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Chapter 1

Rejected again

Sixth ti

Nick Harte put down the phone very deliberately, got to his feet, and went to stand at the living rooe

Six rejections in a row

Athis to hiray mist that shrouded the landscape Summer had arrived, just barely, in Eclipse Bay, and with it the fa, sunny afternoons He knew the season well Growing up he had spent every su weekends here His parents and grandparents maintained permanent homes elsewhere and he and his son lived in Portland e the fact that for three generations the Hartes had been a part of Eclipse Bay The threads of their lives oven into the fabric of this community

Summers in Eclipse Bay meant that on the weekends the toarmed with tourists who came to walk the breezy beach and browse the handful of shops and galleries Su in their cars along Bayview Drive on Friday and Saturday nights

Summers meant the su the bluffs for a feeeks or a as at the Eclipse Bay Gas & Go A few of them would even venture into the Total Eclipse to buy a beer or play so would flirt with soet invited to a few parties But no matter how familiar they became, they would remain forever summer people Outsiders No one in toould ever consider them to be real members of the community with roots here Eclipse Bay had its own private rules Around here you kneho belonged and who did not

The Hartes, like the Madisons, belonged

But as iven up spending entire summers in Eclipse Bay Probably because his wife, Amelia, had never really liked the town After her death nearly four years ago, he had never gotten back into the habit of spending a lot of tis were different this year

"Hey, Dad, I'm ready for you to look at -on-thirty-year-old son standing in the doorway With his lean build, dark hair, and serious dark-blue eyes, Carson was a miniature version of himself and all the other males in the Harte family But Nick ell aware that it wasn't just his physical appearance that marked hihteningly organized, agenda-driven nature Carson's ability to focus on an objective with the unwavering precision and intensity of a battlefield commander told you he was a Harte to his toes

At the et a dog The second was to exhibit a picture in the upco the annual Eclipse Bay Summer Celebration festivities

"I'otta do is tell htould like best"

"Got news for you, kid I' to the conclusion that I'htwell likes"