When best friends Jamie Eckert and Derek Duran realized they were in love, they took their relationship to the next level. But then Derek's budding music career took off, and so did Derek. Twenty years later, Jamie still lives in the small town of Ashbury, Virginia, where he grew up. He's grown up and moved on -- now he owns the family funeral home business and is raising Riley, his precocious six-year-old adopted daughter. But emotions Jamie thought long buried are stirred up again when he gets an early morning removal call. The deceased is Derek's mother and Riley's babysitter, Mrs. Duran. Now Derek's back in town for the funeral, and he turns to Jamie for support ... in more ways than one. Angry at Derek for not keeping in touch, and angrier at himself for still loving the man who left him behind, Jamie is torn between his professional duty and his feelings for Derek. Will he be able to put aside his past with Derek to carry out Mrs. Duran's final wishes? Or is Derek interested in rekindling their relationship after all this time?

Not Another One Hit Wonder

And there’s Taylor, leaning against the side of the hearse with his shirt untucked and his tie loosened, as if he just got off a long night of work. Since my phone doesn’t buzz, I know he isn’t texting me to see where I’m at. Which means he’s goofing off.


I park across the street, and even from here, I can see the wrinkles creasing his pants. He may think he looks cool, with his head full of wavy blond hair he keeps swinging out of his puppy brown eyes, but he’s going to have to shape up if he wants to make it in this business. I don’t care if Eckert’s is the only funeral home in Ashbury and he can’t intern anywhere else for his last year of community college. I’m close to firing him for showing up at a removal so damn disheveled.


He’s playing with his iPhone when I get out of the car, and it holds his attention until I’m practically standing right in front of him. Then he gives me that smarmy grin of his I’m sure the girls all swoon over as he pockets the phone. “Mr. Eckert, hey.”


Chapter 7