Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

It wasn’t every day a guy saw a headless beaver…

Chapter Two

Blue concentrated on counting her breaths, hoping that would calm…

Chapter Three

The Beav’s contempt for fashion clearly carried over into nightwear.

Chapter Four

April Robillard closed out her e-mail. What would Dean say…

Chapter Five

April’s lips parted in shock. Dean stiffened. “What are you…

Chapter Six

As the driver pulled away, Dean tucked his thumbs in…

Chapter Seven

Riley Patriot lived in Nashville, Tennessee, in a white brick…

Chapter Eight

The faintest threads of morning light crept through the lace…

Chapter Nine

The small, weathered cottage sat behind a dilapidated picket fence.

Chapter Ten

April and Dean both came into town to get her.

Chapter Eleven

Two SUVs with tinted windows pulled up in front of…

Chapter Twelve

Half a dozen indignant responses raced through Blue’s mind before…

Chapter Thirteen

Blue finally located Dean in the weeds behind the barn.

Chapter Fourteen

When Dean got back that afternoon, he discovered Jack and…

Chapter Fifteen

She’d noticed the woman earlier, bony and bitter-faced, with harsh…

Chapter Sixteen

Riley sat huddled on the top step, a butcher knife…

Chapter Seventeen

“Where the hell have you been?” Dean wore a biscuit-colored…

Chapter Eighteen

Blue’s bedroom might be the smallest on the second floor,…

Chapter Nineteen

After dinner, Nita announced that she’d wait in the living…

Chapter Twenty

June, with all its heat and humidity, began unwinding over…

Chapter Twenty-one

Blue gazed at the finished portrait before she left the…

Chapter Twenty-two

Dean stood at the edge of the path. They were…

Chapter Twenty-three

Blue swiped a highlighting blush across her cheekbones. The soft…

Chapter Twenty-four

Blue arrived at the farm an hour late. She’d traded…

Chapter Twenty-five

First Blue painted a series of gypsy caravans, some tucked…

Epilogue

Tuxedos must have been invented just to be worn by…


Author’s Note

About the Author

Books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher