Lavender

After escaping an abusive marriage to an Idaho white-power militiaman, Susan Blaine takes a job selling vintage autos in Santa Cruz, California. There she runs into Benjamin Hancock, the man who, three years previous, shared a wild weekend with her in Salt Lake City. The two seem a natural pair, but their respective traumas keep getting in the way. Benjamin is obviously musical but weirdly reluctant to admit it, while Susan's PTSD drives her to disappear for a month after a seemingly mild argument. Once these things finally settle down, Benjamin finds out that Susan's ex-husband is actually her late husband, victim of a mysterious explosion on an Idaho highway. A gripping romantic thriller from the author of the psychological classic The Popcorn Girl. "Michael J. Vaughn is an addictive storyteller. My house has gone to hell since I could not put this book down long enough to take care of it."