“You’re such a good friend to me. You know, I always thought the idea of an adult woman having a best friend was sort of silly, the thing you only saw in books. But you’re that to me. And I want you to be my maid of honor, or matron or whatever the hell, your marriage to Terry does not count.” Tears ran down Penny’s face as she laughed. “I never thought I’d feel this way after Ben. He was the great love of my life. This second chance is so special.”

“It is, Penny. Ryan’s loves you so much. I’m so happy for you and of course I’ll be your maid doodad.”

“Doodad sounds just fine and I promise I won’t make you wear anything with tulle or a bow on the ass. It’ll be simple, we want it that way.”

“Fine, sweetie. It’s your day. Where are you going to have it?”

“We just bought a house yesterday. It’s an hour and a half from here. It has this grand stairway that leads into a formal living room with floor to ceiling windows. I want it there.”

“Well, you’re full of good news aren’t you?”

“It’s a wonderful house. As much as I love my house here, it’ll always hold my life with Ben. I have to let go of that now. Take the memories with me as I build my new life. Which leads to my next thing. You interested in a bookstore?”

“What? You’re selling this place?”

“Not all of it unless I have to. But I can’t be here every day like I am now. I’ll live far enough away that more than two days a week would be a pain to drive. I was thinking of breaking it down fairly, like seventy five percent yours, twenty five percent mine? We can talk to Edward about it and have him draw up the sales agreement. That is if you’re interested.

“I know you want to practice medicine again but I also know it’ll be a while before you can if you can at all. I’d like this place to belong to someone who loves it as much as I do.”

“I’ll need to talk to Shane and my brother but I can tell you I’m very interested. Truly, I don’t think I can go back into medicine the way I was before. I was thinking about going into victim’s advocacy. My therapist and I were talking about the difficulties in going back into medicine with my hand being so messed up and the name issue and what I want to do is help people heal. I can do that in other ways. She works with a doctor in Shackleton and has suggested that I speak with Doctor Wallace here in town to see what he’d think about me working with him on a volunteer basis. I’d need training obviously. But it solves some problems for me and gives me a way to help people.”

“Oh my, Cassie, that’s a wonderful idea. You’d be so good at it.”

“Thanks. Okay, let me talk to Shane tonight and see what he thinks. I don’t need his permission or anything but I want to run it by him. Brian is the person who deals with my trust and he’ll need to handle payment. I suppose we’ll have to get the store appraised too.”

“I’ll get on that today and talk to Edward as well.”

Cassie left the shop with a bounce in her step, things were going well. The more she thought about victim’s advocacy and counseling, the more she liked the idea. She could use the bad stuff she’d survived to help other people. And she loved the bookstore, it would be hers, something to hold her to town in another way.

At home, Shane was delighted with all her good news. They cooked dinner, Polly was giving her cooking lessons and she’d achieved at least a basic level of competency.

Of course, as it happened from time to time, Shane got a call after nine and had to run out. With a sigh, she accepted his kiss and went into her workroom to finish up some jewelry. As the holidays fast approached, she wanted to build up her inventory.

She’d lost track of time when she heard Shane come in. “I’m in the back here, honey. I’ll be out in a sec.”

Putting away her equipment, she turned to leave the room and saw not Shane standing in the doorway, but Terry.

Sick dread hit her, replaced by fear and then by fury. “What the hell are you doing here?” Backing up a bit, she reached behind her and hit the 911 button on the phone.

“Oh Carly, or should I say Cassie, why ask questions you know the answer to?”

“How did you find me?”

He laughed and it crawled over her skin like an insect. “The second time I called I heard someone say Chase. And the last time I heard someone yell out Polly and then Shane. What do you know? When I did a search for Polly Chase I saw a newspaper clipping and a picture of an event in small town Petal, Georgia. A drive for the local food bank and what did I see in the background but my faithless wife. Only her name was not Carly Sunderland anymore, it was Cassie Gambol. So unimaginative.” He waved around. “I take it this is where you and Shane live? Nice. Not as nice as our house in the hills but for a small town backwater like this one, I expected shacks and hound dogs on the porch.”

“Go away, Terry. I don’t want you anymore!” In her pocket, she realized she’d dropped a pair of needle nosed pliers she used to tie off findings on a necklace she’d been working on. She slipped her hand inside and held on.

“It’s not what you want, bitch! You f**ked my life up. I gave you everything and you threw it back at me. You took my reputation and dragged it through the mud. I can’t practice medicine anymore and it’s all your fault.” He came toward her and she stabbed at him with the pliers, felt them dig into the flesh just below his shoulder.