From the New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne
comes a
brand-new novel for fans of Debbie Macomber and Susan Wiggs. RaeAnne Thayne
tells the story of an emotional homecoming that brings hope and healing to
three generations of women.
Title: The Sea Glass Cottage
Author: RaeAnne Thayne
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: 17th March 2020
BLURB supplied by Harlequin Books
The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy
these days. The 16-hour work days are unfulfilling and so are things with her
on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet,
has been seriously injured in a car accident, Liv has no choice but to pack up
her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California
coast.
It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.
As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.
It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.
As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.
PURCHASE LINKS
EXCERPT
1
Olivia
Olivia shoved her hands into her pockets against the damp
Seattle afternoon. Nothing would take the chill from her bones, though. She
knew that. Even five days of sick leave, huddling in her bed and mindlessly
bingeing on cooking shows hadn’t done anything but make her crave cake.
She couldn’t hide away in her apartment forever. Eventually
she was going to have to reenter life and go back to work, which was why she
stood outside this coffee shop in a typical spring drizzle with her heart
pounding and her stomach in knots.
This was stupid. The odds of anything like that happening to
her again were ridiculously small. She couldn’t let one man battling mental
illness and drug abuse control the rest of her life.
She could do this.
She reached out to pull the door open, but before she could
make contact with the metal handle, her cell phone chimed from her pocket.
She knew instantly from the ringtone it was her best friend
from high school, who still lived in Cape Sanctuary with her three children.
Talking to Melody was more important than testing her resolve
by going into the Kozy Kitchen right now, she told herself. She answered the
call, already heading back across the street to her own apartment.
“Mel,” she answered, her voice slightly breathless from the
adrenaline still pumping through her and from the stairs she was racing up two
at a time. “I’m so glad you called.”
Glad didn’t come close to covering the extent of her
relief. She really hadn’t wanted to go into that coffee shop. Not yet. Why
should she make herself? She had coffee at home and could have groceries
delivered when she needed them.
“You know why I’m calling, then?” Melody asked, a strange note
in her voice.
“I know it’s amazing to hear from you. You’ve been on my
mind.”
She was not only a coward but a lousy friend. She hadn’t
checked in with Melody in a few weeks, despite knowing her friend was going
through a life upheaval far worse than witnessing an attack on someone else.
As she unlocked her apartment, the cutest rescue dog in the
world, a tiny, fluffy cross between a Chihuahua and a miniature poodle, gyrated
with joy at the sight of her.
Yet another reason she didn’t have to leave. If she needed
love and attention, she only had to call her dog and Otis would come running.
She scooped him up and let him lick her face, already feeling
some of her anxiety calm.
“I was thinking how great it would be if you and the boys
could come up and stay with me for a few days when school gets out for the
summer,” she said now to Melody. “We could take the boys to the Space Needle,
maybe hop the ferry up to the San Juans and go whale watching. They would love
it. What do you think?”
The words seemed to be spilling out of her, too fast. She was
babbling, a weird combination of relief that she hadn’t had to face that coffee
shop and guilt that she had been wrapped up so tightly with her own life that
she hadn’t reached out to a friend in need.
“My apartment isn’t very big,” she went on without waiting for
an answer. “But I have an extra bedroom and can pick up some air beds for the
boys. They’ve got some really comfortable ones these days. I’ve got a friend
who says she stayed on one at her sister’s house in Tacoma and slept better
than she does on her regular mattress. I’ve still got my car, though I hardly
drive it in the city, and the boys would love to meet Otis. Maybe we could even
drive to Olympic National Park, if you wanted.”
“Liv. Stop.” Melody cut her off. “Though that all sounds
amazing and I’m sure the boys would love it, we can talk about that later. You
have no idea why I called, do you?”
“I… Why did you call?”
Melody was silent for a few seconds. “I’m afraid there’s been
an accident,” she finally said.
The breath ran out of Olivia like somebody had popped one of
those air mattresses with a bread knife.
“Oh no. Is it one of your boys?” Oh please, she prayed.
Don’t let it be one of the boys.
Melody had been through enough over the past three months,
since her jerkhole husband ran off with one of his high school students.
“No, honey. It’s not my family. It’s yours.”
Her words seemed to come from far away and it took a long time
for them to pierce through.
No. Impossible.
Fear rushed back in, swamping her like a fast-moving tide. She
sank blindly onto the sofa.
“Is it Caitlin?”
“It’s not your niece. Stop throwing out guesses and just let
me tell you. It’s your mom. Before you freak out, let me just say, first of
all, she’s okay, from what I understand. I don’t have all the details but I do
know she’s in the hospital, but she’s okay. It could have been much worse.”
Her mom. Olivia tried to picture Juliet lying in a hospital
bed and couldn’t quite do it. Juliet Harper didn’t have time to be in a
hospital bed. She was always hurrying somewhere, either next door to Sea Glass
Cottage to the garden center the Harper family had run in Cape Sanctuary for
generations or down the hill to town to help a friend or to one of Caitlin’s
school events.
“What happened?”
“She had a bad fall and suffered a concussion and I think some
broken bones.”
Olivia’s stomach twisted. A concussion. Broken bones. Oh man.
“Fell where? Off one of the cliffs near the garden center?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know all the details yet. This just
happened this morning and it’s still early for the gossip to make all the rounds
around town. I assumed you already knew. That Caitlin or someone would have
called you. I was only checking in to see how I can help.”
This morning. She glanced at her watch. Her mother had been in
an accident hours earlier and Olivia was just finding out about it now, in late
afternoon.
Someone should have told her—if not Juliet herself, then, as
Melody said, at least Caitlin.
Given their recent history, it wasn’t particularly surprising
that her niece, raised by Olivia’s mother since she was a baby, hadn’t bothered
to call. Olivia wasn’t Caitlin’s favorite person right now. These days, during
Olivia’s regular video chats with her mother, Caitlin never popped in to say hi
anymore. At fifteen, Caitlin was abrasive and moody and didn’t seem to like
Olivia much, for reasons she didn’t quite understand.
“I’m sure someone tried to reach me but my phone has been
having trouble,” she lied. Her phone never had trouble. She made sure it was
always in working order, since so much of her freelance business depended on
her clients being able to reach her and on her being able to Tweet or post
something on the fly.
“I’m glad I checked in, then.”
“Same here. Thank you.”
Several bones broken and a long recovery. Oh dear. That would
be tough on Juliet, especially this time of year when the garden center always
saw peak business.
“Thank you for telling me. Is she in the hospital there in
Cape Sanctuary or was she taken to one of the bigger cities?”
“I’m not sure. I can call around for you, if you want.”
“I’ll find out. You have enough to worry about.”
“Keep me posted. I’m worried about her. She’s a pretty great
lady, that mom of yours.”
Olivia shifted, uncomfortable as she always was when others
spoke about her mother to her. Everyone loved her, with good reason. Juliet was
warm, gracious, kind to just about everyone in their beachside community of
Cape Sanctuary.
Which made Olivia’s own awkward, tangled relationship with her
mother even harder to comprehend.
“Will you be able to come home for a few days?”
Home. How could she go home when she couldn’t even walk into
the coffee shop across the street?
“I don’t know. I’ll have to see what’s going on there.”
How could she possibly travel all the way to Northern California?
A complicated mix of emotions seemed to lodge like a tangled ball of yarn in
her chest whenever she thought about her hometown, which she loved and hated in
equal measures.
The town held so much guilt and pain and sorrow. Her father
was buried there and so was her sister. Each room in Sea Glass Cottage stirred
like the swirl of dust motes with memories of happier times.
Olivia hadn’t been back in more than a year. She kept meaning
to make a trip but something else always seemed to come up. She usually went
for the holidays at least, but the previous year she’d backed out of even that
after work obligations kept her in Seattle until Christmas Eve and a storm had
made last-minute travel difficult. She had spent the holiday with friends
instead of with her mother and Caitlin and had felt guilty that she had enjoyed
it much more than the previous few when she had gone home.
She couldn’t avoid it now, though. A trip back to Cape Sanctuary
was long overdue, especially if her mother needed her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling
author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah
mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors,
including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career
Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear
from readers and can be reached through her
website at www.raeannethayne.com.
AUTHOR LINKS
Twitter @RaeAnneThayne
Facebook AuthorRaeAnneThayne
Instagram @RaeAnneThayne
