Somebody to Love
by Sharon Sala
Publication Date: 2/23/2021
About the Book:
Welcome to Blessings, Georgia!
Whether you’ve lived here your whole life, you’re returning after years of
being away, or you’re new in town, you’re sure to find the happy ending you’ve
always been looking for.
Fifteen years ago, a family member stole the money Hunt Knox had saved for college, while three of his siblings and his father hid the truth and told him to get over it. Betrayed by their lies and thievery, Hunt joined the army and wound up flying Apache helicopters in Iraq. Now, he’s a chopper pilot for an oil company in Houston, Texas, his father has been dead for six years, and he’s finally returning home to Blessings at his mother’s dying request.
Ava Ridley, the little girl his mother used to babysit, has grown up and is a nurse at his mother’s bedside when he arrives. Ava is overjoyed to see him. She had a huge crush on him when she was young. And as the two spend more time together, Ava’s crush grows to be even more.
Through secrets, lies, family
betrayal, and difficult choices, Hunt’s not sure he and Ava can ever make a
home together in Blessings. Or if life will once again lead them onto different
paths...?
Meet the Author:
Sharon Sala has 127 books and novellas in print. First published in 1991,
she’s a RITA finalist, winner of the Janet Dailey Award, RT Career Achievement
winner, National Reader’s Choice Award, Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of
Excellence, Heart of Excellence Award, the Booksellers Best Award, RWA’s Nora
Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award and the Centennial Award for recognition of
her 100th published novel. Her books are New York Times, USA Today,and Publishers Weekly bestsellers. She lives in
Oklahoma.
Purchase
Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qnZGw0
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Kobo: https://bit.ly/2YlHJBW
Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2EwOoT6
Books2Read: https://bit.ly/3prL12l
Read an Excerpt:
Hunt rode across town, past the park, and then west down Peach
Street to the little house at the end of the block. He’d seen this house a
million times in his dreams, but it hadn’t looked sad and run-down like this.
A black pickup was parked beneath the
carport, so he rolled up and parked beside it. He got the house key out of his
pocket, but as he headed toward the back door, the hair stood up on the back of
his neck. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but this house didn’t feel like it
wanted him there. That was fair.
He didn’t want to be here, either, but a
promise was a promise.
He unlocked the door and walked into the
utility room just off the kitchen, turning on lights as he went. All
of the furnishings were here. If it hadn’t been for the faint layer of
dust all over everything, he could imagine his mom had just stepped out to run
an errand and would be back soon.
There was a low spot in the middle of
the kitchen floor—probably floor joist issues. The old hardwood flooring was
scarred and worn, and the furniture was threadbare. The sight of this neglect
made Hunt angry. How could his brothers and sisters let this happen? They were
all right here in the same town together.
The year Hunt began high school, they’d
remodeled the attic enough to call it a bedroom, and for the first time in his
life, he’d had a room of his own. Curious to see what it looked like now, he
went straight up the narrow stairwell at the end of the hall and opened the
attic door. The single window was bare of curtains or shades, and the dust
motes in the air stirred as he moved through the space now filled with boxes of
old memories that should have been laid to rest years ago.
The bed he’d slept in was gone. The
closet door was missing, the closet empty. Even the rod where his clothes used
to hang was gone. It was as if they’d wiped away all memories of him. If only
he’d been able to do the same.
He went back downstairs, glancing in his
mother’s room and accepting it was the only one decent enough to sleep in, then
began eyeing all of the things that needed repair.
He went back to the kitchen to check out
the appliances. The burners on the gas stove lit, the oven came on. The
dishwasher was clean, and the single glass in the top rack told him it had
recently been in use and was likely in working condition—something he’d find
out later.
The water pressure was good, and the
washer and dryer appeared to be in working condition. The refrigerator was the
newest appliance in the house, but nearly everything inside it needed to be
thrown away. He didn’t know for sure how long his mother had been in the
hospital, but the carton of milk was over a month out of date, and the single
container of peach yogurt had long since expired.
The ice in the bin beneath the icemaker
had all frozen together, which meant the electricity must have been off at one
time long enough to melt it. Then when the power returned, it froze
back. So he took the bin out and dumped the ice in the sink, then put
it back beneath the icemaker to start making fresh ice, then dumped everything
that was in the freezer and refrigerator into the garbage.
The central heat and air were still
working, and they looked newer than he remembered, which was good. There was a
big job ahead of him to do this right, but in the long run, it would make a
huge difference in the sale of the house. However, this task was going to take
tools as well as supplies, so he went out back to the toolshed to see what, if
anything, was left.
The light bulb was burned out in the
shed, so he left the door open as he went in to look around, and it was just as
he feared. There was nothing left in it but a couple of old hammers, a hand
saw, and an old sack of roofing nails. Seeing the nails reminded him he needed
to check on the condition of the roof as well. He could rent tools and hire
help. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was going to be a pain in the ass
coping with his family while it happened.
He found a set of car keys hanging on a
hook in the kitchen and guessed it was to the truck. If it ran, it would be
handy to use while he was hauling stuff to the house to make repairs, so he
went out to check. The insurance verification in the glove box was in
Marjorie’s name. He turned the key to see if it would start, and the engine
turned over immediately. So he locked the house and drove to the
bed-and-breakfast to pack up his things and check out.
Bud was scanning Hunt’s card to pay for
his room when Hunt thought about the locks he needed to change.
“Hey, Bud, is there still a locksmith
here in town?”
“Yes, there sure is. Mills Locks, next
door to Bloomer’s Hardware on Main Street. The owner’s name is Cecil, but
everything is probably closed today.”
“Okay…I remember him,” Hunt said.
“Thanks, and thank you for your hospitality,” he said, then carried his bag out
to the truck. Out of curiosity, he drove straight to the locksmith, saw the
Open sign on the door, and went inside.
The man at the counter looked up.
“Welcome to Mills Locks. I’m Cecil
Mills. How can I help you?”
“I need a couple of new locks put on a
house I’ll be remodeling. Would you be available to do that today?”
“Yeah, sure. Here in town?” Cecil asked.
“Yes, where Marjorie Knox lived. I’m her
oldest son, Hunt. I’m going to fix it up some before it’s put up for sale.”
“Lived?”
Hunt nodded. “She passed away early this
morning.”
Cecil frowned. “I hadn’t heard.
I’m real sorry about that.
I’m waiting on a customer who’s on the way in from his farm, but I can get away
around noon, if you don’t mind me coming at your lunch hour.”
“I’m not on any schedule. You sure
you’re okay working on New Year’s Day? It could wait until tomorrow,” Hunt
said.
Cecil shrugged. “I’ve already been
called out twice today for emergencies, and my wife is home and sick with the
flu. I’d just as soon be here.”
“Then noon is fine. Do you know the
address?” Hunt asked.
“It’s the last house on the right at the
end of Peach Street, right?”
Hunt nodded. “Yeah. My Harley and her
black pickup will be under the carport.”
“Then I’ll see you at noon.”
“Right,” Hunt said, and left the shop,
then stopped by the grocery store. He was surprised to see that it was no
longer a Piggly Wiggly, and had a new facade and a new name to go
with it. The Crown.
Nobody recognized him, which made shopping
easy, until he got up front to pay. The cashier who was checking him out kept
looking at him, and when he put his credit card in the reader, she finally
spoke.
“You sure do look familiar. Are you from
around here?” she asked.
Hunt nodded as he put his card back in
his wallet. “I’m Hunt Knox. I used to sack groceries here back when it was
still the Piggly Wiggly. You’re Millie, aren’t you?”
“Yes! I’m Millie Garner! I knew you
looked familiar. I just heard about your mother’s passing. My sympathies to the
family,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said, and began putting his
bags back in the shopping cart.
“Do you plan on staying here?” she
asked.
“Only long enough to fix up the family
house so it can be sold at auction. I promised her I’d do that,” Hunt said,
then walked out pushing the shopping cart.
By the time he got back to the house and
unloaded the groceries, it was getting close to noon. He took off his jacket,
then began emptying the sacks and putting up the things he’d just bought.
By the time he was through, Cecil Mills
was knocking on his door. He let Cecil in, and then pointed out the locations
where new locks were needed.
“There’s just the front door, and then a
back door in the kitchen.”
Cecil nodded. “I’ll get those switched
out for you and get both locks synced to open with one key. How many keys are
you going to want? It comes two keys to a set, so you’ll have four.”
“That’s plenty. I’ll be the only one
using one here, but when it sells, then that will be handy for the new owners.”
“Then I’ll get right to work,” Cecil
said.
“Call out if you need me,” Hunt said,
then took a notepad and a pen and started in the kitchen, making a list of the
things that needed to be fixed.
***
Excerpted from Somebody to Love by Sharon Sala. © 2021 by Sharon Sala. Used with
permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks
Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.
