Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Chapter 51

Clara sat in the car, pulling out her trusty antiseptic spray to clean the scrape on her knee. It was going to be a two-hour drive to North Ashford, and she couldn't afford to wait for the wound to heal.

Addison passed her a bottle of mineral water, sounding a bit sheepish. "Clara, don't let it get to you. When I'm back at the office, and I hear anyone bad- mouthing you, I'm on it like a rash."

Clara gave her knee a couple of spritzes, chuckling softly. "It's no big deal. People will talk, and that's just how it is."

Addison watched her calm demeanor for a moment before speaking again. "You know, a friend of mine works in your department. They aren't really your biggest fan, but you and Simon used to be close a few years back. Then, he went and got all into Quinn."

A few years back? That must have been before Quinn entered the Bradford family picture. Once Quinn arrived, everything flipped upside down.

"Clara, you and Simon got engaged. He didn't seem to have a problem with you back then. How did things get so messed up? Are you really not going to try and win him over again? People in your department have been saying you'd go through hell and back to make him change his mind."

Clara rubbed her temples, trying to recall if she and Simon were ever on good terms. Since the memory loss, everything was a blank slate, but seeing Simon and the Bradford family still brought a sting, so she must have cared a lot once. But now, they couldn't hurt her anymore.

silence and quickly zipped

the car pulled up at the entrance to North Ashford. Despite the late hour, orchard workers were still bustling around, tending to the apple trees. Even some

on the whole live-streaming craze. Only a few young folks were giving it a shot.

at it for a while, yet the live stream was a ghost town. She headed over, and the students streaming

"You?"

the platform's main page, so pretty much everyone using the app knew her. Plus, North Ashford and South Ashford were like two sides of the same coin in the county, but their orchard farmers didn't

thought Clara was there to rub it in their faces. They were young, so they didn't immediately grab brooms to shoo her away, but they weren't exactly rolling out the welcome mat either. "What

was getting dark, but the orchard lights illuminated the apples hanging on the trees. Last night's storm had hit hard, and in a few days, these apples would be on the ground and no longer

Ashford had someone spearheading a farmer support project, but North Ashford, as usual, had zilch. Clara asked

salt in the wound?! You South Ashford folks are the worst. We had a deal to make South Ashford apples famous first. Then we'd

realized just how deep it ran. Just as she was about to speak, orchard workers nearby noticed someone from South Ashford