A Treasure Worth Keeping Read Online Free PDF

be back at the cabin. Faith needs to finish some of her classes before school starts in the fall and someone has to check her progress. Are you interested?”
    Sam didn’t bother to fill in the gaps. Originally, he’d planned to come to Cooper’s Landing alone, but when Rachel, his sister-in-law, had found out, she’d insisted a change of scenery would be good for Faith. Sam had agreed reluctantly, not because he didn’t love spending time with Faith but because he couldn’t find a way through his own mixed emotions. How could he help Faith deal with something he wasn’t dealing with very well himself? And then there was Faith herself. The happy-go-lucky little girl he’d spoiled since the day she was born had turned into a sullen stranger.
    When Faith had laughed with Evie that morning, it had made Sam realize just how much his sweet-tempered niece had changed over the past few months. Maybe she needed someone outside the family to motivate her to get her schoolwork done. A tutor. And Evangeline McBride—with her funny wool cardigan and disapproving eyes—happened to be the perfect solution. She obviously liked kids or she wouldn’t be a teacher. And maybe a woman would be able to navigate Faith’s changing moods better than he could.
    “I don’t know.” Evie perched on the edge of a leather chair and stared at him. “What exactly does Faith need help with? Did she fail a class?”
    Sam walked to the window and stared outside at the darkness. “Not yet. She got…behind…a few months ago and didn’t have enough time to make up the work she missed. Rachel, Faith’s mother, talked to the principal and he said if she completed the work over the summer she could move on with the rest of her class.”
    Evie sensed there was more to the story than what he was telling her. Questions tumbled over each other in her mind. Obviously, since Faith’s last name was Cutter, her mother, Rachel, must be Sam’s sister-in-law. But Sam hadn’t mentioned his brother—Faith’s father. Several things didn’t add up. If Faith needed to catch up on her schoolwork, why was she vacationing on a boat with her uncle instead of working on her classes at home with her parents? Maybe Rachel and Sam’s brother had divorced.
    The possibility softened Evie’s initial reservations. Losing a parent under any circumstances was traumatic, especially for someone in an already vulnerable age group like Faith.
    “I’ll only be here for two weeks,” Evie reminded him. “And I have the shop to take care of.”
    Sam turned to face her again. “We’ll work around your schedule. What time do you close for the day?”
    “Four o’clock.”
    Patrick lived on his pension, so Beach Glass provided a supplemental income and gave him the luxury of flexible hours. He could open the antique shop late and close early, even take a day or two off if he felt like it. And her dad had encouraged Evie to do the same if necessary.
    “I don’t expect you to do this out of the goodness of your heart,” Sam said. “I’m willing to pay you whatever you think is fair.”
    Evie wasn’t sure why he put her on the defensive. She was usually a very easygoing person. “It isn’t about the money.”
    “Then what is it about?” He crossed his arms.
    If he could be blunt, so could she. “Why can’t you help her?”
    Sam’s jaw worked, and for a moment Evie didn’t think he was going to answer. He thrust his hands into the front pockets of his faded blue jeans. “She…I don’t think she wants anything to do with me.” It was clear the admission stung.
    Evie remembered the change in Faith’s tone when Sam had joined them on the beach. Faith was at the age when she was beginning to assert her independence—to try to figure out just who Faith Cutter was and how she fit into the world.
    Evie knew from experience the “tweenage” years had a tendency to put unsuspecting parents into a tailspin. Especially parents who weren’t expecting the radical