A professor, a housewife, and a mechanic walk into a gym… and walk out as partners in a twist of fate they never saw coming! Runaway Fate Katherine wasn’t looking for anything extraordinary in her life. She had a job she loved, a husband she adored, and a home in the beautiful seaside town of Moonstone Cove. Okay yes, she worked too much and had fallen out of touch with all her friends, but that happened to everyone, right? And sure, she was feeling a little creaky in the mornings and couldn’t drink coffee after noon, but that was just life at middle age. Four minutes was all it took for fate to run away with anything that resembled normal. Now Katherine is trying to fit mysterious psychic visions into her previously ordered life. She’s playing referee between a displaced Southern mama and a sarcastic mechanic with a chip on her shoulder. And her quiet life has been upended by a mysterious rash of violent acts by students at her school. Thankfully, her new friends have powers of their own, and together they just might discover who or what has it in for the quiet citizens of Moonstone Cove. Runaway Fate is the first book in the hot new Paranormal Women’s Fiction series, Moonstone Cove, by USA Today best-selling author Elizabeth Hunter. It’s fiction for lovers of magic, mayhem, and a solid afternoon nap (when they can squeeze one in). Praise for Elizabeth Hunter Another PWF home run! For those that absolutely loved the Glimmer Lake series, get ready to dive into the perfect book for you. …there are so many surprises waiting for you in Moonstone Cove that will keep you burning through the pages well past bedtime. This Literary Life Elizabeth Hunter hits another home run with this first novel in Moonlight Cove series. Booknerd, Bookseller, and Bibliophile Blog You will find laughter, heartbreak, tears, heart-pounding moments and warmth in Hunter's latest novel, I cannot wait for readers to get their hands on it. Danielle, Goodreads Reviewer Runaway Fate Moonstone Cove Book One Elizabeth Hunter Runaway Fate Copyright © 2020 Elizabeth Hunter ISBN: 978-1-941674-58-1 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author. Cover: Damonza Content Editor: Amy Cissell, Cissell Ink Line Editor: Anne Victory Proofreader: Linda, Victory Editing If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or it was not purchased for your use only, please delete it and purchase your own copy from an authorized retailer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Recurve Press LLC PO Box 4034 Visalia, California 93278 USA This book—and all Wine Wednesdays— Are dedicated to the Sisterhood of the First Miracle. I heart you all. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Epilogue First Look: Fate Actually About the Author Also by Elizabeth Hunter Chapter 1 If Katherine Bassi could’ve predicted a time and place for her life to change irrevocably, it would not have been at the Blue Wave Gym on State Street at four forty-five on a Thursday afternoon. Katherine attended the gym because she enjoyed the yoga class there. But that didn’t start until five o’clock, so at four thirty, she hopped on one of the few available treadmills to warm her muscles up, walking on a machine going nowhere and staring at the bustling pedestrian traffic in downtown Moonstone Cove. It was a little town nestled in the heart of the Central California coast with pebbled beaches and crumbling cliffs dotted by wind-twisted cypresses. Moonstone Cove was a town famous for three things: abundant vegetables, an annual wine festival, and a small but excellent state university specializing in marine-biology research, which was where Katherine worked. As she increased the pace on her treadmill, Katherine focused on the steady stretch of her thighs and calves. Properly warmed muscles were a prerequisite to get the most out of her twice-weekly yoga class. The class was focused on flexibility and joint maintenance, two areas Katherine knew were vital for older women. She was forty-seven and in reasonably good health, which meant her knees ached, her legs twitched at night whether she wanted them to or not, and she’d slowly moved farther and farther back to focus on her monitor at work. Which was fine. As Katherine’s mother often said: “Aging can be unpleasant until you consider the alternative.” Katherine wasn’t really looking for change. She had a job she loved, and she’d been married for twenty years to a man she adored. She was the happy and indulgent aunt of four children her sister and in-laws were raising. She didn’t have many friends in Moonstone Cove—even after fifteen years—but she still loved her home. She had a house that overlooked the ocean, and she fell asleep to the sound of the waves every night. The only improvement she would make was her husband, Baxter’s, feelings about acquiring a dog. Nothing too large. Something medium-sized and fluffy. Katherine had never owned a dog, but the longer she lived in Moonstone Cove—which was undoubtedly a dog-friendly place—the more certain she was that her life would be improved by one. Baxter was unconvinced; she was working on him. As she pushed the buttons to increase her treadmill pace, she glanced around the gym. On her right was a young man wearing a Central Coast sweatshirt, his head down as he listened to music and jogged at a steady pace. On her left was a young woman in a Central Coast Volleyball T-shirt. The Blue Wave Gym gave a discount to students, faculty, and staff at Central Coast State, so the number of blue-and-green sweatshirts and T-shirts around the aerobic-machine room was noticeable, but plenty of local people from town were mixed in as well. In the row before her was a middle-aged blond woman in ruthlessly coordinated
