Chapter One
Dear Diary,
My name is Laura Cox. I’m twenty years old and yesterday I fell in love. I’ve had this diary for years and never felt compelled to write in it before now. With this new turn in my life, I have no choice. You’ll be my new best friend and my complete soul mate. So, I'll tell you what has my heart racing. His name is Dean Riley and he’s forty years old. He’s a widow and so sexy, with wide shoulders and a kind face. He has that stubble that men get when they don’t shave for a day or two. At the picnic he sat all by himself and didn’t give anyone the time of day. My parents liked him though, and so do I.
What shall I do? I can’t nurse this crush in the vain hope it will fizzle out. I mean, my heart was racing and you know that down there? Yes, I felt something for the first time. Nothing ever happens in this place. I mean, who would want to spend the rest of their life in Cape Falls? It's a stupid town in the middle of nowhere with old-fashioned views. Women still get married when they get pregnant. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single woman in my life.
Shit, I hear my mum coming.
Laura placed her diary in a box under the bed and pretended to read her college books. Cape Falls didn’t have a college and Laura had to travel about thirty miles to the next town to get to campus, and she hated it. This was the only college her parents would allow her to go. For the rest of her life she’d be expected to live here, in a shitty town, with a shitty job, and a shitty life.
“Baby, are you getting ready for school?” her mother asked as she came through the door without even knocking.
“Mum, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s college. And, yes, I’m ready.”
“College, high school—they’re all the same to me. Come and get some pancakes before you go.”
Laura smiled at her mum and watched her leave. She glanced down at her stomach and wondered when she would ever be able to diet? Didn’t her mum know how many times people called her fat? College may be filled with older people; but they still liked to tease her. She gathered her backpack and the books she’d need for her classes and made her way to the kitchen.
Her dad sat drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
“He looked so lonely,” her mother was saying.
“Sweetheart, the guy has just turned up in town. Let the guy breathe a little,” dad replied.
Laura looked at her younger brother, Tommy, but he shrugged his shoulders and went back to his book.
“Dean Riley has been through hell," her mother continued. "I think we should invite him for dinner and welcome him to Cape Falls.”
Laura's heart rate picked up as she listened intently to what her parents were saying.
“He lost a wife and a kid. He’s been here for about a month and doesn’t speak to anyone,” dad argued.
“He came to the picnic,” Laura said. She always tried to stay out of her parents' arguments, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I don’t want to hear anything more about the guy. Let me eat breakfast and then I’ll take you to school,” her dad replied.
“College,” she shouted. When were her parents going to see her as a grown-up? In the evenings and on weekends she worked at the local diner. Also, she paid rent. Surely this gave her some adult privileges.
“Sorry, college. You know how I struggle to deal with my little girl growing up,” dad told her.
Laura tried not to roll her eyes. Instead, she glanced at her mother and saw the anger flash in her eyes. Shrugging her shoulders, she went back to her pancakes. She didn’t taste them, as with each bite all she could think about was the excess it would cause on her waist.
Before they could drive out of town, they had to drop off her brother. Thank God she didn’t have early classes. Tommy wanted to pick up one of his buddies along the way and Laura spent a great deal of time gazing out of the window.
“So, what does your college look like?” her dad asked.
“You’d know if you ever came inside,” Laura remarked.
When Laura had begun looking at several different colleges to attend, her dad had decided he would only pay for the cheapest, one where she didn’t have a dorm room and came home every day. He wouldn’t even pay for her to have some driving lessons.
They dropped off Tommy and his friend and continued over to the college campus.
“Your mum and I thought you’d have a steady boyfriend by now,” her dad said.
She knew exactly what her dad had thought. If a steady boyfriend was on the scene, she would be barefoot and pregnant, and he wouldn’t have to deal with college expenses.
“Not me. I’m all about the study,” she replied.
“I hope you meet a nice boy one day and won’t be afraid to drop by the house with him.”
Laura nodded and kissed him on the cheek before getting out to go to class.
The grounds were already heaving with students and faculty members. Even though she was in college, the same groups of people still hung together, the jocks who had scholarships and the beauty queens. Everyone had their own unique role.
She didn’t have many days left until the end of the term year, about a month's worth of classes and then she’d be home for the summer, where she’d work her ass off in any job she could get.
The usual people were grouped together and she knew she would find her small group of friends in the library. It was insane the way they segregated themselves. Keeping her head bent down, she made her way through the throng of bodies.
“So, the eldest nerd has come back to play?” Laura tensed and looked into the eyes of Peter Miller, the guy who tormented her in high school and who had decided to stick around for college. Plus, he was a total asshole.
“Get out of my way,” she told him. Just figures, she thought, that her last month would end in a confrontation with a guy she despised.
“Why would I do that?” he asked, then laughed.
God, she hated him. She hated him more than she hated pancakes.
“Because your little group is missing its daddy and doesn’t know what to do without your male superiority," she said sarcastically. "Oh, I forgot, you probably don’t know the meaning of half those words.” She charged past him; but he grabbed hold of her arm, stopping her progress.
“I don’t think you’re funny,” he warned before letting her go.
Laura glared at him and continued up the steps to get into the campus' main hall. Castle Ridge College was the only campus to take some of Cape Falls' student body. Laura didn’t bother going to the library. She decided her best option would be to get everything ready so that when campus closed at the end of the month she wouldn’t need to wait around for anything.
For most of the day her mind was plagued by one man and one man alone,Dean Riley.
* * * *
Peter Miller watched her walk away from him. He cursed his own bad attitude and walked back to where his best friends were waiting. Laura Cox had become a thorn in his side ever since their last year of school. He had been the most popular guy in their class and yet he’d yearned for the school’s biggest nerd.