Winning Back Her Heart

“It’s different,” Dad said. His tone wasn’t quite enthusiastic.

“It is,” Toni replied. This was the answer—she knew it in her bones. “And it’s a lot to take in, I know. But Dad, I really think this could be the future—my future here—with Redding’s.” She saw a flicker of curiosity fill his eyes, along with the startled disbelief that his daughter might actually be coming home to stay.

She could also see what she’d hoped to find in his expression: relief. He might not be ready to admit out loud that the store was too much for him, but they both knew it.

“You’ve been holding down the store for years without Mom.” The last two words caught thickly in her throat. “You deserve to take it easy,” Toni went on. “I want to do this. For you, and for me.” She felt her voice catch a bit. “I don’t belong in New York anymore. I belong here.”

Dad’s eyes glistened. “I never liked you living so far away. But...” His words trailed off. Redding’s had been his life, the thing he’d built from the ground up with Mom. Asking to change the store felt like asking to change their legacy. Was that brave? Or disrespectful?

Dad gave a shaky little sigh. “It sounds awfully newfangled.”

Toni smiled at the old-fashioned word to describe the new Redding’s. She made the decision right then and there to use “newfangled” in her marketing. “That’s exactly what it is, Dad.” New, but rooted in the old. Unstuffy but not behind the times.

“It’ll be a big job, won’t it? All by yourself?” It was the closest Dad had come to admitting just how far the physical state of the store had slipped in recent years.

“Well, yes. But with the right people and all the work I plan to put into it, I don’t think it will take too long. I’ll start right away, and we might be able to manage a grand reopening for the third of July.” The Redding’s Third of July Sale was a Wander Canyon tradition, so linking the reopening to the sale helped Redding’s keep its roots while spreading new wings.

Dad’s eyes widened. “You’ll close the store for renovations?” Redding’s had never closed, even during blizzards or any other number of disasters. It had been a point of family pride that anyone could get what they needed at Redding’s any day of the year—except, of course, Sundays and major holidays. Mom and Dad had never opened the store on the Lord’s day.

Toni had anticipated this reaction from her father. “Not completely. I think we can keep about half of the store open while we work. We’d just have to section off the parts where construction would make it unsafe for customers.”

“Gotta keep it safe.” He was coming around to the idea, she could see.

“I want everyone to see the work happening, to watch the transformation take place.” The more she spoke about it, the more the dream anchored to her soul. Toni hadn’t even realized how much energy her life had lost until she felt it rekindle.

She held her father’s gaze for a moment, then summoned up her courage to ask, “What do you think?”

There was a nerve-racking pause as Dad looked at his hands. It was foolish to think he’d jump on the bandwagon right away—the store was his life’s work. He’d never done anything else, hardly ever taken a day off since Mom died. Handing Redding’s over to her represented a huge change in both their lives. Toni had the dizzying sense of Redding family history hinging on this moment.

Two weeks ago, as she watched her evenings and weekends disappear behind a long list of tasks Faye had given her, she could have never predicted life would have brought her to this moment. Now, she was on the brink of stepping into the future God had waiting all along—or so she hoped.

Dad’s smile was bittersweet as he squeezed Toni’s hand. “I guess newfangled sounds like it could be dandy.”

Dandy. There wasn’t a word that captured Dad better than that. “Yeah, it could.”

Toni watched a little sparkle of acceptance come to his blue eyes. She had her father’s chin and his height, but she’d gotten Mom’s bright green eyes and slightly unruly cascade of red hair. Growing up, Toni had been annoyed at how easily she was marked as Irene Redding’s daughter. Now she loved having a bit of her mother with her always.

“I suppose,” he said slowly, “it might be fun to take up fishing again. Haven’t had much time for that.”

“You deserve to do all the fishing you want.” The glimpses of fragility she’d seen in her father gave the words a tender weight. How much time for fishing does he have left? He shouldn’t spend his golden years minding the store.

Toni got off the couch and sat next to him. “Please, Dad. Let me do this. For me, and for you.”

The laughter and hugging—and perhaps a few tears—that followed his nod felt like the world shifting and laying itself open before her.

She wasn’t just coming home—she was coming home to become who she was always meant to be.

Bo barely remembered any of the drive home. The ache in his chest seemed to swallow him whole, and he drove home on sheer muscle memory.

There were a million things he should have done when he got back to his apartment. Ordinary tasks to yank him out of the fog Toni had plunged him into. He should have eaten. Fed and walked his dog, Dodger. Opened the mail. Answered the call from his sister, Peggy about having breakfast tomorrow. At least tossed a ball in the patient beagle’s direction.

He hadn’t done any of those things. Instead, Bo stood in his backyard and stared off into the mountains, barely even noticing Dodger’s pleas for attention at his feet.

The voice of his friend and business partner, Jake Sanders, came from behind him. “You did it, didn’t you?” He’d been so lost in the storm of his thoughts that he hadn’t even heard Jake’s truck come up the drive.

“Did what?” The low angle of the sun made him wonder how long he’d been standing there. An hour? Ten minutes?

Jake rolled his eyes. “Went and saw her.” He leaned down and scratched Dodger behind the ears.

“Did you follow me or something?”

“Didn’t have to. The way you looked at the end of the day gave you away easy. Plus, Redding’s is in the opposite direction of here, and I saw you leave.”

“Okay, so, yes, I went to the store and saw her.” Bo held on to the slim hope that Jake would let it go at that.

Of course, he didn’t. “I don’t like the look in your eyes, buddy. She left, Bo. She left you. You can’t really still have a thing for her, can you?”

“No.” Who was he kidding? “Maybe.”

Jake walked over to the bucket of tennis balls beside the back door and lobbed one halfway across the yard. Jake hadn’t been Wander High’s star pitcher for no reason. He eyed Bo as Dodger lumbered off after the ball, thrilled for someone to finally be playing with him. “That’s insane. You know that, right? You have plans you’re about to kick into gear. August. Florida. Your folks.” After years of working together, he and Jake were making plans to open two Car-San locations—Jake running a business up here in Colorado while Bo opened another down in Florida, ready to help his parents and the loads of other people who needed to rebuild during and after hurricane season.

Toni Redding’s return to town shouldn’t affect those plans one bit. That would be the logical way to look at it. But since when was anything he thought or felt about Toni Redding logical?

“Don’t, man.” Jake cautioned when Bo didn’t answer. “Don’t even think it. We’ve almost got the split all set up and ready to go.” While they were technically running two arms of the same business, Jake always referred to their next move as “the split.”

“Besides, I’m in no mood to scrape you up off the sidewalk again. She’s here for a week, tops. A couple of days for the shower and a couple of days for the wedding. You can power through that, right?”

If only that were true. She was here for good, back in Wander, if not back in his life, but he’d promised Toni not to say anything. Her return pummeled him with an excruciating blend of terror and optimism that spun his insides like a cement mixer.

“Look, you got the hard part over with. You came, you saw, you did the awkward chat thing, you got the worst of it over.”

Oh, it is so far from over. I don’t know what it is, but over isn’t it.

Jake grabbed Bo’s shoulder. He got the sense Jake was tamping down the urge to shake him. He’d earned his friend’s annoyance—Jake’s remark about scraping Bo up off the sidewalk wasn’t much of an exaggeration. “If you can’t shake her, then make yourself scarce. Head down to your folks’ in Florida now instead of in August. I’ll hire a couple of guys and finish up our summer projects without you.”

“You can’t do that...”

“I can. And believe me, I’d rather do that than watch you go under again.”

Bo had originally agreed to spend the slower winter season down in Florida helping his parents rebuild from the hurricane that had damaged their house. But he and Jake were turning it into more than that. They were going to leverage the advantages of both locations. And Bo knew that the minute he disclosed his plans to take up permanent residence in Florida, Mom and Dad and Peggy would jump on it as the solution to worrying about Mom and Dad. Because it was.

“Rebuild your parents’ dock so fast you fall into bed exhausted at night,” Jake pressed. “Then rebuild their garage. And their porch. And the neighbor’s porch. Rebuild the entire subdivision if that’s what it takes to get Toni out of your system.”

He could rebuild Mom and Dad’s house from the foundation up—and a dozen others beside—and it wouldn’t be enough. The truth was that despite thousands of miles and six years’ time, he’d never really let go of Toni. He’d measured every woman he’d ever dated—and there weren’t that many of them, as Jake often reminded him—against Toni. Even after how much she’d hurt him.

“It won’t help.”

“Sure it will,” Jake persisted. “Sunshine, Florida beaches...” Bo watched his friend’s eyes take on a worried look. “You can’t let a little visit from her take you under like this.”

“She’s staying.” Bo justified the small betrayal by telling himself he’d only promised not to say anything to Toni’s father.

Jake froze at that. “She’s what?”

“Toni’s moving back to Wander.” It wasn’t fair what those words did to his insides. “No one knows yet.”

“But you do.”

“It slipped out while we were talking.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jake made a frustrated sound. “So Toni Redding is back in town. For good.”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

Jake fixed Bo with a somber glare. “Leave tomorrow morning. I’ll take you to the airport myself, man. ’Cause if you don’t, you’re toast.”

New cash register system.

New floor plan.

New shelving.

New lighting.

Refinished floors.

That night Toni looked at her to-do list—her very long to-do list—and thought she’d have to win every lottery in Colorado to finance all the repairs to Redding’s that were needed. Either that, or invest a whopping load of elbow grease.

Only it would take way more than elbow grease and determination to get Redding’s back up to speed. It would take skills and expertise way beyond what she had. She needed a contractor, and a great one at that.

Her heart sank when an internet search brought up only one local company: Bo’s. She’d already decided every aspect of this overhaul would have to be done as locally as possible. The newfangled Redding’s had to be homegrown. But using Bo?

On the upside, he seemed to have earned the respect of many people in Wander while she was gone. While it might be a mountain of awkward, she’d get an honest price and fair work out of Bo and his partner.

But doing a big job fast and frugal meant she would be logging in long hours alongside Bo. That was a shaky prospect at best. Or an invitation to the world’s longest emotional baggage–laden argument at worst.

If she chose Bo, this would either go very well...or very badly.

She clicked over to the Car-San website from the listing, nearly laughing at the friendly photo of Bo and Jake grinning in front of their truck. Contractors You Can Trust, the caption said.

“Can I trust you to be a grown-up about this?” she asked the image out loud. “Keep things on a professional level? You can be too charming.” She scowled at Bo’s image. “And I’m in a bit of a shaky place at the moment.”

The new Redding’s needed to be locally sourced. Her vision included goods and crafts and art from people right here in the canyon or nearby. The plain truth was that if she gave the renovation job to someone outside the canyon, it would undercut that vision from the start.

There was nothing for it. She had to at least give him a chance to bid on the project. Inhaling a deep breath of clear mountain air—something that still felt like a spectacular privilege after so much New York City grime—Toni typed an email to Car-San Construction asking Bo to meet her at the shop tomorrow.

He could be too busy to take this on, right, Lord? she prayed, even though she knew Bo was the kind of person who would make time to help her out. I’ll take this step, but I’m going to leave the outcome up to You. Nobody else knows if this is a great opportunity or a giant mistake.

The answer came in seven minutes. “For you, I’ll find the time.”

Chapter Three

Peggy gave Bo one of her sisterly looks over coffee and muffins at the Wander Canyon Bakery early the next morning. Peggy’s husband, Carl, was the high school track coach, so mornings were the best time for her to grab a moment away while her two young boys were in school.

“So,” she began in a parental “let’s have a discussion” tone, “you know what weekend it is?”

That was the trouble with older sisters. They never let you get away with anything. “Wow. You made it halfway through your muffin before you brought it up. I figured you would start in the moment we sat down.” He bit into the flaky egg-and-cheese sandwich that made for a heartier breakfast than his usual choice of a bear claw or a muffin. Today he was going to need fortification. Come to think of it, he was going to need fortification for this current conversation.

“Have you seen her yet?”

Seen her? I might be working with her. “We bumped into each other yesterday.”

“And how was that?”

“It wasn’t as awful as I thought it might be.” That was true. Sort of. To say he and Toni hadn’t left off on the best of terms was an understatement. Sure, they’d been head over heels for each other in high school and the summer after, but he should have known how it would end. Toni had always been heading in a different direction than him.

College? New York City? That would never be him, and the strength of what he felt for her would never have been enough to make that work.

Just like what she’d felt for him wasn’t enough to make her stay.

Peggy cleared her throat, and he realized his thoughts had wandered. Again. His concentration had been shot since the moment he’d heard Toni was coming to town. Maybe Jake was right and the only thing for it was to get out of Wander pronto. And permanently, now that she was staying. Of course, that flew in the face of the meeting he was about to go to after breakfast.

“Well, at least she’s only here for this weekend and then for the wedding.”

“Actually...” Bo began, almost wincing at how he knew Peggy would respond to the news he was about to share. Toni had mentioned in her email that she’d gotten her father’s agreement to overhaul the store, which meant he wasn’t bound to his promise of silence anymore.

His sister’s eyes narrowed. “Actually what?”

“She’s taking over the store so that Don can retire.”

Peggy’s expression was a combination of protective and suspicious. “And you know all this how?”

She’d find out soon enough—better Peggy heard it from him than from someone else. “She’s asked me to bid on doing the work on the store.”

“You said no, right? I mean, you can’t if you’re going down to Mom and Dad’s.”

“I can do it and finish before August. I’m heading over there after this to talk to her about it.”

Peggy practically dropped her muffin. “Why on earth would you do that?”

“She asked me to bid on the project. How would it look if I just turned her down without talking to her?”

Peggy sat back. “Like you had a bone of sense in your body.” Mom shouldn’t worry one bit whether he was being mothered while his parents were in Florida. Peggy was filling that role just fine, even if he was twenty-five and didn’t need it.

“It could be an important job for Car-San. I get that the timing—and the customer—are a bit tricky.” He tried a diversionary tactic. “But it’s not a social thing. I’m not even invited to the wedding, so I won’t see her outside of work. If I take the job.” Peggy and Carl were friends with Marilyn Sofitel’s parents, so they were invited, but Bo wasn’t surprised at all to be off the wedding invitation list. He was relieved, in fact.

Peggy would not be diverted. “So come up with another reason to turn it down. We can make up some reason you had to head down to Florida early.” Her eyes softened. “Mom and Dad need your help, and you certainly don’t need to be here.”

“I can’t just leave Jake hanging,” he fibbed. “We have a bunch of jobs to finish up before the fall.” That wasn’t quite true. In fact, there wasn’t much at all stopping him from heading down south as soon as he wanted to. Not that he’d ever tell Peggy that.

“I’ll work on Jake,” Peggy offered. She’d always been a champion meddler.

“Don’t. Just let me work this out on my own, okay?” A huge part of him wanted to see if he could use this job to make things right with Toni. To put right the one thing that had felt out of order in his life for years. And what he’d said about the timing was true. If she really wanted the quick timetable she mentioned in her email, he could do the job, put a better ending on the sad story of their relationship and head to Florida before Labor Day with a clear conscience and a bit more money in the Car-San coffers. It wouldn’t be easy, but maybe he owed it to himself—and Toni—to try.

Peggy leaned in, concern filling her features. “I think it’s a bad idea. You were a mess when Toni left the last time. I don’t want to see you back there.”

“You and Jake both.” He tried to put into words the tangle of emotions Toni’s return had brought up. “I’ll admit, it still stings...to see her, I mean.” Maybe the hurt would soften into the “it was for the best” kind of hurt, but yesterday felt much more like the “girl that got away” kind.

He was glad Peggy didn’t ask him, “Are you over her?” because he didn’t have an answer.

She touched his shoulder. “Be careful, Bo.”

“I’ll have to be, won’t I?”

But could he be?

The truth was that he’d never really gotten over Toni Redding. And the trouble with this job was that it stood the very real chance of pulling that heartbreak out and letting it shred him from the inside all over again.

This is a second chance to put the right ending on everything.

At least that’s what Bo told himself as he walked the short distance down Wander Canyon’s Main Street from the bakery to Redding’s General Store. He believed Toni’s arrival back in town wasn’t just coincidence. He wanted to believe that God had opened a door for redemption with her.

Of course, it was just as likely this job would give him a second chance to wreck it all. Toni could make him crazy in ways no woman ever had or probably ever would. He’d never been able to shake the belief that they belonged together. Her being back here, needing something from him, now...there had to be a reason for it. At the very least, he could show her that the man he’d become wasn’t the same boy she’d left years ago.

Play it cool, he told himself. Keep it professional. He’d half considered bringing Jake with him, but Jake’s lack of tact was too much of a minefield in this particular circumstance. No, this meeting was best kept between himself and Toni.

Their long history seemed to hang in the air between them as Toni pulled open the store’s front door.

“Right on time,” she said, one eyebrow raised in slight amusement. He hadn’t exactly been known for punctuality back in the day. “And with coffee, too.”

As an extra olive branch, Bo had brought coffee from the Wander Canyon Bakery—cream and two sugars for hers. He knew how she took her coffee, just as she knew his favorite pizza came from Cuccio’s down on Garden Avenue. So much history.

“I was having breakfast with Peggy,” he explained, not wanting it to look like he’d gone out of his way to please her.

“How is your sister?” Bo took it as a good sign that she asked about his family.

“Great. She has two five-year-old boys now.” He shrugged. “Just call me Uncle Bo.”

Toni offered a smile at that but seemed to shut it down quickly. She straightened her shoulders. “Where do you want to start?” He didn’t know how to react to the slight touch of unsteadiness in her voice. It was understandable, he supposed, given the amount of raw ground between them. Most—but not all—of that was his doing. It wasn’t going to be crossed overnight. He wasn’t sure it could be crossed at all.

“Anywhere you want. I’m ready if you are.” If he knew Toni—and he did—she’d have the entire renovation all planned out in her head already, with a long list of details. Probably even sketches. It was best to let her run this meeting.

She led him through the cluttered aisles toward the back of the store. “I’m afraid it’s going to be a big job. There’s a lot I want to do.” Even though uncertainty clipped the edges of her words, Toni’s voice had gained a depth and texture that suited her.

“I like a challenge.”

They arrived at a table strewn with papers and sketches. “It’s important to me that everything stays as local as possible. Vendors, supplies, materials—I want to keep Redding’s a Wander icon.”

Bo forced his attention to her detailed notes as she walked him through the long list of upgrades and renovations she had in mind. It was a clever mix of modern technology and convenience wrapped up in the classic, rustic Redding’s atmosphere. Brand-new lighting sunk into old and weathered wood. Video screens framed in barn wood and gingham. New electric and Wi-Fi. She was knocking down the store’s current maze of narrow aisles in favor of an open floor plan.

“I want it to feel as if my customers are walking into a favorite aunt’s country kitchen.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement when she said my customers. He was right—she’d been born to do this. He’d half expected her to open a store after she went off to that fancy New York school. But then again, he’d expected a lot of things of Toni Redding that hadn’t happened. So what made her not just come home, but move home now? Today definitely wasn’t the time to get into that conversation.

“New logo, too?” he asked, pointing to a set of sketched designs that made use of Redding’s red R—the closest thing the store had to a logo—in clever ways like drawer pulls and such.

“Just some ideas to give a designer I’ve found in Denver.”

These sketches and plans were so specific Bo couldn’t think why she’d need to hire an outside designer. Her vision for the store was as clear as day based on the papers in front of him. And it suited her: the entire project looked and felt like her. All the sophistication of her city life somehow slid back into her country mountain roots. It ought to have clashed, but it didn’t. Actually, he found the whole concept pretty brilliant. She’d always had amazing ideas. He just never liked the idea she got in her head to leave him and all of Wander Canyon behind.