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Chapter One
“I DROVE TO the wrong bar”
Josie Fair above the nearly vacant parking lot, her cell phone pressed to her ear Nothing changed in Forever, Oregon Everything from the people to the names of the bars remained the same The triplets, who had to be over a hundred now, still owned The Three Sisters Café don Every car and truck she’d sped past had the high school football tea mounted on the roof or featured on the bumper And her father was still the chief of police
Nothing changed That hy she’d left for college and never looked back
Until now
She’d blown past the Forever town line ten ht to the place that promised a rescue fron, which appeared deter
“Josephine Fairh the phone, her tone oddly stern for the owner of a strip club situated outside the town liht be your first mistake”
Damn If the owner of The Lost Kitten was her voice of reason, Josie was screwed
“When did they take the ‘country’ out of Big Buck’s Country Bar?” Josie stared at the letters above the entrance to the town’s oldest bar She twirled the key to her red Mini, which looked out of place beside the lone monster truck in the lot She should probably take the car back to the city The Mini didn’t belong in the land of four-wheelers, pickups, and logging trucks The red car would e
But I can’t afford the parking garage anymore I can’t even pay my rent Or my bills
“Big Buck gave in three years ago,” Daphne explained, drawing Josie’s attention back to the bar parking lot “He decided to take Noah’s advice and get rid of the e crowd”
“He got rid of the bull before I went to college” And before his son left to join the United States Marine Corps She should know She’d ridden the bull at his going away party
With Noah
And then she’d ridden Noah
“Well, Buck es,” Daphne said “He added a new sound system and—”
“He changed the nalanced at the dark, quiet bar The hours posted by the door read “Open from noon until the cows come home (or 3am, whichever comes first!)”
“He served for five years and did two tours in Afghanistan Stop by The Three Sisters and you’ll get an earful about his heroics,” Daphne said “But fron up for another five Not after his grandmother died last year”
“You’ve seen him?” Josie looked down at her cowboy boots She hadn’t worn theht they’d help her land the job at the “country” bar But now she wished she’d worn her Converse, maybe a pair of heels
“Yes”
“At The Lost Kitten?” Why, after all this tietic letter, would she care if Noah spent his free ti woht cut short by her big brother didn’t offer a reason for jealousy
But the fact that I told hiht