Page 5 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

I’d have to get over those now that I was living here. Whenever Logan and Thea had come to New York, I’d always volunteered to babysit the kids so their parents could have a night out, and I planned to do a lot more of that now that I was living in Montana.

I was determined to become Aunt Piper, blood relation be damned.

“How much stuff did you bring along?” Logan asked.

“Not much.” I turned back to the plane as one of the attendants hauled a large suitcase down the stairs. “That case plus two more. The rest is in storage until I find a place here. Then I’ll have it shipped out.”

“All right.” Logan smiled at Thea. “You guys get loaded up and I’ll take care of the bags.”

Twenty minutes later, my suitcases were in the back of Logan’s beast of a silver SUV and we were headed down the highway toward my new hometown.

Lark Cove.

“It’s so beautiful.” My nose was practically pressed against the window as I soaked everything in. “It takes my breath away every time.”

Tall evergreens lined the highway, towering above us into the bright sky. Past their thick trunks, the water of Flathead Lake rippled and glittered under the sun’s rays.

Paradise.

“And now you get to live here.” Logan smiled at me in his rearview mirror.

I smiled back, then returned to the scenery. “And now I get to live here.”

My parents thought I was crazy for giving up my apartment in Manhattan to move to a small town in Montana I’d only visited once—maybe they were right. But I needed this change of pace.

I’d spent months grieving the death of my marriage. I’d come to terms with what I would and wouldn’t have in my life. And when the dust had settled, I’d realized New York wasn’t home anymore.

The only thing that had kept me in the city after Adam and I divorced had been my job. Working for Logan at the Kendrick Foundation, his family’s charitable organization, was the best part of each day. But after a while, even work couldn’t fill the lonely void.

This past Christmas, I’d confided in Thea that I was looking for a change and that it might involve me quitting. She’d passed it along to Logan, who had adamantly refused to accept my resignation. Instead, he’d offered to move me anywhere in the world to work remotely.

When he’d tossed out the idea of Montana, it had stuck. I could see myself living here.

I wanted empty highways instead of crowded city streets. I craved more space than the six-inch personal bubble people allowed me on the subway. I was sick and tired of seeing my ex-husband’s face on every corner, plastered to buses and billboards.

So I’d waited out the winter, enduring the longest four months of my life while I hid behind the walls of my apartment. Then I packed up my stuff, bid farewell to my family and friends and said good-bye to the city of my past.

Adam got to keep New York in our divorce.

I was taking Lark Cove, a town he hadn’t ruined.

The thirty-minute drive from the airport to Lark Cove went by fast. While the kids laughed, Thea and I talked about her latest art project and how things were going at the bar she ran with her best friend. Logan tried to sneak in a few work topics, but his wife shut him down immediately, reminding him it could wait until the weekend was over.

And then, before I knew it, we were here. Home.

“Don’t blink or you’ll miss it,” Logan teased as we passed a small green sign that read Entering Lark Cove.

My smile got wider, my dimples no doubt deepening. “It’s better than I remember.”

He drove slowly through the quaint town, letting me take in all of the businesses clustered along the highway. I saw things differently than when I’d come out here a few years ago for Logan and Thea’s wedding. Then, I’d only been a tourist, excited to witness my boss get married.

Now I was a resident.

I was giddy at the prospect of grocery shopping at the small mercantile. Bob’s Diner looked like my new favorite cheeseburger joint. When I went into Thea’s bar, it would be as a regular patron.

And maybe one day, I’d meet a handsome man in town who’d be up for a casual, uncomplicated relationship.

The majority of the homes in Lark Cove were set behind the businesses along the highway. They were normal-sized homes situated in friendly blocks where everyone knew their neighbors.