You Only (Cameron Farms Book 1) - Melanie Jayne Page 0,1

swelled with love for her dad. He understood her. She nodded.

“I’ll be down in the truck.” He patted her shoulder as he passed.

Hale waited for the door’s lock to catch. She was alone with Finn’s things. She walked to the bedroom doorway and stared at the bed. There had been many good times with Finn. He was a good man, handsome, ambitious and hard working. In the beginning, she’d tried not to fall in love with the young attorney. She was enjoying the summer of her twentieth year, the only child of prominent families. She worked part-time for a local accountant, but she spent her summer hanging out with Jasmine or on the farm.

Finn had pursued her and soon they’d become a couple. An import from California by way of Northwestern Law, he was smart and driven. Handsome, with dark blond hair with golden highlights, and a well-muscled body that was just this side of husky. He was a man’s man. He ran every morning and helped with hay baling on the weekend.

Hale had been flattered that he was interested. She and her best friend were going to marry the next generation of powerful men in Whitleysburg. She had been satisfied with that dream for a while, too satisfied.

She wiped the tears that ran down her cheeks. She walked to the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living room and rested her elbows on the counter. She had spent countless hours trying to pinpoint when the relationship had started to sour. It was easy to blame the Glass case. She had asked Finn not to represent Doug Glass. It had hurt when he ignored her wish and signed on as the lead attorney for the defense.

She pictured Finn standing in the kitchen, dressed in his navy suit with the burgundy tie she had given him, explaining his reasons for taking the case. “Honey, everybody deserves the best counsel that they can buy. I can win this case and then nothing can stop me in this town. I’m doing this for us.”

The resentment burned deep in her belly. No, he’d done it for him. He knew that she’d thought of Mary Jo Glass as a second mother. No matter what story Finn had used to convince the jury, Hale knew that Doug Glass caused his wife to fall down those stairs. Drunk or not, he knew what could happen when you got physical on a steep stairway. The couple had argued after Mary Jo had announced her intent to divorce Doug.

The worst part was that Finn did an excellent job defending his client. He won the case, and Doug Glass walked out of the courthouse a free man.

She shook her head, pushing that hurt away. She pulled the letter from the back pocket of her jeans and laid it on the counter next to Finn’s mail. She’d written trying to explain how she hated the person she’d become. She pictured her housekeeper, Maria, telling her that she was behaving just like her mother—not a compliment, the observation was a slap in the face. After much soul-searching, Hale admitted that she’d been acting entitled, abrasive and demanding, well on the way to being a bitch. She hated that person. She had to change.

She ran her finger around the diamond one last time. She sobbed as she placed the engagement ring next to the letter. Jasmine was right; this would hurt Finn and he wouldn’t understand. However, he was handsome and successful, and he would soon find a replacement for Hale. He would get over her. She placed her set of keys next to the ring.

At the door, she turned and looked at the counter. “You’ll be better off without me, Finn.” She made a swipe at her cheeks, squared her shoulders, and walked through the door for the last time.

Chapter One

April

Hale stood in front of her closet, searching for the right shirt. She pushed hanger after hanger aside. “No, no, no. Christ, what am I going to wear?”

“I don’t know, what are you supposed to wear to a funeral planning meeting?” Ashley dropped into the love seat.

Hale shot her assistant a glare. “I have no idea. That’s the issue.” She pulled out a white linen blouse, then lifted her Led Zeppelin T-shirt over her head. She slipped the blouse on, thrusting her arms through the sleeves and started rolling them up. She looked at Ashley then back at her reflection, gauging her reaction. “This is too plain. Maybe I should