Coming Home to Heritage Cove Read online

  Coming Home

  to

  Heritage Cove

  Helen J Rolfe

  Titles by Helen J Rolfe

  The Friendship Tree

  Handle Me with Care

  In a Manhattan Minute

  The Summer of New Beginnings

  You, Me, and Everything In Between

  Christmas at Snowdrop Cottage

  Magnolia Creek series:

  What Rosie Found Next (book 1)

  The Chocolatier’s Secret (book 2)

  The Magnolia Girls (book 3)

  New York Ever After series:

  Christmas at the Little Knitting Box (book 1)

  Snowflakes and Mistletoe at the Inglenook Inn (book 2)

  Wedding Bells on Madison Avenue (book 3)

  Christmas Miracles at the Little Log Cabin (book 4)

  Christmas Promises at the Garland Street Markets (book 5)

  Moonlight and Mistletoe at the Christmas Wedding (book 6)

  Heritage Cove series:

  Coming Home to Heritage Cove (book 1)

  Orion Publishing - Books written as Helen Rolfe:

  Valentine’s Day at the Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, free short story)

  Spring at the Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, part 1)

  Summer at the Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, part 2)

  Autumn at the Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, part 3)

  Christmas at the Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, part 4)

  The Little Café at the End of the Pier (Pier series, entire collection)

  Summer Nights in Lantern Square (Lantern square series, part 1)

  Falling Leaves in Lantern Square (Lantern square series, part 2)

  Christmas in Lantern Square (Lantern square series, part 3)

  Snowfall in Lantern Square (Lantern square series, part 4)

  The Little Cottage in Lantern Square (Lantern square series, entire collection)

  The Little Village Library

  A Summer Surprise (The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane, part 1)

  An Autumn Promise (The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane, part 2)

  A Winter Wish (The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane, part 3)

  A Christmas Gift (The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane, part 4)

  The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane (entire collection) coming soon

  Copyright © 2020 Helen J Rolfe

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author.

  Helen J Rolfe asserts the right to be identified as the author of this book. All the characters and events in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to individuals is entirely coincidental.

  Titles by Helen J Rolfe

  About the author

  About this book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Coming Soon

  A Letter from Helen

  Helen J Rolfe Books

  Acknowledgements

  About the author

  Before she started writing books, Helen J Rolfe worked in I.T. until she came to her senses and studied journalism and writing. She wrote articles for Women’s Health & Fitness magazines as well as newsletter content and media releases for a not-for-profit organisation. In 2011 the fiction bug bit and Helen has been writing fiction ever since. Helen J Rolfe writes uplifting, contemporary fiction with characters to relate to and fall in love with.

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  www.helenjrolfe.com

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  www.twitter.com/HJRolfe

  www.instagram.com/helen_j_rolfe

  About this book

  Coming Home to Heritage Cove

  Welcome to Heritage Cove, the little village by the sea brimming with character, community and friendship, and the perfect place to fall in love this summer…

  Melissa rushes back to Heritage Cove when Barney, the man who’s been like a father figure to her since she was a little girl, ends up in hospital. After an absence of five years, her return isn’t going to be easy, especially when she bumps into Harvey, the love of her life and the man she’s never been able to forget.

  For reasons he couldn't explain at the time, Harvey changed his mind about going with Melissa to start afresh as they'd planned, and life moved on for the both of them. But with Melissa back in the village and determined to stick around to help Barney, they can't avoid each other forever. Melissa knows she let so many people down by staying away for so long, but she and Harvey blame each other for what happened and neither of them is willing to admit to being in the wrong.

  When Barney insists on cancelling the Wedding Dress Ball, the charity fundraiser he holds every year in the stunning barn on his property, Melissa and Harvey realise they’re going to have to pull together. Otherwise the man they once knew might be gone forever. And when they unearth a secret Barney has never shared with anyone, they go in search of answers to not only ensure the ball runs this summer, but to bring back the Barney they know and love.

  Back in the cove after all this time, Melissa gets to see the life she left behind and it’s time to deal with what it was that drove her away in the first place.

  Beneath the summer sunshine in Heritage Cove, the sea sparkles, the heat rises and new love, reconciliations and the answers to an old love story could bring changes for everyone.

  For my readers…thank you for picking up this book and the others I have written along the way. I hope you enjoy reading the stories as much as I love writing them.

  Chapter One

  Melissa slowed and pulled into the lay-by. The welcome sign for Heritage Cove loomed up ahead and for five long years – unless you counted the time she tried to come back here, lost her nerve and did a one-eighty in her car before driving off again – she’d turned her back on the picturesque village on the east coast of England.

  Until now.

  She looked at the long, straight stretch of road in front of her, which after the sign would bend and curve around to the left. She shut her eyes and wiped the tear that dared to snake down her cheek. She didn’t have to look hard to know that the sign with the village name in loopy writing had at last been replaced. A terrible accident one winter had left the seemingly unbendable metal poles doubled over like trees in the wind, the white steel placard so misshapen that the writing was no longer readable unless you already knew what it should say.

  She stared ahead. The sign might have been mended but her personal scars would never fully heal. One split second and her life had changed for good.

  Head on the steering wheel, she took deep breaths. She could do this. This was Barney, a man as close to a father figure as she would ever have, and she’d come this far. She had to see him, she had to be here for him, although it had been so long she really wouldn’t blame him if he told her to go away.

  Fury rose in her that Harvey hadn’t elaborated on Barney’s condition in his email. Harvey had been a constant in Melissa’s life ever since they were kids, they’d fallen in love somewhere along the line, but then it had all gone to pieces.
His email had come right out of the blue and its sketchy details had only sent her into a panic. Ever since she’d read it, all kinds of scenarios had been whirling around in her head, everything from Barney having heart failure after an operation following a fall to getting an infection – anything that could take him away from her for good and make her realise she’d left it too late to come. But protecting herself from hurt before it could happen was the only way Melissa knew how to deal with life. She couldn’t explain it to anyone else, she didn’t always understand it herself.

  A knock on the car window made her jump but she didn’t recognise the woman on the other side. Thank goodness, she wasn’t ready to tackle the inevitable conflict she would surely face from the people she’d left behind in Heritage Cove and completely lost touch with.

  ‘Are you all right?’ the woman asked when Melissa opened her window. She had to raise her voice over the din of a combine harvester as it passed, taking up more than its fair share of the road.

  ‘I’m fine, just needed a minute.’ In her wing mirror Melissa spotted the jeep the woman was driving. Practical for some of the surrounding farmland, that was for sure.

  ‘It’s warmer today than usual, I have some water in my car if you need a drink.’ Dead-straight hair the colour of spun gold reached down to her waist and looked at odds with her dungarees, covered in black dirt and dust.

  ‘Thanks, but I have some.’ She patted the bottle poking out of her bag. ‘And perhaps you’re right, the weather may have caught me out. I really should know better.’

  ‘Are you looking for somewhere in particular? Or just visiting?’

  ‘I’m visiting, and I know exactly where I am.’

  ‘You know the village?’

  ‘I do.’ At one point she would never have thought she’d leave Heritage Cove, population approximately seven hundred. The village hadn’t suffered the curse of being surrounded by new housing estates, it maintained its beautiful fabric of grassland and farmland, country roads weaving in and out of the village, lanes sprouting off at intervals taking you to hidden parts. Heritage Cove had always had a feel of seclusion even though it wasn’t all that far from major road links – although a journey could take five times as long as expected if you were unfortunate enough to be stuck behind a farm vehicle. ‘Do you live here?’ Melissa asked the woman.

  ‘I work in Heritage Cove,’ she smiled, ‘but I live in Southwold. You know it?’

  ‘Southwold is a lovely place. I spent many summers there as a kid.’ Beautiful beach huts, each one unique, were iconic to the area, its pier and tea rooms a childhood memory Melissa had always cherished. Majestic houses looking out across the sea had set her imagination running riot over who lived there, who got to walk on the sands every day. She could remember her mum calling after her as she tore down the planks of the pier to catch the half-hourly pee-show whereby water was pumped from a well to the top of the clock before a pair of iron sculptured boy figures dropped their trousers and peed into the depths below. The fountains had made Melissa and older brother, Billy, laugh every single time and the novelty had never worn off.

  ‘What brings you here?’ The woman’s voice interrupted her special memories rising to the surface.

  ‘I lived here once upon a time.’

  ‘Ah, then you’ll know Fred Gilbertson.’

  ‘The blacksmith, of course. He’s still around?’ From what she remembered he was well into retirement age when she lived here.

  ‘He’s been unwell so I’ve been helping out with his business while he takes time out.’

  ‘I hope he’s better soon.’

  ‘I’m sure he will be. I can pass on my regards if you like. Who should I say they’re from?’

  ‘Melissa,’ she smiled. ‘And please do.’

  ‘Nice to meet you, Melissa, I’m Lucy. Where are you staying?’

  ‘At the Heritage Inn.’ Relieved it was no longer owned by the Parsons, she could at least retain some anonymity there. She could hide out, commute from here to the hospital, and when Barney was home she’d be on hand to see him properly. She owed him that much after being absent for so long. And who knows, perhaps she’d get by without too many people taking much of an interest in her. After all, her hair had toned down to auburn rather than fiery red now she was in her early thirties and she no longer had the harsh fringe and high ponytail she’d once favoured either. At work she wound it up and out of the way but at home she wore it the same way as now – long, loose and wavy, cascading around her shoulders. Her boyfriend, Jay, often commented on how soft her hair was; she always laughed and told him it was the salon shampoo she spent a small fortune on. She certainly hadn’t used that in Heritage Cove. A lot of things, big and small, had changed since then.

  ‘Enjoy your visit to the Cove. I’ll see you around, I hope.’ Lucy smiled and went back to her jeep.

  The Cove…Melissa hadn’t heard anyone say that in a long while. It was a local nickname for the village and she’d put it out of her mind along with everything else until her sudden return, which had come out of the blue just as she’d always suspected it would.

  She sipped her water to make sure she didn’t add dehydration to her problems and when Lucy went on her way Melissa tried to psych herself up to drive on too. But a line of four horses leisurely trotting past and towards Heritage Cove kept her in the lay-by a little longer and she turned to thinking about how everything had flipped on its axis over the last thirty-six hours.

  Yesterday morning she’d been at the airport having just flown in with the rest of the cabin crew on their flight from Dubai to London Heathrow.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she had apologised to a colleague who almost bumped into her as he tried to pass her in the passenger boarding bridge. Eager to meet up with Jay in the terminal when he came in on a different flight, she’d been wheeling her case with one hand while checking her messages and emails on her phone with the other. And the name in her inbox had stopped her in her tracks. Harvey. It took her a moment to grasp the fact that after five years without a phone call, message or email, the man she’d once considered the love of her life was making contact.

  She read Harvey’s words a couple of times before she carried on walking. Short and to the point, the email was about Barney, the man who was like another father to the both of them. He’d had a fall, he was in hospital, and that was all it said.

  Jay was in the waiting area at the gate already. ‘Good flight?’ she asked as she felt the warmth of his arms around her briefly.

  ‘Shaky landing but touched down an hour ago. I’ve been reading the paper while waiting for you.’ He kissed her fleetingly, enough for a work environment.

  How was she supposed to break the news that after finally aligning their schedules so they had a whole week off work together, she had to travel back to the village he’d never once visited? It was the part of her she kept hidden from Jay – not that anything was a secret, more that moving on had meant closing the door on a time in her life that hadn’t been easy to bear.

  In one of the windows that looked out over the tarmac she caught sight of their reflection as they walked, pilot and flight attendant who’d been together for over four years and would soon announce their engagement. A couple of weeks ago in one of their favourite Italian restaurants Jay had asked her to marry him, she’d agreed without hesitation, and now all they needed was a ring to seal the deal.

  ‘How was your flight?’ he asked as they walked their way down the long halls, the familiar route they’d trod hundreds if not thousands of times.

  ‘Straightforward,’ she said. ‘Always a good thing. Especially after last week.’

  The previous week she’d had an irate passenger who’d thrown a drink at the man in the seat next to her, except most of the red wine went over Melissa’s uniform as she was walking past. Another flight attendant had cautioned the passenger, who later apologised to Melissa – lover’s spat, apparently – but soon after they’d calmed that incident down they’d had a ba
by with a worryingly high temperature who would need medical attention the second they landed, and shortly after that they’d hit some turbulence that saw a passenger fall and twist his knee.

  As she walked next to Jay now, smiling at other cabin crew passing in the opposite direction, Melissa knew she’d done well to keep her pain buried deep all this time and not dwell on Heritage Cove or anyone there. These days she always looked together and unflappable, particularly at work in her charcoal uniform, the tailored dress that had a touch of sophistication added with a turquoise neck scarf to keep away the draught circulating constantly on flights no matter what class you chose to sit in. Looking immaculate, holding things together, was part of the job, what she’d trained for. She wished it was as easy to have that control in your personal life because at work, nothing could get in the way. It didn’t matter whether you were tired, or had a headache, or felt anything less than one hundred per cent, flight attendants had an image to portray. It didn’t matter if the aircraft was struck with sudden turbulence, you couldn’t show your fear – even though she’d had enough moments where she’d been terrified it would be her last flight. Her job was to smile, to comfort, to aid her passengers as though nothing got to her, as though the minutiae of everyday life didn’t affect her in the same way as it did them. But nothing could be further from the truth. She was only glad Harvey’s email hadn’t come when she was in Dubai, before she’d returned on the flight and had to do her job, that she’d read it only after she’d seen passengers safely off the aircraft and had finished up, ready for what Jay still believed was a bit of holiday time together.

  A little old lady stopped and asked the way to baggage claim, directing her question to Jay. Melissa was used to it, because Jay did wear a pilot’s uniform exceptionally well. The classic, double-breasted dark suit with creases in the fronts of the trousers that daren’t steer off course, the four gold stripes on his jacket sleeves and the cap with the airline’s emblem covering neatly cropped ebony hair made him appealing to plenty of women.