Home Sweet Home: Three Creeks, Montana

By Merri Maywether

Was it a coincidence or fate when Hannah bumped into Keane?

 

Hannah knew the day would come but still wasn't ready. Her son Marcus moved to Great Falls with his fiancée. She has an empty nest and isn't sure where her life is headed. When her best friend, Abigail Cahill, plans her own wedding, Hannah decides the time has come for her to try dating.  When she enters the dating game, she learns the rules have changed. 

 

Widower, Keane Barnesworth, knows a thing or two about relationships. As the owner of a pub in a historic building on Main Street, he's talked many of Three Creek's happily married men through the highs and lows of marriage. His best friend Donovan just married, and Kent's wedding is around the corner. 

 

Thanks to Abigail and Kent's wedding, Hannah and Keane are thrown together, and an unusual friendship is formed. When they spend time together, Hannah shows Keane what he has been missing, and Keane teaches Hannah to avoid men like him. 

 

Things get interesting in Three Creeks when Keane is tasked with the challenge of convincing Hannah to give him the chance he may not deserve.

 

Home Sweet Home is a small town, feel-good, love story that shows the road to redemption never looks like what we expect, but that doesn't make the journey any less sweet. 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Merri Maywether
• Release date: Oct 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386858492

Merri Maywether

Twenty years ago, Merri Maywether went on a date with a very sweet man from Montana. Three weeks later they were engaged and they have lived happily ever after. This is Merri taking over the biography section...When I write my romance novels, the characters are the people that I see on a day to day basis. Up here in what I like to call the far, far north, people work hard, live fiercely, and love knowing that they have a community of people behind them. We support each other through the hardships and celebrate the victories. The best part...similar to the characters in my stories, at the end of a long day or a rough week we have stories to share for the years to come.

Book preview

SMALL TOWN STORIES

Finding Love After Friendship

Second Chance Romance

Homecoming Romance

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Hannah and Keane’s story starts on the next page.

1

COFFEE KLATCH

It had been over twenty-five years since Hannah Thorne dated. With the help of her friends, the dry spell was about to end. The five friends, Abigail, Katie, Mariah, Dina, and Hannah, sat close enough together on the corner of Hannah's faux suede sectional to read through the online profiles of the men she found interesting.

Mariah, who wore a pink paisley tunic with gray leggings, was the one who convinced Hannah to accept the help from her friends.

Abigail, who had been recently engaged, served as the reminder that there was hope for women in their early forties.

Dina, the wine expert, offered candid wisdom that came from listening in on her husband’s fantasy football events.

Katie, the other single woman in the group, was there to learn from Hannah’s experience.

Wine and chips with salsa nourished them as they discussed the pros and cons of every man the dating program matched to Hannah. When they completed Hannah’s wish list, bright-eyed and the youngest of the group, Katie insisted they look for more. Her messy brown braid waved when she bobbed her head for emphasis. Just in case the ones you have don't work out.

Abigail, a professional excursion coordinator, began the primer to dating. She pushed back the singular long streak of silver hair behind her ear. The streak contrasted the rest of her dark brown hair and gave her an edgier look than the other friends. I know we trust everybody here. But the world outside Three Creeks is different. Never tell these men where you live.

Hannah didn't agree with the directive but wrote it on her notepad anyway. How are they supposed to pick me up for the date? This was getting to be a more arduous task than she intended. She began to wonder if she should take up knitting, buy a cat, and call it good.

You don't want a serial killer knowing where you live. Meet him someplace public.

The two who were married joined the conversation. Your sex life is none of our business. Dina shook her head as though she were trying to erase an image. She pushed aside the strip of auburn hair that didn’t reach the ponytail holder. Especially if you go out with someone we know.

Hannah expected, don't kiss on the first date or don't have sex until he puts the wedding band on your finger. She was too embarrassed to say that she didn’t remember how to do what Dina implied. The information sent her mind into a whirlwind that had her reconsidering dating.

Don’t take it personally if a guy ghosts you. Mariah rolled her eyes. The motion was enough to wave her conservative ponytail, accessorized with a bright pink scrunchie. There was no way anyone would lose Mariah, who loved to wear bright colors in a crowd. That's their newest stunt.

Hannah grinned at the irony. The most visible one mentioned the hiding. She wrote, Men are ghosts. She tapped her pencil to her lip. I don't know what that means.

Katie patted Hannah's hand. That’s when a person fades from your social life and randomly reappears.

Her brow wrinkled in confusion. Why would someone looking for a relationship do something like that?

Katie shrugged. Because he is a man baby?

Mariah topped off Hannah's glass of Pinot Noir. And, beware the bread crumbers. Those guys lead you down a rabbit hole of sorts.

Rabbit hole? Jumping back and forth between the unfamiliar terms reminded Hannah of the statistics class she took back in college. When had dating become so complicated? Back when she was on the market, if you liked someone, you did something fun together. If you had fun, you saw each other again, until either it wasn’t fun anymore or you got married. During her hiatus from single life, the dating world had changed.

As much as Hannah wanted to remain in the safety of the past, it wasn’t a realistic request. Her world changed when her son, Marcus, moved to Great Falls, Montana. It took her two years, but she finally realized he wasn’t coming home. She had two choices. Either she moved forward, or she’d be left behind with reruns of talk shows to keep her company. Or worse, her son would end up on one talking about her. She saw it last week on a talk show.

A couple who seemed to be in love with each other talked about where they lived and how they met. If they weren’t on the program, Hannah would have envied them. Then the host asked, If everything is so good, why are you here? The camera panned to the other side of the host to show a sweet-looking woman who looked like she had it all going for her. The husband and wife introduced the only problem in their relationship. He said, My mother doesn’t give us any space to do things on our own. Hannah gasped. She had planned on surprising Marcus with a visit over the weekend.

I about had a heart attack when I saw her face in the window. The wife pointed at the mother-in-law, who sat by herself in a plush chair across from the married couple. I don't know how long she was out there peeking in the crack between the curtains.

The audience laughed. The mother-in-law blushed while explaining that she was curious about what they were up to. I wasn't there for but a second. Instead of bothering them, I just looked in the window. The mother-in-law's face reddened. I was getting ready to leave when she saw me. Hannah’s heart hurt for the woman. She often wondered about her son, Marcus. What if he felt the same way as the couple but hadn’t said anything? It had been a while since he’d come home for a visit, and he cut their conversations down to Sunday afternoons. What if he was trying to create some distance between them, and until she saw the talk show, Hannah hadn’t caught the hint? I don’t want to do anything like that to Marcus, Hannah gasped to the empty room. It would break her heart if her son found her presence a burden.

The show broke to a commercial. The first one was for an over-forties dating site. It was as though life presented her with a problem and a solution. Hannah never saw the end of the program to learn how the family resolved their issues. She turned off the television and created her profile.

Hannah’s concerns about judgment coming from her friends never materialized. The only complaint came from Abigail, who read through the list of approved men and said, Too bad none of these guys are from Three Creeks. It would be nice if you had a local boyfriend. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about some knight in shining armor whisking you away from us.

Abigail’s faith in Hannah’s ability to interest a man amused Hannah. It isn’t like I’m looking to get married, Hannah replied. I just want somebody to come along to our community gatherings. Maybe, Troy will stop volunteering me to do clean up. Hannah worked at the county extension office. As a member of a local team of experts, she helped the community with things as simple as what flowers to grow in their garden to complex matters like the best diet for their farm animals. Because she had nobody to go home to, she didn’t mind being the last to leave. In her heart of hearts, she hoped all that would change.

Per Abigail’s advice, Hannah met her first date at the coffee house. It was neutral but, even more important, a safe place. The coffee house was in the middle of a string of small businesses on the Main Street of Three Creeks, Montana. Keane’s pub was to the left of the coffee house. If a person turned right, they’d have access to Nikki’s ice cream shop. Lots of traffic meant lots of witnesses.

The tree-lined streets with cobbled sidewalks were often a destination for romantic meetups. Nikki’s ice cream store, Patsy’s coffee shop, and Keane’s pub were different parts of an old hotel built at the beginning of the town. They kept the front of the building in its original state and updated the interior to modern building specifications.

When Hannah's date said, I might bring my camera to take pictures of Main Street, she relaxed. He inadvertently validated Abigail’s suggestion while communicating his approval of their meeting place. Not only would Hannah be safe, she and her date already had something to talk about.

Patsy had taken great efforts to ensure that the interior of the coffee house gave off a cozy vibe. Bookshelves on one wall offered books from local artists for tourists to purchase. A low shelf that held board games and magazines created a space for the people who were there to visit with friends. In the corner of the coffee shop, a group of older women huddled around a table with their Mahjong board. There was no way her date, even if he were a serial killer, would try to kidnap Hannah. There were too many witnesses.

With all her concerns set aside, Hannah focused on enjoying the date. Adam Archer seemed nice from his profile on the Love Over Forty dating site. He posted pictures of the places he visited around the world. His attention to detail caught Hannah’s eye. Most people posted pictures of themselves in front of something. Adam posted a doorway from a house in Spain. The scrolling in the woodwork was so sharp it was like Hannah was standing beside him when he captured the beauty. Her gut told her he was a man who could keep up his end of a conversation.

When Hannah first met Adam, she didn’t understand her friend’s concerns. An attractive man with a strong jaw and deep brown eyes sat across from her. His choice of clothing, a long sleeve button-down shirt with fitted pants, earned him admiration points. She couldn’t resist a man in a nice long-sleeved shirt. The man dressed to impress. He moved his arm, and Hannah caught a glimpse of the bottom portion of his tattoos. She had seen pictures of the sleeve tattoo that alternated phrases with gears and scrolls on his profile. Hannah hoped for the chance to ask him about them.

Adam even started with the predictable topic of weather. Usually, I don’t talk about the weather, but it’s been so nice. He took a small bite of the oversized cookie he purchased to go along with his coffee. The man seemed nice and didn’t eat like a caveman.

I have snow boots and a coat in the back of my car, Hannah joked. Things change quicker than I can handle sometimes. She couldn’t have been any more predictive in her statement about change. One minute, things were light and pleasant. The next, they took a serious turn.

Adam scanned the coffee shop before leaning in to ask his question. His brown eyes darkened. You’re very attractive for a woman your age. How did you end up being single? His voice was so low that anybody watching them would have thought someone had prepared him to share trade secrets.

Were past relationships a taboo topic? Hannah promised herself to ask Abigail. In the meantime, she’d go with telling the truth. She held her hands together in front of her to stop herself from playing with the napkin. Well, it’s a typical story. I was a single mother and had to work two jobs to make sure my son had a good life. With the help of some grants and scholarships, I made enough to pay for his college education. She shrugged her explanation, I was so busy working, I didn’t have time to notice I was alone. Then he grew up and enlisted in the military. She held her palms up and grimaced. So here I am. She waited for a sign to show whether she handled the situation correctly.

No help from his father? Adam brushed the crumbs from the cookie into his palm and dropped them onto the empty plate.

He passed away when we were both nineteen. It took a long time for Hannah to do it, but she mustered the strength to look her date in the eye. She hoped Adam didn’t think poorly of her. Hannah forced herself to smile at her vulnerability. Dating was hard. One wrong thing and the person could find you wanting.

Ah, so you’re one of the lucky ones, Adam straightened his shirt sleeve. It had risen enough for Hannah to see the tattoo wrapped around his forearm. I wasn’t. I found out my wife was having an affair with my best friend. His warm smile turned into a stiff frown. They’d been having secret meetings in our bed for years. If that wasn’t bad enough, they took my dog and left me with the bills. Adam’s jaw tightened, So here I am trying to pick up the pieces of a life someone else broke. He folded his hands in front of him on the table. So, I’m just looking for someone to help me pass the time. Have a little fun.

Hannah’s inner wisdom shook its finger at her. Worse than a ghost or a bread crumber, she accepted a date from a wolf. What are the odds that the first person she picked would be a dog? She didn’t know whether to be angry with Adam, the situation, or herself. Maybe she was single because that was her destiny, and life had slapped her with reality to put her in her place.

She couldn't have been sure, but she would have sworn he sniffed the air to pick up her scent. If you know what I mean. His canine teeth in his grin sparkled when he added, See each other once, if we’re lucky, twice a month. To keep our minds off our loneliness.

Hannah’s mouth fell open. The shock at his brazenness left her speechless. Until she lived it, she thought men only said things like that on television programs. Her cheeks reddened with her inability to offer a dignified response. The only one that came to her mind was, No. No. No. And, No.

Abigail appeared at the table. She pressed her hand against her chest and asked, Is that who I think it is? Before the date, the two friends agreed that Hannah would call if the date weren’t going well. Hannah hadn't had time to make the call. She scanned the coffee house to see who else might be there. Her friend Katie sat at a table across the room with Dina. They both wore tunic dresses and sandals. Without having to ask, her friends came to monitor the date. If it weren’t rude, Hannah would have jumped up and hugged them while crying from relief.

Relief. The piercing pain behind her eyes softened, and she released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Fancy seeing you here, Hannah played off the surprise. She held out her hand to introduce her date. This is Adam.

The man eyed Abigail like she was a steak and he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Unaffected by his attention, Abigail waved the other two friends over. Let’s join them. She pulled in a chair before Adam objected.

Katie and Dina pulled two chairs over. Katie’s green eyes brightened. We were talking about going to a painting class next week. She tapped Adam’s forearm. "I hope you don’t mind me being too forward. I noticed from across the coffee shop you have quite a few tattoos. You