NO PLACE LIKE HOME
DIANE LEYNE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter 1
It felt like she’d been driving forever, but it had really only been less than two hours. Cassie’s ancient SUV ate up the miles, bringing her closer and closer to home. Cassie hadn’t been home in more than seven years. She’d left at eighteen to go to university and had never come back, not even to see her parents. Of course, they’d left the week after her. They’d seen her off to school and sold the house and left a week later for early retirement in Arizona.
Cassie loved her folks. And she couldn’t begrudge them their move. Her mom’s arthritis had gotten progressively worse in the damp northwest, making it harder and harder for her to paint. So her dad had retired from the high-power law firm he was partner in, and they’d gone south. All of her school holidays had been spent in Scottsdale with them. Of course, her dad hadn’t been able to relax and play golf for long. He now had a thriving part-time legal aid practice, and he loved it. And her mom’s arthritis was reduced to the occasional twinge, and she was painting better than ever.
And now Cassie was going home to Hope to help her best friend Annie Lansing run Abigail’s Flowers now that Miss Abigail had retired and the business was just too much work for Annie, now that she was expecting baby number three.
No, the move was the right thing for them, and the right thing for her. She felt her face redden when she thought of that last summer in Hope. She’d spent her days working in Abigail’s Flowers and Nursery, like she’d done every summer and after school since she could remember. She loved flowers and plants and making them grow and thrive. She’d been fascinated visiting the nursery for the first time to get a Christmas tree with her family when she was only four. She’d declared right on the spot that she was going to work there when she grew up. Miss Abigail laughed and said that she’d have a job waiting but she was welcome to visit any time. And visit she did. Every time she went to town with her mother, she always visited the flower shop, and it was there, when she was eleven, that she met Annie. Annie was Miss Abigail’s granddaughter. She had come to live with her grandmother after her widowed father was transferred to London. He’d be working twelve-hour days setting up the new office, so it was decided that Annie would stay with her grandmother until things settled down in London.
She had two older brothers, Jackson and Markus, twins, although they didn’t look like it, who had just started university, so Cassie barely saw them, and they chose to spend their summers in London, working in their father’s office and chasing English girls. Annie’s father came back to Hope for Christmas and a couple of times during the year. Annie visited him twice a year, and once, during March Break, Cassie went with her. London was amazing, but Cassie was happy to get back to Hope.
Together they went after school to the nursery to help Abigail. Cassie learned about watering and pruning and propagating and loved all things to do with plants. She had a natural green thumb. Annie, on the other hand, could kill a plant just by looking at it, it seemed, and while she helped with the watering, mostly she kept to the other chores like tidying up and dealing with the customers. Cassie loved it. She even spent her allowance buying up every book she could find on plants and haunted all of the local book stores including the secondhand bookstores, spending all of her allowance on books about plants.
It was a very happy few years. Annie’s dad came back as often as his firm would let him, and after three years overseas, transferred back to the Seattle office. But Annie loved Hope and stayed with her grandmother, seeing her father on weekends. She didn’t see much of her brothers. They were seven years older, and never had time for a little kid, so she didn’t
DIANE LEYNE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter 1
It felt like she’d been driving forever, but it had really only been less than two hours. Cassie’s ancient SUV ate up the miles, bringing her closer and closer to home. Cassie hadn’t been home in more than seven years. She’d left at eighteen to go to university and had never come back, not even to see her parents. Of course, they’d left the week after her. They’d seen her off to school and sold the house and left a week later for early retirement in Arizona.
Cassie loved her folks. And she couldn’t begrudge them their move. Her mom’s arthritis had gotten progressively worse in the damp northwest, making it harder and harder for her to paint. So her dad had retired from the high-power law firm he was partner in, and they’d gone south. All of her school holidays had been spent in Scottsdale with them. Of course, her dad hadn’t been able to relax and play golf for long. He now had a thriving part-time legal aid practice, and he loved it. And her mom’s arthritis was reduced to the occasional twinge, and she was painting better than ever.
And now Cassie was going home to Hope to help her best friend Annie Lansing run Abigail’s Flowers now that Miss Abigail had retired and the business was just too much work for Annie, now that she was expecting baby number three.
No, the move was the right thing for them, and the right thing for her. She felt her face redden when she thought of that last summer in Hope. She’d spent her days working in Abigail’s Flowers and Nursery, like she’d done every summer and after school since she could remember. She loved flowers and plants and making them grow and thrive. She’d been fascinated visiting the nursery for the first time to get a Christmas tree with her family when she was only four. She’d declared right on the spot that she was going to work there when she grew up. Miss Abigail laughed and said that she’d have a job waiting but she was welcome to visit any time. And visit she did. Every time she went to town with her mother, she always visited the flower shop, and it was there, when she was eleven, that she met Annie. Annie was Miss Abigail’s granddaughter. She had come to live with her grandmother after her widowed father was transferred to London. He’d be working twelve-hour days setting up the new office, so it was decided that Annie would stay with her grandmother until things settled down in London.
She had two older brothers, Jackson and Markus, twins, although they didn’t look like it, who had just started university, so Cassie barely saw them, and they chose to spend their summers in London, working in their father’s office and chasing English girls. Annie’s father came back to Hope for Christmas and a couple of times during the year. Annie visited him twice a year, and once, during March Break, Cassie went with her. London was amazing, but Cassie was happy to get back to Hope.
Together they went after school to the nursery to help Abigail. Cassie learned about watering and pruning and propagating and loved all things to do with plants. She had a natural green thumb. Annie, on the other hand, could kill a plant just by looking at it, it seemed, and while she helped with the watering, mostly she kept to the other chores like tidying up and dealing with the customers. Cassie loved it. She even spent her allowance buying up every book she could find on plants and haunted all of the local book stores including the secondhand bookstores, spending all of her allowance on books about plants.
It was a very happy few years. Annie’s dad came back as often as his firm would let him, and after three years overseas, transferred back to the Seattle office. But Annie loved Hope and stayed with her grandmother, seeing her father on weekends. She didn’t see much of her brothers. They were seven years older, and never had time for a little kid, so she didn’t