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

The drive to Mrs. Duran’s is a familiar one—it should be, I made it every day for years to pick Riley up on my way home from work. This past week, I caught myself signaling to turn down her street sometimes, even with Riley in the car, instead of taking the shorter route home and bypassing Mrs. Duran’s altogether.


I wonder if I should warn Riley that that’s where we’re going. Some kids might be scared going to a house where someone died, but Riley isn’t one of them. She’s a lot like I was at her age. Death is all in a day’s work when your father’s a funeral director.


But Riley recognizes the street when I turn down it. When I pass the intersection where I normally turn to go home, Riley turns in her booster seat, keeping the streetlights in view. “Daddy, are we going to Mrs. Duran’s?”


I glance at her in the rearview mirror. “Would that be okay?”


Chapter 25