Free Midnight Sons Volume 1 by Debbie Macomber Page A

of her expectations she’d floundered in disappointment. Well, she’d been disappointed before and learned from the experience. She would again.
    No matter how eager Sawyer O’Halloran was to be rid of her, she was staying.
    Really, she had no one to blame but herself. Her father had told her the free cabin and twenty acres sounded too good to be true. She was willing to concede that he was right. But it wasn’t just the promise of a home and land that had drawn her north.
    She’d come seeking a slower pace of life, hoping to settle in a community of which she’d be a vital part. A community where she’d know and trust her neighbors. And, of course, theopportunity to set up and manage a library was a dream come true. She’d moved to Hard Luck because she realized being here would make a difference. To herself, to the town, to her children most of all. She’d come so Scott and Susan would only read about drive-by shootings, gang violence and drug problems.
    Although her children’s reactions to the cabin had been very much like her own, Abbey was proud of how quickly the two had rebounded.
    “It isn’t so bad here,” Scott had told her when he’d returned to the O’Halloran homestead with Ronny Gold. Susan had met Chrissie Harris and they’d quickly become fast friends.
    The sound of an approaching truck propelled her off the bed in a near panic. She wasn’t ready for another round with Sawyer O’Halloran!
    Sawyer leapt out of the cab as if he wanted to spend as little time as possible in her company. “Your luggage arrived.” Two suitcases were on the ground before she reached the truck bed. Pride demanded that she get the others down herself. He didn’t give her a chance.
    Despite the ridiculous accusations he’d made, despite his generally disagreeable nature, Abbey liked Sawyer. She’d seen the regretful look in his eyes when he’d shown her the cabin. It might be fanciful thinking on her part, but she believed he’d wanted her to stay. He might not think it was practical or smart, but she sensed that he wanted her here. In Hard Luck.
    He might provoke her, irritate her, accuse her of absurd things; yet she found herself wishing she could get to know him better.
    That wasn’t likely. Sawyer O’Halloran had made his views plain enough. For whatever reasons, he wanted her gone.
    All the suitcases were on the ground, but Sawyer lingered. He started to leave, then turned back.
    “I shouldn’t have said that, about you duping Christian. It wasn’t true.”
    “Are you apologizing?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
    “Then I accept.” She held out her hand.
    His fingers closed firmly over hers. “You don’t have to stay in Hard Luck, Abbey,” he said. “No one’s going to think less of you if you leave.”
    She held her breath until her chest began to ache. “You don’t understand. I can’t go back now.”
    Frowning, he released her hand. “Why can’t you?”
    “I sold my car to pay for the kids’ airfare.”
    “I already told you I’d buy your tickets home.”
    “It’s more than that.”
    He hopped onto the tailgate and she joined him. “I want to help you, if you’ll let me,” he said.
    She debated admitting how deeply committed she was to this venture, then figured she might as well, because he’d learn the truth sooner or later.
    “My furniture and everything I own is in the back of some truck on its way to Alaska. It should get here within a month.”
    He shook his head. “It won’t, you know.”
    “But that’s what I was told!”
    “Your things will be delivered to Fairbanks. There’s no road to Hard Luck.”
    She wasn’t completely stupid, no matter what he thought. “I asked Christian and he told me there’s a haul road.”
    “The haul road is only passable in winter. It’s twenty-six miles to the Dalton Highway, which doesn’t even resemble the highways you know. It’s little more than a dirt and gravel road. A haul road’s much worse. It crosses two