Mending His Ways

Pete Maddox became a teenaged troublemaker after his father was killed in the line of duty. But four years in the Marines has changed him. Now he’s home, and he’s on a mission—to make amends with the people he hurt most, including the woman he still loves. It’s the final step in his road to fully reclaiming the person he was before tragedy struck his family. But old wounds can be the most difficult to heal.

Liberty Cove might seem like a sleepy little town to others, but not to Penny Donahue. After practically growing up at her family’s bustling diner, now she’s the one responsible for running it—all while caring for her aging grandmother and finishing up her college degree. New family drama puts even more responsibility on her shoulders just as her old flame comes back to town, dredging up painful wounds he knows nothing about.

Pete isn’t sure he deserves Penny’s love, and she isn’t interested in taking a second chance with a man who only reminds her of her biggest hidden insecurity. Together they’ll have to decide if the healing they both crave is worth the risk of opening their hearts just one more time.

The afternoon sun warmed Pete Maddox’s skin as a cool February breeze blew in from the Gulf of Mexico. He closed his eyes and focused on the vibration of the hollow-bodied guitar resting against his core.

Music flowed from his fingers, carrying him far away. Away from troubles.

Memories.

Heartache.

Only a few short years ago, he’d turned to other things to shut out his pain. Things that had dulled his senses and changed him into a person he didn’t like—a person no one liked.

But despite the reputation he still hadn’t managed to repair, that wasn’t who he was anymore.

A soft yet insistent yipping pulled him out of his musical daze. He looked at the curly-haired pup at his feet, who was begging for attention.

“What’s up Puddles? You can’t be hungry already.”

The blond puppy stood on his hind legs and reached a tiny paw through the slats of the mobile pen Pete had set up in the grass beside the Wounded Warrior Rescue. He’d learned early on during his days at the rescue that puppies were much easier to clean up after if he kept them occupied outside as much as possible.

He laid his guitar in its case and stooped over to scoop up the little noisemaker and his only sibling yet to be adopted.

“Come on you two. Bring it in.” He lifted the poodle-mix pups to his chest. They scrambled to reach his chin with a flurry of licking tongues, wiggling bodies, and wagging tails.

He’d gotten them through the hardest days after they’d lost their mother, feeding them around the clock and being the comfort and support they needed. His had been the first face they’d seen when their eyes had opened.

He was their world, and a big part of his heart loved it. No one in Liberty Cove had ever counted on him as much as these little animals had. No one had ever been able to before. Pete had been known for many things during his teen-aged years. Dependability had not been one of them.

Apart from the messes, chewing, and need for constant supervision, life was easy with these two. They didn’t know who he used to be. They only knew who he was right then. He didn’t have anything to make up for in their eyes. Nothing to prove.

“Ouch!” He tucked one of the brothers under his arm and out of reach of his earlobe. “I kind of need my ear attached to my body, Chewy.” The pup panted and squirmed, ready for another romp in the grass with his roly-poly brother.

“All right you two. Take it easy.” He chuckled, setting the pups in the grass and picking up his guitar again. He settled back into his seat and music began to flow.

Time didn’t register in Pete’s brain when his fingers were on the strings of a guitar. It brought peace to every corner of his mind. When he was lost in his music, there was no time to think about the list he carried in his pocket everywhere he went.

There were so many names on that list.

People he’d disappointed, let down, or left behind without a word when his old addictions had gotten the better of him. A single piece of paper had never been so weighty.

The sound of an unfamiliar engine rolling up the long gravel driveway caught Pete’s attention. “Looks like we’ve got company, little buddies,” he said to the tired pups. He hurried to put his guitar in its case and tucked the tiny dogs in the crook of his arm.

The back door offered the quickest route that would allow him to deposit his instrument out of sight before greeting the new arrival at the front door. He’d just tucked the case safely behind the sofa when a knock sounded from the front of the rescue.

Without time to lay the puppies in their bed for a nap, he hurried to the door with a yawning ball of fur under each arm. After a bit of shuffling pups around, he managed to open the door.

“Sorry about the wait. I was—” His heart leapt into his throat, strangling his ability to speak when his eyes fell on the woman standing at the door.

A pair of pale-blue eyes as cool as a clear winter’s day stared unblinking into his. Wavy, fiery-red hair was piled on top of her head, secured in place by a pair of miniature drumsticks.

He remembered those drumsticks.

His high school girlfriend had fallen in love with the hair accessories the moment she’d seen them next to the cash register of their favorite music supply store. He’d purchased them on the spot, spending his last dollar in the process. But it had been worth every penny to see her freckled cheeks pull into a bright smile when she put them in her hair.

His muscles tightened, his back stiffened, and then he gulped down his nerves. “Penny… hey.”

Penny Donahue—the most important person on his list—was looking up at him. He’d spent countless nights lying awake in the barracks, trying to conjure a mental image of those eyes. But now that they were looking into his, he had no idea what to say.

She flicked a single brow and put a hand on her hip. “So, you do remember my name.”