Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

“I love your optimism.”

I smiled. “Sometimes it’s all I’ve got.”

The idea forming in my mind wasn’t so much a plan—that sounded too organized—as a loose concept. But I was confident it would work. We needed to make the Tribune unique, offering Tilikum residents something they couldn’t get elsewhere. Otherwise, the readership was going to keep declining and eventually, it would have to close. Lou meant well, but he was too set in his ways. Too stuck to see the possibilities.

So I’d have to show him.

Which meant I needed to get some great photos and interview a few interesting people.

I left Sandra and set off on my journalistic quest. The games were an obvious place to start. I took photos of the log pull and got some great shots of the women’s archery competition.

In between photography sessions, I focused on simply talking to people. Who were they and why had they come to the festival? What was their favorite event? Had they found any unexpected treasures in the market?

I talked to a family of five who didn’t live in Tilikum anymore but brought their kids to the festival every year. It was one of the highlights of their summer. I talked to an elderly gentleman who’d lived in Tilikum his entire life and told me all about the feud that had once existed between the Haven and Bailey families. I chatted with a group of firefighters, with an older woman named Mavis who clearly loved looking at said firefighters, and a recent high school graduate who’d decided to stay in town and attend Tilikum College in the fall.

After stopping to take a bunch of notes in my phone—I had so many ideas—I walked to the other side of the park, toward where I’d left my car. I had plenty of material for an article about the festival, as well as some ideas for making it, and the Tribune as a whole, more interesting for locals.

The strange tingly feeling hit me again, like I’d just been touched on the back. My heart rate kicked up and I cast a wary glance over my shoulder.

Was that Colin?

As soon as I looked, a group of people walked in front of him, blocking him from view. Had it been him? I’d only seen him for a second, so I couldn’t be sure. But it had looked a lot like him, and whoever it was, he’d been facing my direction.

Was Colin here, watching me?

The people walked past, and the man was gone.

A shiver ran down my spine. I kept looking around, but I didn’t see Colin among the crowd. The park was teeming with people, but no one seemed to be paying attention to me.

Maybe it had been my imagination. Colin had a sort of generic businessman look to him. It could have been someone else and I was jumping to conclusions.

I figured I could blame my childhood. My parents had been so concerned with our image, they’d drilled a certain amount of wariness into me whenever I was in public. That was probably what was making me jumpy now.

The ghost of my father still loomed over my life.

I kept walking. It was a reminder of why I’d left my hometown. Why I’d been so determined never to come back.

But this wasn’t Pinecrest. People here didn’t know, or care about, Audrey Young, daughter of Darryl and Patrice. I was just Audrey, the new girl who worked for the newspaper.

Plus, I had a date with Josiah Haven tonight. That was enough to chase away the unsettled feeling trying to worm its way through me.

July 5th

I hate seeing her happy.

Hate it.

Seeing her at all twists my gut with anger but seeing her happy makes it so much worse. She’s always happy. Always with that fucking smile. Because no matter what, her life is great. It’s perfect.

Always better than mine.

Maybe I shouldn’t have taken those pictures. But now that I have them, I can’t stop staring at them. She’s on her tiptoes, reaching up to kiss that hairy Neanderthal mountain man. I don’t know what she sees in him and I don’t really care.

I just hate seeing her so fucking happy.

I have to do something about that. She came here. She’s the one who came back. Everything was fine before. I don’t want her here. Can’t stand it.

I need to make her leave. She needs to go.