of blue eyes back when I was seventeen.

Yes, if Evan Rodgers hadn’t already stolen my heart and made me immune to every other man, I might have been susceptible to his best friend’s charms.

But since I actually had recently made it a goal to take steps toward coming out of the shell I’d burrowed into almost a year ago, I decided to throw Ian a bone. “We’ll plan on dinner and…depending on how well you behave, I may join you at the club.”

“Perfect,” he said, his lips quirking up into a half-smile. “I’ll swing by your place around seven and make sure to be on my best behavior.”