The Water's Edge Series Print Bundle (Books 5-8)

The Water’s Edge Christian Romance Series is a contemporary Christian Romance series set in the fictional town of Water's Edge south of Sydney, Australia, where faith, family, and friendship abound!

"The whole series of Water's Edge is incredible! You can't put them down! Such amazing stories and such incredible testimonies of what an awesome God we serve! Every book is fabulous is a wonderful love story and a story of redemption and forgiveness." Jeannie C

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A story to 'touch your heart and soul'
"If you see Juliette Duncan’s name on a book, you should read it, because it will be great!" Gloria

IT WAS ALWAYS YOU - PROLOGUE
April couldn’t be dead.
Chest heaving, Hayley pushed through the throng of teenagers at the Police Citizens Youth Club and headed for the back door.
Voices called after her, asking if she was okay.
How could she be okay?
She ignored them.
She wanted to be alone.
Except she didn’t.
What she wanted was her sister back. How could she survive without April?
In that one moment, Hayley’s world had changed forever, and everything now seemed wrong without her sister there, although others carried on as usual. Even her parents had returned to work. Had encouraged her to attend youth club that evening.
Dad had stood in her bedroom doorway and looked deep into her eyes. “You can’t just sit in your bedroom. You need to get out and see your friends.”
But her friends didn’t know what to say. They looked at their feet, apologised awkwardly, and goofed off as if everything was normal.
But things would never be normal again.
April hadn’t just been her big sister—she’d been her best friend. At eighteen months apart, they’d always been close. April had adored her, and Hayley adored her right back. They never fought like other siblings. Not often, anyway. April had helped her with her homework, listened to her worries, and cuddled with her on the couch for movies and popcorn. Although loving, their parents worked long hours to provide for them, and so April and Hayley had looked out for each other.
Even as they got older and those eighteen months seemed to matter more, April never left Hayley out of what she was doing. Not long before the accident, April had gotten her first boyfriend, Jamie Benson, but even then, she’d made an effort to spend time with Hayley.
April had been perfect.
Had been. Hayley’s chest grew tighter. Would she ever get used to thinking in the past tense about her sister? A month had passed since the car crash, the longest month of her life—and the shortest.
It felt like April had been there moments before, and she’d show up at any second.
But she wouldn’t.
Hayley would never see her again.
Reaching the exit, she staggered around the side of the dingy-brown brick building to where it faced the road and slumped against the wall.
She gulped cool air.
It helped ease her headache, but not the raw ache inside her heart.
That would never leave her.
Her gaze fell on the church opposite. Wollongong Community Church was as familiar to her as the youth club. Her parents went every Sunday, and she and April had gone with them most weeks. Though Hayley attended mainly because April did. Hayley never questioned her beliefs and followed April into the waters of baptism at age fourteen.
Perhaps she should’ve listened more because her parents’ faith seemed to be helping them cope with April’s death.
She didn’t understand how.
God wasn’t about to bring her back.
Why? Why did You have to take her? It’s not fair!
Hot tears seared her eyes, but her screams were silent as she fisted her hand at the sky and then crumpled to the ground.
“Hayley? Are you okay?”
At the familiar voice, she lifted her head.
Jamie crouched beside her, his brow creased.
“I’m fine.” She brushed at her eyes.
But she wasn’t. She’d never be fine again.
Not without April.
“You don’t look fine.” He cuffed her shoulder. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks.” She gave a half smile. Something about Jamie’s presence comforted her. He’d been friends with her and April since third grade and started dating her sister a few months before the fateful car crash. They hadn’t had time to get serious, but they would’ve made the perfect match. He was kind, considerate, funny, and thoughtful.
Just like April.
“I miss her so much.” Hayley’s voice quivered.
Jamie nodded, his eyes gleaming.
Did he miss April as much as she did?
He ducked his head. Lifted his baseball cap and raked his hand across his short sandy-blond hair. The streetlight cast a golden glow over his strong-boned face, accentuating the stubble on his firm jaw.
“So do I. And I can’t help thinking it’s all my fault. If I’d taken her to the cinema that night like she wanted instead of doing an extra shift at work, she wouldn’t have been in that car.”
He blamed himself? Hayley blinked. Poor guy. She didn’t know that.
“It wasn’t your fault. You could have both been in the car. The truck driver was drunk. It could have happened to anyone.”
But it hadn’t.
It had happened to April.
When that drunk driver hit April’s car, Hayley had been at a friend’s house doing her homework, oblivious to what was happening to her sister and expecting April to collect her like she always did.
When she didn’t arrive, Hayley knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know April would never come to collect her again.
“You’re right.” Jamie released a heavy breath and slumped against the wall beside her, wrapping his arms around his knees. “But it’s hard to stop the what-ifs running through my mind.”
Yep. Hayley knew all about that. “I feel lost without her.” She stared at the church again. If only she could find the comfort in that building her parents seemed to. But that would prove difficult as she’d refused to go with them since the funeral. She picked at her nails. “I keep expecting April to walk into my bedroom or call my phone. I dream about her, and then I wake up and remember all over again. She’s. Not. Here.”
Even to herself, Hayley’s voice sounded dull, as though she’d been drained of all feeling. But she had plenty. Grief gnawed at her, day and night.
Jamie gave a slow nod as though he understood, and that helped. It was nice to talk to him, to confide in someone who’d also loved April.
He adjusted his cap. “Do you want to go back inside? Or we could stay out here and talk some more if you like? Tell me if I’m annoying you, but I don’t want to leave you on your own like this.”
“You’re not annoying me.” She managed to wobble out a smile. “It was nice of you to come out and check on me.”
Her bottom lip quivered as she thought again of April. Her sister had always known when something was wrong. Had always looked out for her.
Who’d do that now?
Jamie?
She took a deep breath and glanced again at the church, the cross on the roof stark against the pale evening sky. Her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. How could You, God?
Chest heaving, she accepted Jamie’s offered hand, got to her feet, and then turned her back on the church as she walked with him around the corner.