After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.
Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldnβt and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missingβ¦and life-altering betrayal.
But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the townβs beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he canβt. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that wonβt be ignored.
As Cady and Coert question the actions of the two young adults they once were thrown into earth-shattering circumstances, can they learn from what came in between and find each other again?
Magdalene series
Book 3
Can be read as a standalone
Contemporary Romance
Two people find love amidst chaos, but stray from each other when the crushing blow of deception shatters the future theyβd envisioned.
With THE TIME IN BETWEEN, Kristen Ashley delivers a sweeping romance fraught with pain and regret, pockmarked by secrets and misunderstanding.
After a crippling loss, Cady Moreland starts anew in small-town Magdalene. Determined to confront a past she never quite left behind, specifically a man she never stopped loving. But when Cady sees Coert after more than seventeen years, Coert wants nothing to do with her.
Cadyβs largely lived a life of disregard, where family has cast her aside, where friends have betrayed her, where those she loved, lied. During the time in between, she found a family who took her in and loved her, but yet, her sense of belonging never settled deep.
βAll her life, she never belonged anywhere. Not anywhere. Not with her family, who didnβt allow her to belong.Β Not her real family, my family, who wants her to belong. The only time she ever belonged to anything, to anyone,Β was when she belonged to you.β
Sheriff Coert Yeager has spent the years focusing on the blessings life has given him, despite the deception that led him there and a girl from long ago who never quite left his heart.
βHe wanted to let it be. He wanted to forget her and move on. But he hadnβt been able to do that for years either.β
When fate and good advice brings Coert and Cady together again, they must each overcome past trauma to find their happy ever after.
Cady and Coertβs story exemplified the beauty of second chances, the pang of real heartbreak. I felt their pain, felt their longing, felt the elation of finding a sense of home in the arms of the person with whom you were meant to be. And as their romance ignited in picturesque Magdalene, I couldnβt help but be swept away by it all.
This is my favorite romance of the year, thus far, just as I expected it to be!
βWe had a version of paradise, but this here? This is the real thing.β
Present dayβ¦
He looked me up and down, turned his gaze through the expanse then gave his serious expression back to me.
βBeen doing this job a long time. I can see when a buyer is interested and I can see when theyβre interested in something that they know is gonna be a heck of a project, but that doesnβt matter to them because theyβve fallen in love. And I see that last is happening with you. So I gave you full disclosure, now Iβll give you full honesty.β
βThat wouldβ¦β I hesitated because I wasnβt sure my last wasnβt a lie, βbe appreciated.β
He didnβt hesitate.
βSee, this is a lot of work and you got it in you to restore it, great. But there are buildings, land. Take an entire day even with a riding mower, probably, just to mow the lawn. And the townsfolkβd lose their minds, you mow over the tulips that coat the place come full-on spring. No one knows how those tulips got here, but Google βMagdalene Lighthouseβ and thatβs pretty much all the pictures youβll see.β
God, I couldnβt wait to see that and I was going to Google it the minute I got back to the inn.
βBut youβre a slip of a thing, apparently on your own, and this is gonna be a lot for you.β
He lifted his hand and shook it at me even as he shook his head and kept speaking.
βIβm not being sexist. Like I said, Iβm being honest. But more, it seems close to town, and it is, ish, you go the direct coastal path into town, which is just over two miles of walking. But by the roads, since it goes inland then eastward, itβs over five miles to get out here and there isnβt anything built within the first two, primarily because of that light and the horn I told you about. But also because Magdalene likes this view unencumbered, so a lot of that is parkland so itβd stay just that way. That means this is a lot more secluded than it looks from town.β
This was not a deterrent.
This could be, in future, if things went awry (and they were probably going to go awry), a boon.
Iβd need to be secluded, separate, reclusive.
But regardless, I was one of those people who could be good on my own. I hadnβt had a lot of that in recent years, what with Patrick and his family, but when I had it, I could enjoy it.
And if I had this lighthouse all to myself, I had a feeling I could learn to love it.
βSo, just to say, you should consider all that when you consider buying this,β he advised. βBut Iβll also say I know youβre from Denver. And I know New Englanders are considered unfriendly by folks out west. Weβre not. Weβre just different. We like what we know and who we know. We depend on tourists but, being honest, they can sometimes be a pain in the backside. But you move here, youβll be one of us. Simple as that. And to prove thatβs true, if you donβt have someone whoβs coming here with you to help you take this on, then Iβll be the first to share Iβm happy to look after the old girl when youβre away. You just call on me. And if I canβt, Iβll help you find someone who can. We in Magdalene been looking out for this lighthouse for years. But if she comes with you, weβll look out for you too.β
I stood there, immobile, and stared at him.
And I did this suddenly needing to cry.
He didnβt know me. He didnβt know my past. He didnβt know how stupid Iβd been.
So unbelievably stupid.
He didnβt know.
So he couldnβt judge.
Maybe this could be a new chapter.
Maybe Patrick knew exactly what he was doing in a variety of ways.
I fought back the tears as he concluded, βAnd thatβs not a gambit to get you to buy. You canβt know Iβm telling you the truth until you put me to the test. But just to say, feel free to do that. Youβll learn soon enough.β
I tore my eyes from him and blinked at the landscape, taking in a deep breath through my nose, recalling his name.
Robert.
Robert Colley.
βYou wanna see the outbuildings now or you wanna go up and look at the lens?β he asked.
I wanted to look at the lens.
Then I wanted to go look at the outbuildings.
But I didnβt say either.
I looked again to him.
βIβll be needing the name of a good contractor.β
His eyes lit as he studied me and one side of his lips quirked.
βYouβll need to be looking at the outbuildings, gal,β he advised gently.
βYes, youβre right,β I told him. βBut Iβll also be needing the name of a good contractor.β
He continued to study me and he did this until I smiled at him.
And when I did, the half lip quirk disappeared and Robert Colley smiled back.
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