There was an edginess to Ella, a restless, heightened quality. Looking at her across the table, all I could think was it was so damn good to have her back home. We were just finishing dinner, and it had been the longest period of uninterrupted time I’d had with her since I could recall. Her brown hair fell in a tousle around her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed slightly, the green of her eyes standing out. I could’ve looked at her for hours, if only because for the first time in way too damn long I had the opportunity to do so. Maybe, just maybe, we’d get a chance to write a different ending for ourselves this time.

I wasn’t kidding myself. In between the time since I saw her at the hospital after her minor car accident and then again the other night, I’d shifted gears inside. After ten years of telling myself I had no choice but to let go and move on, she was here. Back to stay. I was under no illusions that things would be simple. Yet, I thought maybe we had a shot.

Everything about Ella was colored by more than one lens for me. First, there was the fact that she’d been my high school love. Let’s face it, young guys aren’t exactly known for their brilliance in high school. Especially not when it came to matters related to girls. I doubted any man would argue that his cock was a brilliant decision maker.

I’d have been lying through my teeth if I said my initial attraction to Ella had been about anything other than lust. I’d started out in lust with her and then fallen in love with her. I had enough sense to know that phase of my life was what it was. Then, there was the tangled mess of the accident. The accident that had been no one’s fault except for the man who’d been drunk and driving recklessly down the road. For the four of us in that car, his reckless decision had left Jake dead and scars—literal and metaphorical—in its wake.

I’d been so angry with Ella when she broke up with me, too hurt to see through to the other side of it. Reeling already, to have her shut me out had been like a slice to my heart. Even worse, I’d been worried sick about her. She was in the hospital for weeks, which felt like forever at the time. If you’d asked me to explain why I was angry, I couldn’t have told you. I supposed I felt abandoned at a time when I needed her and when being there for her was something I needed.

The intervening years had helped me come to terms with Jake’s death. Sometimes all you could do was accept that life wasn’t fair and that shitty and sometimes tragic things could happen to anyone. I’d also gained some perspective on how Ella must’ve felt back then. My injuries had been far more minor than hers. She’d been in pain and carried so much more guilt since she’d been driving, if only by chance.

Even though Ella had always been in the back of my mind, I’d mostly convinced myself we’d never have a shot again. Now we did, and I’d be damned if I’d allow it to slip through my fingers.

Janet James, the owner of Firehouse Café, was checking on a couple beside us and then stopped at our table. She snagged an empty chair nearby and sat down. Reaching over, she squeezed Ella’s shoulder. “It’s so good to have you home. You have no idea how happy I was when Cade told me you were here to stay.”

Ella grinned. “It’s good to be home and good to see you. How have you been?”

Janet, with her dark hair shot through with silver and her twinkling brown eyes, glanced between us. “I’m fine, busy as ever. Please tell me this means something.”

Janet was utterly shameless, and I didn’t doubt she had her own opinions about what should be happening between Ella and me. For once, I was on board with her meddling, but I’d follow Ella’s lead. I simply shrugged and chuckled. “We’re having dinner.” Glancing over at Ella, I saw her cheeks pinken slightly. Fuck me. All it took was a flush on her cheeks to send a bolt of lust through me.

By no means were my feelings for Ella purely sexual, but damn she made me fucking crazy. She always had back in high school. I’d loved the contrast of how beautiful she was with her slightly wild edge, and yet she was such a book nerd. Her grades were definitely more important than me back then. She’d been a challenge for me, and I’d loved every minute of it.

Ella met Janet’s grin and rolled her eyes. “Just dinner.”

Janet smiled as she stood up when her name was called from the kitchen. “I couldn’t help but tease. You’ve been gone too long, so it was overdue.”

At that, Janet turned away, replacing the chair she’d borrowed from the other table before quickly collecting our empty plates and hurrying toward the kitchen. Ella watched Janet walk away, her eyes scanning the small café. It looked much the same as it had back when we used to come here after school.

Aptly named Firehouse Café, it was housed in the town’s original firehouse from the early part of the twentieth century. The upstairs has been converted into storage. What was once the garage for the fire trucks was now the café. The concrete floor was stained a soft blue with small round tables scattered around. The fire pole was painted with whimsical fireweed flowers, and local artwork rotated on the walls. The deli counter was to one side with the kitchen behind it. Janet ran this place on her own and had for many years since her husband passed away. The café opened daily at five in the morning for coffee and baked goods and remained opened through lunch and into an early dinner.

Ella’s eyes made their way back to me, her cheeks still flushed. “It’s still the same,” she commented.

I nodded. “How was your dinner?”

“Delicious of course.”

Ella had opted for a maple glazed salmon burger, while I had enjoyed a King crab melt, the Alaskan version of a crab melt sandwich.

I wasn’t thinking about my words, so what slipped out next surprised me. Although it was the bald truth. “I missed you. I’m glad you’re here to stay.”

She didn’t look away, her cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink. “I missed you too,” she finally said.

“Are you going home after this? To your parents’ place?”

She held my gaze for a beat, the air coming to life between us. She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so.”

At her answer, my pulse quickened, the need I’d been trying to hold at bay rising inside, crashing against the rocks of my discipline. “Let’s go then.”

“Let me run to the restroom.”

She slipped out of her chair. I watched as she walked across the restaurant, her hips swinging with her steps. She’d filled out since high school, her hips and her breasts more lush. As I waited, all the while telling myself I couldn’t just tackle her like a greedy boy, her phone buzzed where it sat in the center of the table. It buzzed again and again and again, one banner after another of texts appearing on the screen. She’d left it face up. My gut pinged. I wasn’t even thinking when I spun the phone around.

Did you think I wouldn’t find your new phone number?

Did you think you could go back to Alaska and get away from me?

Think again.

I can ruin your career.

Distance doesn’t make a difference to me.

You’re a fucking whore.

I gave you a chance to give me a chance.

You’re such a fucking coward.

Fury coiled inside of me. I didn’t know who this was, but whatever was happening was connected to whatever I sensed Ella was hiding. Whoever the hell this was had been making her life miserable, and I would fucking make them pay.

Ella returned to the table before I had a chance to get my anger under control. Her eyes met mine and then flicked to the phone on the table.

“Who is this?” I asked.

Ella sat down quickly, two bright red spots appearing on her cheeks, her eyes widening and fear flashing in them. “It’s nothing. It’s no one.”

“Ella, this isn’t nothing. They’re threatening you.”

Ella stared back at me, her lips tightening into a line and her eyes shuttering. It was similar to the look in her eyes the day we’d broken up when she was still in the hospital after the accident. She had a stubborn streak, especially when she thought she needed help.

I wrestled inside, trying to manage my fury. My anger wasn’t with her. It was with whoever the hell was sending her threatening messages. Shackling my frustration, I forced myself to take a deep breath and reached across the table, catching her hand in mine. “Ella, I don’t want to fight with you on this. If this has something to do with why you came back, just tell me. Hell, tell your father. At least he could maybe help.”

She stared at me, her shoulders rising and falling with a shuddering breath. She didn’t tug her hand loose from mine, but gripped it tightly. Running her free hand through her hair, she sifted the glossy brown locks through her fingers. On the heels of another deep breath, she finally spoke, her voice coming out raspy. “This isn’t the only reason I came home, but it pushed me to make a decision.”

“Who is this?” I asked, pointing at her phone between us, the screen now dark.

“His name is Lance Wallace. He’s a researcher at the same university where I was working in Oregon.”

“And?”

Her hand fell loose from her hair, thunking on the table. She was still gripping mine, so tightly it was as if she was trying to hold on to me. “He wasn’t in my department, but when I started working there, he asked me out. I wasn’t interested, so I said no. I didn’t think anything of it. He never did anything at work, but…” She paused, spinning a ring on her pinkie in circles with her thumb. “I don’t know why, but he was obsessed with me. Somehow he got my personal number and email, and well, this started. I don’t know why. You have to understand. I wasn’t involved with anyone, not the whole time I was working there. But I have friends and he’d send me pictures of me having lunch with friends and pictures of my apartment. I told my director about it, and she tried to help. But nothing worked. He never physically threatened. Just… stuff like this,” she said, gesturing to her phone sitting innocuously between us on the table.

Anger flashed hot inside, but I shoved it away. Right now, Ella was right here, safe with me. “Have you talked to your father?” I asked.

“Not yet. I just told my mother today. She’s going to tell him about it. I talked to the cops down there, and it’s not like they didn’t try to help, but he never made physical threats and he never did anything in person, so there wasn’t anything they could do. He just harassed me by text and email. It makes me feel crazy.”

The anger inside ran hot and then cold. I wanted to know where the hell this guy was. To make it stop. Yet, I knew Ella didn’t need to see how fucking furious I was.

“Mind if I talk to your dad about it?”

Ella’s dad was the chief of police for Willow Brook and had been for years. I liked Rex and respected him. He’d been like a father to me in some ways, if only because I’d spent so much time at their house when Ella and I were dating in high school.

“Of course you can talk to him.” She looked down, staring at her phone. On the heels of another deep breath, she lifted her eyes. “Do we have to keep talking about this? I know you want to fix it because, well, because you’re you,” she said with a little laugh. “But it’s taken over so much of my life. I don’t want it to take over everything here too.”

I absolutely wanted to fix this. Now. But she had a point. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do right this second, other than support her. If she didn’t want to keep talking about it, then we wouldn’t. “I only have one question for now,” I replied.

At her nod, I asked, “You’ve already changed your number, right?”

“Several times,” she said simply, her gaze weary.

Swallowing my frustration and the helplessness I felt because I wanted to kick this guy’s ass, but he wasn’t here for me to do that, I let it go. “I’ll talk to your dad tomorrow, okay?”

I hadn’t seen Ella regularly for a decade, but I knew her very well. I could feel the frustration rolling off of her, the urge to argue the point with me. Yet she didn’t. Even though she’d already said it was okay for me to talk with her father, I knew she wouldn’t want anyone to interfere. But this wasn’t something I was willing to leave alone. Her lips tightened, her eyes narrowed, and then she gave her head a shake. “Fine. Can we talk about something else now?”

Her question was so abrupt with that hint of demanding and bossy. Despite my frustration, I laughed. “Yes. As long as you promise to let any of us know if this keeps up,” I said with a nod towards the poor phone sitting on the table.

Ella rolled her eyes, but she nodded. “As if I could keep it from anyone at this point,” she muttered. “Holly knows, my mom knows, you know, and by tomorrow my dad and Cade will know. I figure now that I’ve left Oregon, he’ll eventually drop it.”

My gut told me otherwise, but I stayed quiet. There was no need to speculate, not right now. “You ready to go?” I asked.

At that rather opportune moment, Janet stopped by our table, dropping off the check and providing a welcome interruption to shift away from the unpleasant topic. “Good to see you two,” she offered, her gaze lingering on Ella. “Promise me you’ll be back soon.”

Ella smiled, the tension leaving her face. “Of course. You have the best coffee in town. You can bet you’ll see me a few times a week.”

With a satisfied grin, Janet squeezed her shoulder and whirled away, stopping by the table next to us. I tossed enough cash on the table to cover our bill and the tip before standing, never once letting go of Ella’s hand. She glanced to her phone. Actually, glare was more what she did.

“Do you need to use that number?” I asked.

She met my gaze, bitterness flashing in hers. “It gets old changing it, but right now it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“Why don’t you take my phone? I’ll take this one.”

Ella’s eyes widened, a little laugh escaping. “You want to trade phones?”

“Why not? This isn’t my work phone. I have an on-call one for the station. This way, you can just give everybody my number and I’ll give this guy hell if he keeps bugging you.”

She stared at me for a long moment, a slow smile stretching across her face. After the last few minutes, I was relieved for the tension to dissipate. “Works for me,” she said.

I picked up her phone and slipped mine out of my pocket, handing it over. “Passcode?” I asked.

She recited the numbers, and I quickly opened the screen. I was about to enter my number in her contacts, but grinned when I saw it was already there. “Easy to get in touch. You’re already in my contacts, so just call you when you want to call me.”

I handed my phone to her.

“What’s your passcode?” she asked in return.

“Don’t have one.” I shrugged and caught her hand in mine. “Let’s go.”

“You sure it’s okay I have your phone?” she asked as we started walking out.

“I’m sure.”

“You don’t have, I don’t know, anyone who might want to call you or something…” Her words trailed off.

“If you’re asking if I have some ex who would call or anyone I see casually, no. I wouldn’t be here with you, and I haven’t seen anyone for a while. You don’t need to worry about any random texts showing up, or anything like that.”

We pushed through the door, the bell jingling behind us as we stepped outside. I paused and glanced to her just as the wind gusted across the parking lot, blowing her hair in a swirl. Her cheeks were flushed. Looking up at me, she bit the corner of her bottom lip, an old habit that never failed to get to me. A bolt of lust hit me at the sight of it.

“I mean, not that it matters if you were,” she said.

“It would matter to me,” I replied, angling to face her fully.

Looking up at me, she was quiet for a moment, her eyes searching mine. After a moment, she took a breath and nodded.

Turning, I walked toward my truck to find her mother’s car parked right beside it. “Any plans to get a new car?” I asked, pausing at the back of my truck.

“I need to figure that out, but Mom swears it’s no problem for me to use this. Dad’s been dropping her off at work. I’ll figure it out soon. Anyway, I don’t know where you live,” she said, getting right to the point that mattered.

“Out past Fireweed Lane. Follow me.”