Unshattered: Silver Cliff #1: Silver Cliff

By Elena Kincaid

After Anna James loses nearly everyone she loves and is betrayed by those she trusted, she sets out in search of a place that would bring her peace.  She knew she had found it when she arrived in a sleepy little town called Silver Cliff and she vows to never trust anyone with her heart again, especially a man she fears would not only break her heart, he'd incinerate it.

Nathan Kent has dealt with his own heartache and demons from getting off the path he was meant to be on. He decides to return to his home town to rebuild his life and the last thing he needs is to fall in love with a snarky girl who keeps her past under lock and key. He realizes quickly, though, that she is girl worth risking it all for and vows to make her his.

Their pull was undeniable, like fireworks on top of flaming bonfires. But Anna can't help wonder if she and Nathan are strong enough to survive a past that keeps resurfacing or if fate will keep shattering the world around her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elena Kincaid
• Release date: Feb 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201144227

Book preview

1

Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else.

—Unknown

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Annalise felt shattered, as if her heart had splintered into a million pieces. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor on her hands and knees. Gasping sobs racked her body. She trusted him… She fucking trusted him, and he betrayed her. She should have known better than to trust anyone after Keith…no, before that. Even Keith should not have been able to penetrate her walls, the ones she built when fate, or whatever was out there, kept taking those she loved from her. Fate was a cruel bitch, it seemed. She liked to dangle happiness in front of her only to yank it away.

Sweetheart, come back, Andrew had shouted as he ran after her. She cried out at the memory and curled herself into a fetal position on the floor. God, her insides ached. She hugged herself tighter to try to stave off the feeling that she may actually break apart.

Andrew was the first man Annalise dated after Keith. He was sweet and gentle with her and patient as she slowly allowed her defenses down around him. She was able to finally come out of her shell and open up to someone a little. She had touched upon the subject of Keith with Andrew, leaving out most of the details of that abusive relationship, especially the final night, but her opening up was progress nonetheless. He comforted her and reassured her that he would never hurt her. Despite his own emotional roller coaster of a relationship with his ex-fiancée Lauren, he fell in love with Annalise and her with him. It seemed that after a time, they helped and healed each other.

Two years after she and Andrew began dating, Lauren had started coming around again. She had split from the man she left Andrew for and begged to be let back into his life, claiming how truly sorry she was for all the pain she had caused. He believed her and couldn’t turn her away. Annalise hated her, hated how much she hurt Andrew, but she loved how compassionate and forgiving Andrew was and couldn’t deny him the friendship she knew he craved with Lauren. She thought forgiveness might bring him some peace, but instead, she learned the hard way that he never truly had gotten over his ex. His promises meant nothing if his feelings were not in tune with them.

A few hours earlier, Anna walked in on Andrew and Lauren kissing, locked in a passionate embrace. She almost felt like an intruder, walking in on their private moment, rather than a girlfriend who realized she had just been cheated on. It gutted her. She turned on her heel and ran.

Please, please, let’s talk about this, Andrew had pleaded when he finally caught up to her.

How fucking dare he look like he was the one in pain! You said you loved me! she had shouted. You promised, you fucking promised that you would never hurt me.

I’m sorry, Annalise. I’m so sorry. I do love you. Please believe me. It’s just…Lauren…

She was so sick of hearing about that fucking Lauren. She thought he was over her, but his stuttering and rambling told her everything she needed to know, and coupled with having walked in on the two of them, she had had enough. She slapped him hard across the face, shoved him away from her, flung the plastic bag she held in her hand at him, and ran. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t slept with Lauren…yet. He kissed her. She saw the torn look on his face, and the confusion. Annalise knew he would choose Lauren in the end, despite how Lauren had once betrayed him.

Annalise crawled to the bathroom just in time to dry heave into the toilet. The pounding she thought was in her head was actually a fist banging on the door. She heard Andrew’s voice begging to be let in. Though Andrew had a key to her apartment, the chain was preventing him from coming in. Too bad he didn’t think to put the chain on his door a few hours ago when she stopped by to surprise him with lunch. He had said he had a headache all morning, so Annalise decided to bring him his favorite roast beef sandwich and a coffee from the deli near her house. The surprise lunch-filled bag was what she had flung at him before she ran, not caring if any of the hot coffee would spill and burn him. He could choke on the damned sandwich, too, for all I care, she had thought.

She found herself laughing hysterically at her sudden feeling of guilt for wishing those things on Andrew. She loved and hated him at the moment, and the realization of what she had had and lost turned her maniacal laughter into anguished sobs once again.

Anger and hatred were so much easier to deal with than a broken heart. She remembered how much she hated Keith for what he had done to her, how much she still hated him, how much she hated herself for feeling as if she allowed him to abuse her and for not getting away from him sooner. She never felt a longing ache for Keith, only relief when she was finally free of him, even more so when he took a plea bargain and went to prison for what he did to her.

As Annalise sat hunched over by the toilet, she couldn’t stop the barrage of happy memories of her time spent with Andrew from flooding her mind. She remembered how sweet and shy he was around her when they first met at one of her coworker’s parties, who happened to be a mutual friend. Andrew was also a teacher, but he taught high school, whereas Annalise taught first grade. They had talked and laughed throughout the night, mutually surprised at their immediate connection, especially given both of their past circumstances. By the end of the night, Andrew asked Annalise for her number, and the two of them agreed to take it slowly by starting out as friends. They began dating a few months later.

Images of the first time he sweetly made love to her caused the breath to whoosh from her body. And like a giant tidal wave, the images kept flooding her mind: Friday movie nights, dancing together for the first time at a friend’s wedding, first fight followed by makeup sex, exchanging keys, birthdays, anniversaries, laughter, tears, hugging, kissing, unspoken promises of a lifetime together…

It hurt so much.

Happy memories now tainted with images of Andrew and Lauren’s kiss. She prayed for the pain to stop. She prayed for oblivion. Instead, she felt herself being pulled further and further into her grief. Gut-wrenching sobs alternated with long, quiet cries. She’d finally cry herself to sleep, only to jerk abruptly awake, and then the cycle would begin again and again and again.

Burning, aching pain consumed her.

She did not know how much time had passed before she resurfaced. It could have been days or even weeks, but eventually the banging on the door had stopped, the incessant phone calls had ceased, the tears had poured out of her and dried, and the aching turned into numbness. Numbness she could deal with.

She wanted to feel nothing, and nothing was what she eventually felt.

2

Annalise went to the only place she still felt some semblance of peace—the cemetery where her parents and grandmother were buried. She hoped rather than believed that there was something out there after death. If there was, her family would be watching over her. They’d be comforting her here in this moment.

She placed fresh flowers on each of their graves and sat on the grass between the three headstones. The headstones bore the standard etched inscriptions, but all Annalise knew was that Margaret, Elliot, and Barbara James, beloved mother, father, and grandmother, were all taken away from her too soon. She was only twelve when her mother passed away from breast cancer. Eight years later, while on break from college, she and Grandma Barb held her dad’s hand as he took his last breath in a hospital bed. He had suffered a stroke that left him brain-dead. He lived for several hours after the machines were turned off. Grandma Barb followed her son almost a year later after having a second heart attack.

Annalise didn’t need to turn around to know who it was when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Wordlessly, he sat on the grass beside her.

How is it you always come when I need you?

You haven’t answered your phone. Tell me.

She told him what happened with Andrew, and surprisingly, she got through it without crying. He listened to her without a single comment, as per his usual style.

Her eccentric uncle Edward was all she had left. It was painful to look at him sometimes since he was her dad’s identical twin. Even though she never admitted that to him, never would admit it, he had told her shortly after her dad’s passing that it was sometimes hard to look at himself in the mirror. Uncle Edward never forgave himself for not being there when they turned off the machines. He was out of the country and unreachable. He had only just made it back for the funeral.

Edward James was a self-proclaimed lifetime bachelor and CEO of an ecological-industries company he had started in his midtwenties. He never stayed in one place long, having to frequently travel on business and owning several properties throughout the country, but he was always there when the family needed him, always made sure to be there for birthdays and holidays, and his phone calls to all of them were frequent. Though he never said the words directly, he especially adored Annalise, or his little Annie, as he liked to call her. He never wanted children of his own, claiming they were spoiled, snot-nosed, and selfish.

Not you, my little Annie, he had said to her when she was just six years old. You’re the exception. Wise beyond your years. And I’m surprised by how actually clean you are. Even when she was just a child, he spoke and treated her as if she was an adult.

They sat side by side in contemplative silence for a while, and then he surprised her by saying, I’ve decided to give you your inheritance now. My lawyers will draw up the papers this week.

I don’t understand. Annalise never asked her uncle for money, nor did he ever offer her any, but he had hinted many times that other than the various charities he supported, she was basically his heir.

He preferred animals to people, even though they were too messy and way too much trouble to own, so many of his charities were animal related. And surprisingly, given his aversion to fathering or interacting with the snot-nosed variety, quite a few charities were for children.

No sense of waiting till I croak for you to claim your inheritance. I want to see you enjoy it. Besides, I plan to live a very long time, and I don’t want to wonder if you’re hoping I kick the bucket soon.

Annalise gasped. Uncle Edward, I would never—

I know, my sweet girl. I was only kidding…about the last part anyway, not about giving you your inheritance now.

Annalise burst out laughing, surprising herself that she actually remembered how to laugh. I can’t believe you actually made a joke.

Not only did he make a joke, but he managed a chuckle at her observation of him making one. Laughter was a rarity for him since her dad and grandmother passed away.

I am capable of making a joke now and then.

They both looked at each other, and this time he actually did laugh, most likely at her disbelieving expression. He really wasn’t very capable, she thought.

They are not in there, you know, he said, inclining his head toward the gravestones.

I know, she whispered.

He placed his hand on top of hers. Go somewhere and start over, Annie. You don’t need a cemetery to feel them with you.

Just like that?

Just like that. What’s keeping you here? Go and chase your happiness.

Annalise wasn’t sure she would ever be truly happy again, but he did have a point. There was nothing keeping her here but heartbreaking memories. Even the good ones were tainted by loss. It would be easier to move on if she were not surrounded by constant reminders.

Maybe it wasn’t even happiness she needed to chase. Maybe it was just peace.

3

The hot shower was a balm to Annalise’s aching muscles. She’d been driving for far too long, three weeks to be exact, without any particular destination in mind, until she came across a sleepy little town called Silver Cliff. Welcome to Silver Cliff was written in large, bold letters. Home of the Wild Bucks. EST. 1787. A feeling of rightness had settled upon her even before she came upon the town sign.

After the conversation with her uncle, Annalise gave notice at the school she taught at, saying she was unfortunately not going to return in the fall due to circumstances beyond her control. There was no need to elaborate that it was her life she felt she had lost control of. She said good-bye to a few close friends, promising to keep in touch, and explained that she just needed a change. By the time her lease was up in October, she had crammed as much as she could into her brand-new, fully loaded denim-blue Beetle Convertible, the one and only purchase she had made so far with her newly acquired funds. The rest of her belongings, mostly some furniture and precious memorabilia she inherited from her parents and grandmother, were safely tucked away in storage. Her friend Beth had promised to help with the shipping arrangements later on when Annalise was settled.

As hard as she had tried to avoid seeing Andrew again, she found him waiting for her outside of her apartment just a few days before she was set to leave. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing him after coming out of the elevator, and then wordlessly walked toward him. She opened her apartment door, leaving it wide enough for him to follow her inside. This was the last conversation they were ever going to have.

You’re moving? He sounded stunned. The apartment was virtually empty except for a few small boxes lined against the living room wall. She had been sleeping on a blow-up mattress that she borrowed from Beth.

I am, was all she replied.

When? Where are you moving to?

In a few days. And I don’t know where yet. She huffed out an exasperated breath. Andrew, why are you here?

I thought we could talk. I didn’t like the way we left things.

And I didn’t like catching you making out with your ex-fiancée.

He winced. Good!

There really isn’t anything more to say. She turned away from him, unable to stomach his pained expression. I just want to be done with this.

Please, Annalise, you have to know…I never meant for any of this to happen. I don’t even know if Lauren and I…I’m not even sure…Look, I still love you.

She spun around to face him, sudden anger rising to the surface. I don’t want to hear about you and Lauren. I don’t care if you get back together or not or if you still love me. This—she gestured between them—is over. You hurt me, Andrew. I loved you and trusted you, and you not only broke my heart, but you didn’t have the decency to be honest with me. I had to walk in on you—

He tried to interject, but she held up her hand to stop him from uttering yet another apology. I want you to leave. There’s nothing you can say to fix this. I believe that you’re sorry, but I just can’t bring it upon myself to give a fuck right now. Taylor Swift’s voice was crooning, We are never ever getting back together, in her mind.

He looked down at the floor, running his fingers through his perfectly coiffed blond locks. He was the exception to her usual aversion to metrosexual males, or at least he had been. Andrew being sorry had done nothing to lessen the pain, but time had been doing wonders for it. She looked at him, really looked at him for the first time in months, and realized that the feelings she once had for him were no longer there. Maybe they were never as strong as she once thought, or maybe his betrayal and flakiness with his feelings killed what she once felt. Either way, she didn’t need any more apologies. She didn’t want to be sucked into his emotional turmoil with regard to his feelings for both her and Lauren. All she wanted was closure.

I forgive you, Andrew, she said after a stretch of silence. His head shot up at her unexpected declaration, no longer feigning interest in the hardwood floors. I forgive you because I know you didn’t hurt me on purpose, but now I just want to forget you and move on. Please, just go.

His hand hesitantly reached out to touch her, but he pulled it back, probably realizing that Annalise wouldn’t want him to.

Be happy, Annalise.

Annalise spent three weeks of driving in whatever direction her mood took her. The sensation of driving with the top down had been exhilarating, and the slight chill from the fall air only added to that feeling. She explored places that grabbed her attention and stayed only as long as those places sustained it. That is until she came upon a winding bridge, which eventually led her directly to the small town of Silver Cliff. It snaked around lush trees with either orange, yellow, green, or flaming-red leaves. The wind kissed her face as the colors fused and blurred by.

Peace. She finally felt some peace.

In town, she found a charming old-school American diner simply called Kents. The establishment proclaimed itself as the home of the best peach cobbler in the entire Northeast, and after sitting down at the counter and scarfing down a cheeseburger, a vanilla milk shake, and fries, she managed to fit in a slice of the delicious dessert and wholeheartedly agreed with the diner’s proclamation.

The employees were open and friendly and seemed to know the majority of the diners who came in. Charlie Kent, one of the owners and head chef, quickly took a liking to her, a perfect stranger, and was pleased she would be staying in town. While she ate, he entertained her with stories of how the Kents were some of the original settlers of this town. He, along with his two brothers, Henry and Thomas, owned the diner and several restaurants, one in town and a few in neighboring towns. His face lit up when Annalise inquired about the Superman memorabilia scattered throughout the diner. Charlie’s father happened to be named Clark Kent, so naturally the family Kent were devout Superman fans. It seemed as if he loved to share that little tidbit and did so every chance he got.

He then proceeded to tell her about his son, a hotshot corporate lawyer in New York City. She heard the pride in Charlie’s voice as he spoke of his son’s accomplishments, and the sadness when he spoke about raising his son alone after his wife ran off with another man, leaving them both. Annalise couldn’t fathom how a mother could just abandon her child. She knew for a fact that her own mother would have done anything, given anything for a few more precious minutes with her daughter. She felt sorry for the little boy who didn’t get to have that kind of mother’s love.

The conversation ended on a happier note after Charlie informed her of all the things Silver Cliff had to offer, from shops to eateries to lakes, especially around the holidays. According to him, she had the good fortune of arriving just in time for the Halloween festival. There were also Christmas and Easter festivals to look forward to, as well as a summer fair, not to mention a parade if their high school football team won this year against their biggest rival from another county. Yep, the Wild Bucks were this town’s pride and joy.

So, Miss Annalise James, what you want to do is make a right on Main Street, he began.

Of course there’d be a Main Street in a town like this.

Drive two blocks down. You can’t miss it. Tell Hazel, Charlie sent you. She’ll take real good care of you.

Annalise felt a pang of emotion as this virtual stranger took on a fatherly role toward her. The man with sandy-gray hair looked slightly older than her father would have been, and though he bore no resemblance, something in his gentle manner and the tone of his voice reminded her of him.

Are you all right, dear?

I am. Thank you, she said as