Chapter 1
The Arizona sun beat down with a dry, insistent warmth, a stark contrast to the crisp mountain air Taylor remembered so vividly from Billings. Here, in Scottsdale, the heat shimmered off the terracotta roofs and the cacti stood like silent sentinels against the pale blue sky. A year. It had been a full year since she’d packed up her life, her kids, and the lingering scent of pine needles and wolfsbane, trading it all for the sprawling campus of Arizona State and the promise of a different kind of future.
She leaned back in her Adirondack chair, the woven plastic straps warm against her skin, and watched Landon, all of two years old and perpetually buzzing with energy, chase after a dust devil in the backyard. Delia, two years his twin and a miniature version of himself with her unruly brown curls, was meticulously arranging smooth, sun-baked stones in a line along the patio. A small smile touched Taylor’s lips. This. This was the peace she’d craved. The normalcy she’d only dared to dream of amidst the rigid structure of the compound.
The sliding glass door creaked open, and Eli stepped out, a tall glass of iced tea in each hand. His sandy hair, usually neatly styled for his work as a software engineer, was slightly tousled, and the corners of his kind eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. He handed her a glass, the condensation cool against her fingers.
“They’re getting big,” he observed, watching the children with a fondness that always warmed Taylor’s heart. He hadn’t known them before their move, but he’d embraced them as his own from the moment they’d met.
“Too fast,” Taylor agreed, taking a long sip of the sweet tea. “Landon's convinced he’s going to be a paleontologist now. Apparently, dust devils are just baby tornadoes.”
Eli chuckled, settling into the chair beside her. “Well, Arizona has plenty of both, so he’s in the right place.”
He reached for her hand, his calloused fingers sliding comfortably between hers. The weight of the engagement ring, a delicate halo of diamonds around a central sapphire, felt reassuring, a tangible symbol of the life they were building together.
“It feels right, doesn’t it?” Taylor said softly, turning her hand over to admire the sparkle of the sapphire in the sunlight. “This… us.”
Eli squeezed her hand. “More than right, Taylor. You and the kids… you’re everything I never knew I wanted.”
A wave of warmth washed over her, chasing away the faint, persistent chill that sometimes lingered from her past. Eli was good. Solid. He didn’t flinch at the occasional oddity of her life, the heightened senses, the ingrained protectiveness that sometimes flared unexpectedly. He simply accepted it, loved her and her children without reservation.
Their comfortable silence was broken by the insistent chirping of Taylor’s phone. She glanced at the screen, her brow furrowing slightly. An unfamiliar number. Hesitantly, she swiped to answer.
“Hello?”
The voice on the other end was instantly recognizable, a low, familiar rumble that sent a jolt of something akin to static electricity through her. It was a voice she hadn’t heard in a year, a voice she’d consciously tried to bury beneath the Arizona sunshine and Eli’s gentle affection.
“Taylor?” Her breath hitched. It couldn’t be. It shouldn’t be.
“Carson?” The name felt foreign on her tongue, a ghost from a life she thought she’d left behind.
There was a pause, a beat of stunned silence on the other end. Then, a rush of words. “Taylor, thank God it’s you. I… I had to find you. I heard… about Eli.”
The casual mention of Eli’s name, the possessive undertone in Carson’s voice, sent a prickle of unease down Taylor’s spine. How had he found her? And what did he want?
“Carson,” she said, her voice sharper now, the warmth of the afternoon suddenly feeling oppressive. “What do you want?”
“Want?” He scoffed, a harsh, humorless sound. “Taylor, I came all this way. I’m here.”
“Here?” Her heart began to pound a heavy rhythm against her ribs. “Here where?”
“Scottsdale,” he stated, the word hanging in the air like a threat. “I’m in Scottsdale, Taylor. And we need to talk.”
The blood ran cold in her veins. Scottsdale was her sanctuary, her new beginning. Carson’s arrival felt like an invasion, a storm cloud suddenly blotting out the bright Arizona sun. She glanced at Eli, who was watching her with a concerned expression, and then at her children, still happily engrossed in their games, oblivious to the seismic shift that had just occurred in their carefully constructed world.
“There’s nothing to talk about, Carson,” she said, her voice trembling slightly despite her attempt to sound firm. “I’ve moved on. We’ve all moved on.”
“Moved on?” His voice rose, laced with disbelief and a raw emotion Taylor recognized all too well. “Taylor, we have kids. We have a history. And now… now I hear you’re getting married?”
The accusation hung in the air, thick and suffocating. Taylor’s grip tightened on her glass of iced tea. The tranquil surface of her new life had just been shattered, and the familiar, turbulent currents of her past were threatening to pull her under once more. The Arizona sun still shone, but for Taylor, the warmth had vanished. A storm had arrived in Scottsdale, and its name was Carson.
