What more did a man need? Jeff exhaled as he surveyed the slowly darkening sky. He loved fall, especially when it actually lasted for a few weeks before winter kicked down its rickety door. In Cedar Hollow, that was never a certainty. They’d been lucky so far. October had been absolutely gorgeous with sunny, crisp days that hinted at long nights curled under thick duvets while fires crackled in the hearth. He didn’t have a duvet or a hearth. But he sure as hell had the long nights and he recorded every nuance of the cold. It had settled inside him, remaining even in the face of the most persistent sunshine. As much as he loved the fall, no towering pile of colorful leaves or wisp of wood smoke in the air could chip it away. October ninth. Almost a year since he’d done something completely crazy. Nosing into Daisy’s business had been one thing. But going so far as to grab his sister’s boyfriend’s phone and texting his wife—estranged or not, she was the man’s wife—then meeting with her, talking to her, sleeping with her… Falling for her.
