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It was Adele who’d helped her pick out a proot her to laugh again when the soht was her true love had broken her heart Even more than her father, Adele and her mother, Susan, had become Vanessa’s lifeline They’d been there for every birthday, every holiday and now

“Come onpromise me”

Adele started to cough and quickly shoved the oxygenherself on the bed, gently laid her hand over her friend’s,properly “Hey, take it easy”

Adele held up her hand, fingers curled in a fist except for the last, her pinky finger extended into a hook She looked up, her deep green eyes locking with Vanessa’s “A solemn voeen best friends”

Vanessa saw a lifetiaze Adele was the sister she’d never had They knew each other’s secrets, fears and dreaht whispers, dried each other’s tears and laughed together more times than she could count “You make it sound like this is my last chance to have a life”

“No, but et? Just promise you’ll work hard to be happyto fulfill our list”

Vanessa wrapped her pinky finger around her friend’s and dropped her forehead to rest against Adele’s as both squeezed tight and held on “I promise”

Chapter One

Present Day

Rust Creek Falls, Montana

Vanessa wasn’t sure she’d heard Nate Crawford correctly

A rushing noise that reminded her of the crazy bumper-to-bumper traffic on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Expressway filled her ears, except it was the beautiful mountain scenery around her that went a bit hazy as she choked down ahard, she focused on the disposable cup in her hand, noticing for the first tis which explained the chocolatey-orange taste burning her tongue

Even though she’d rerab some refreshment at the canteen here on the job site—not to h the two-story, floor-to-ceiling s that filled the back wall—ination