Summer Lovin' The Preacher's Daughter/A Baby on the Way/A Reunion Romance

Silver Cliff, Colorado. Population 2,307. The one place Jake Turner had promised himself he'd never return to after his highschool graduation. Yet here he stood in the middle of a Fourth of July barbecue in the city park. Not quite in the middle. More like off to the sidefar side. Safely hidden in the shadows of a grouping of birch trees. The town had changed in the twenty years since he'd sped off on his secondhand motorcycle, but the people hadn'tthe pointed stares and burning glances evidence that a twodecade absence had done nothing to alter his badboy reputation. His gut twisted with the urge to run. He wouldn't. Not this time. A multiyear class reunion, the news that his former alma mater, Silver Cliff High School, was closing its doors and an opportunity to shove his good fortune in his fellow classmates' faces had lured him back for a final goodbye to his childhood home. Jake, voted Least Likely to Succeed, had succeeded. Bigtime. In truth, his adolescent desire to thrust his accomplishments up the snouts of those who'd scorned him and his mother embarrassed him. But the oncetortured teenager yearned to brag that the town lush's son had become a selfmade multimillionaire. Those reasons aside, Jake was man enough to admit the main motive for his decision to attend the class reunion was Amanda Winslowthe preacher's daughter. The one person who'd actually cared whether Jake earned his highschool diploma. The only female who'd crossed his mind daily for twenty long years. For the past half hour he'd searched for Amanda in the swarm of people milling about the park grounds conversing, eating barbecued pork and getting wasted on beer and wine coolers. Over a thousand people were expected to descend upon the small mountain community for the upcoming weekend festivities, and it appeared as if half those people had shown up for the Fourth of July picnic. Years ago a celebration of this size would have been impossible. Now the increase in B&Bs and motels popping up along the outskirts of town and the recent sale of the high school to a developer who planned to convert the building into highend condos were evidence that the oncesleepy hollow catered to an exploding tourist population. Jake didn't give a damn that the town was growing. And he couldn't care less what happened to the high school. If it were up to him, he'd slam a wrecking ball into the eightyyearold building, which housed nothing but bad memoriesexcept one.Amanda. "Say, is that you, Jake Turner?" Jake's muscles tensed. "Who wants to know?" He glanced over his shoulder. Thad Trevechy. Aka Einstein. Five feet seven inches of pure scientific brilliance. The teen whiz kid had been the star student in Jake's chemistry class. "Trevechy." "Hey, you remember me." Einstein stepped forward and shook Jake's hand. "Haven't changed much," Jake commented, struggling not to stare at the two front teeth protruding from the man's mouth. "Yep." Trevechy grinned. "Still short and still got buck teeth." He rolled his upper lip back and sniffed like a rabbit. The man had a hell of a sense of humor and could laugh at himselfa trait Jake had yet to acquire. Trevechy lifted a foot off the ground. "These help." Circa 1978 platform athletic shoes. "Where'd you find those?" "Secondhand store in Denver. I got a dress pair for the dinner Saturday. The wife towers over me." Trevechy pointed to a woman checking IDs at the beer tent. "That's Valerie. I rescued her from a life of sin thirteen years ago." No way could Jake allow that comment to slip by. "What kind of sin?" "Prostitution." "You don't say." Jake schooled his features. "Val used to work Colfax Avenue in downtown Denver." An image of Einstein trollingThomas, Marin is the author of 'Summer Lovin' The Preacher's Daughter/A Baby on the Way/A Reunion Romance', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373751693 and ISBN 0373751699.