Chapter 1

Faith woke up shortly after the sun had come out, as per usual, got out of bed still wobbly from the sleepiness, pulled the curtains of the giant window in her bedroom and soaked up the amazing view she was privileged with every day. The colourful gardens and the apple orchard appeared right before her eyes every day. Clear skies and fresh mountain air.

After stretching while admiring the landscape, she put on her workout clothes and running shoes and went on her usual jog around the family's property. There was nothing quite like being surrounded by nature in the silence of the daybreak, before anyone else started working around the orchard, and before the morning fog had completely dissipated. It was just her, no one else. Just her thoughts. No opinions nor judgments and for just a brief moment, Faith could forget about how messy her life had become, forget about the chaos she had brought upon herself.

When the morning run was finished, she went back inside the house, and in the kitchen, while drinking a glass a water, something appeared from behind her and squeezed the air out of her lungs making her spat water all over herself and the floor.

"I missed you," squealed a voice that Faith knew all too well.

"Let go of me, Mira!" She squirmed in her friend's arms while at the same time trying to wipe with her hands the water that was dripping down her chin and neck. "I missed you too. But I can't breathe." How can someone so tiny be so strong? Faith thought while struggling to free herself.

Mira finally let go of her best friend, and Faith turned to look at her. Mira was only two months older than her, and they were both twenty-five. Their mothers had been friends since their twenties, when they started working together at the same primary school. So, Faith and Mira knew each other from the crib and had been inseparable since then.

"I'm guessing that the pre-honeymoon with Richard went well. You look stunning," Faith said while admired her friend. After two weeks on a tropical island, bathing in the sun and swimming in crystal clear blue waters, Mira's dark olive skin was glistening, her straight and thick black hair was even more luscious than usual, and her eyes were glowing with happiness.

"Thank you," she said with a cocky smile on her plump lips and a hair flip over the shoulder. "It's a shame I can't say the same about you. You're still as white as snow. Summer is pretty much gone and clearly not even a drop of sun as touched your skin."

"Ouch. And you are as nice as always, I see." They both chuckled. "When did you get back? I don't think I've ever seen out of bed this early." They were polar opposites, and maybe that's why their friendship worked so well. While Faith was the earliest of birds, Mira was the epitome of a night owl, so it was eerily disturbing to see her out and about in the first hours of the morning. For Mira, breakfast was brunch, and for Faith, brunch was a late lunch.

"Last night, but it was already too late to call you. So, today I came here as soon as I could. Since you are an early bird and I'm still jetlagged."

"Maybe, just maybe, you could take the opportunity the jetlag has given you to try to change your sleeping schedules so you can become a normal human being."

"Never." Mira narrowed her eyes and glared at Faith as she enounced every syllable in never. "But today, just today, I thought we could have breakfast together."

"Sounds perfect."

"And I'm craving some of Lydia's food. Nothing tastes quite as good as her food."

"That is indeed a fact."

"And... I can also show you all the pictures we took and make you jealous while we eat."

As the two friends chatted, Lydia, the housekeeper, walked into the kitchen. Lydia had worked for Faith's family for as long as she could remember. She took care of Faith ever since she was a baby and had always been a close family friend. For Faith, Lydia was like an aunt, or maybe, sometimes, more of a mother, even more than her own. As much as Faith loved her parents, Lydia had been the one taking care of her scrapes and bruises and the one who was home every day when she got back from school.

"Good morning, my loves." Lydia sounded as joyful as always. Every time she walked in, it was like the sun piercing the clouds. There was such a cheerful and warm aura that surrounded her. The colours get brighter in her presence and the air smelled like freshly baked cookies and rainbows.

"Good morning, Lydia," they said in unison, as if they were back in middle school sitting by the kitchen island doing homework while Lydia prepared them snacks.

"I'll start breakfast right away. Any special requests?"

"I'm craving one of your omelettes," Mira said, almost salivating with just the thought of eating Lydia's cooking.

"I'll have the same."

"Two omelettes and coffee coming right up."

"Why don't we eat outside, by the pool? You need a little bit of sun before the leaves start to fall." Mira smirked, and Faith rolled her eyes.

"Great idea, love. I'll set the table for you outside."

The morning was bright and sunny, but they could already feel the autumn breeze in the air. The seasons change early around here, and the landscape was already turning from green and yellow to orange and red. They enjoyed their breakfast, surrounded by the beautiful greenery of the Peterson estate. The flowers were still in full bloom, and the apples were almost ready to be picked.

"Everything looks so beautiful. You're doing a great job. Being a botanist isn't as useless as I initially, though," Mira joked while delighting herself with the last bite of the eggs.

"Thanks, M." Faith chuckled. "Can't you be nice without the sarcasm?"

"I'm sorry, Fay. It's not in my nature." Mira had one of her usual charming smiles.

"And about the wedding? How are the preparations going?"

"Everything is ready. Almost. Just some last details. It's a shame that we had to go on holiday before the wedding and not after, but our work schedules aren't lined up."

"You aren't a conventional bride, so there's nothing odd about you having an unconventional honeymoon."

"You are one hundred percent right. And you? How are you holding up?"

"We are not talking about how I ruined my wedding. I'm not ready to deal with it. Let's stick to focusing on yours, okay?"

"That bad? It's been almost two months."

"Everyone around here made such a big fuss about it. We were Faith and Ronnie. The Petersons and the Harrisons were finally joining their families and their fortunes. It was going to be the event of the year. And I blew it. And everyone is talking about it."

"The perks of living in a small town, I guess. No secrets." Mira sighed. "Besides, your family has always been a kind of like local celebrities. You should be used to it by now. And you should not care."

"I know," Faith grunted. "Oh, and you probably don't even know about the newspaper since you were away but-"

"I know, my dear. I know. Mum called and sent me a picture."

"Why?" Faith cried. "One day, I'm going to kill that wannabe news reporter."

"What was the headline? The town's princess in another man's arms. Was this the reason for the breakup?" Mira chuckled. "God... We should really consider moving somewhere bigger. A place where there is actual news and Josh won't write about the local gossip."

"Don't I know that," Faith grumbled.

"What actually happened at that event?"

"I don't even know the guy. I tripped. He was kind enough to catch me right before I fell face down right on the floor."

Mira laughed. "That's so typical of you. You shouldn't be allowed to wear heels."

"I shouldn't be allowed to even be outside."

Faith took a deep breath and hide her face in her hands as she remembered the events of the previous week. It was a local charity event for which her family is always invited. It's one of the most prestigious events in this small town and obviously the local newspaper was there, and Faith happens to be their favourite subject for the gossip column. As her heels got stuck on the dress, she couldn't help it and fell into the arms of a stranger that was kind enough to help her out. This charitable action of the man provided the local reporter, Josh Byrne, with enough gossip for the whole week. As if her cancelled engagement wasn't enough already. For almost two months, Josh had been squeezing out all the juice he could from the engagement fiasco, coming up with different theories about why the union between the Petersons and the Harrisons wasn't consummated.

"Hey," Mira said, pulling Faith out of the self-deprecating pit she was falling into.

"What?" Faith asked with her voice muffled by her hands.

"Who's the hottie over there? New employee?"

"I don't know, probably. It's about to start the busy season around here. We always hire extra help."

"You really have to look, Fay. He's very cute."

As she raised her eyes, Faith saw a man working in the garden around the pool, raking the leaves and pulling out the weeds. The man had dark brown hair, not too long but not short either, wavy and a little dishevelled and all over the place. A short stubble covered his sharp jawline and his skin was a warm bronze shade, tanned from working under the sun. He was tall and slim, but his shoulders were broad, and his body looked toned and in shape.

"Shut up Mira. I think he can hear us from here. He's just on the other side of the pool. And aren't you going to get married soon?"

"Married. Not blind. Looking does no harm to anyone. Besides, I'm not looking for myself. I'm looking for you." Mira winked and smirked.

"Fine." Faith sighed. "But at least don't be so loud about it. I need to take a shower. You can stay here gawking for as long as you want."

"I'm not gawking. I'm inspecting. Inspecting in the name of my best friend." Faith sighed and turned her back to Mira.

As Faith walked away towards the house, she slipped on the tiles by the pool, almost falling inside. Somehow, she managed to balance herself and fell on the grass instead, but not without scraping her hands and her knees. Faith's clumsiness was somewhat legendary and despite tripping and falling all the time, somehow, she always managed to avoid the worst-case scenario. Or it was probably just a lot of a luck.

Out of nowhere, the new gardener that Mira was admiring showed up beside Faith with a first aid kit and a charming smile as he reached out his hand towards her. He looks oddly familiar... But I'm certain his not from around here... Faith thought while looking up at him. Embarrassed, Faith accepted his help and sat back in the chair as the man went through the kit.

"I'm okay. It's nothing serious. But thank you anyway." And it wasn't. Not to Faith, who was always covered in mysterious little scratches and bruises that she didn't remember getting.

"You should at least let me disinfect it and put a band-aid on it."

Faith nodded and showed him a timid smile as he sprayed disinfectant on the scrape on her knee and on her hand. "Have we met before?" She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something oddly familiar about him.

"We haven't been introduced before, no." He thoroughly applied band aids on the scrapes. "Quite clumsy, aren't you?" he asked with a smirk. "Is that why you spend most of your time locked up in your ivory tower, princess?"

Princess... How I hate that word. Faith had been known as the town princess for years now. It started as an innocent joke, but lately it was getting on her nerves. Faith was tired of trying her best and never being enough. She wasn't perfect little Faith, the town princess, that everyone thought she was. After all, she was the one who broke off the engagement with Ronnie Harrison. Who in their right mind would reject Ronnie Harrison? She was a mess, always had been. The furthest thing from a princess that there could be.

Without saying a word Faith got up and dashed out of the garden, running towards her room with Mira chasing after her.

"Faith," called out Mira, gasping for air.

"What?"

"Jeez, my cardio is terrible. I should start running with you." Mira took a deep breath. "Why did you get so mad? It was just a joke. It's not like princess it's a new nickname. It has been... like... ten years, right? And it's not like you don't spend most of your days in here as of late." Mira was incapable of lying and usually Faith loved that about her and thought it was one of her best qualities. Her honesty and bluntness. But right now, it was making her question their friendship.

"You're not helping, Mira."

"Why are you so grumpy today?"

Faith turned around to face her friend and took a deep breath. "Ronnie and his parents are coming over for dinner." She sighed while let herself fall onto the bed. "We may not be engaged anymore, but our families still have businesses together. I can't avoid him forever. Even though I want to. Even though I want to crawl into a hole and never be seen again."

"Is it that hard to face him?" Mira asked lying beside Faith, and both stared at the ceiling.

"I don't know what to say to him. I was the one that called off the wedding. I'm the one who hurt him."

"You did what you thought was best for the both of you. And I agree with your decision. Things just take time to heal."

"I know."

"And I don't think you need to worry so much about Ronnie. Worry more about yourself and getting over this mess. I'm sure he's not as broken-hearted as you think."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know. Call it a gut feeling. Or female intuition. You know I never liked him much, anyway." Mira shrugged. "You need to distract yourself. Just take the day off and let's do something."

"Sounds good. But I still can't avoid dinner."

"No. But you can have fun with your best friend until dinner."

"Fine."

Mira threw Faith into the bathroom and then started to rummage through her wardrobe, trying to find her a cute outfit. Which was proving to be a difficult quest in the midst of all the unflattering clothes Faith insisted on wearing.