Book excerpt: Carol Bingley has a certain reputation in Marietta, Montana. She’s an infamous gossip and overly generous with her sharp opinions. But Carol’s been hiding a painful secret. Forty years ago, sixteen-year-old high school student Carol Franklyn was madly in love with a bad boy cowboy with an irresistible smile, and sexy swagger. The day he asked her to meet him at the local hangout, the Main Street Diner, Carol thought all her dreams had come true. What she didn’t know was that she had become a pawn in a cruel and manipulative game that would spin her life painfully off course. Now happily married to a man who loves her unconditionally, Carol finally is ready to share her painful past, but will she be believed? And can she be forgiven when she faces two of Marietta’s most powerful, tight-knit families? Carol has lost so much. But this Christmas, she hopes she can find two puzzle pieces of her past, and sets out on a journey hoping she will finally be healed, not once again hurt.