Coming Attractions Read Online Free PDF

“Business in Ocean Ridge is booming.”
    “So we hear,” said Cara.
    “In that case, done. See you then,
then,” Levi said, and shot Cara a grin that was brimming with so much sinful
intent that her legs actually trembled.
    “Well, he has more than a
professional interest in you, by the looks of things,” Mia said primly as she closed
the front door and led Cara down the hallway to the kitchen.
    “I only met him this morning!”
    “Works fast, too, then, I see.
Josie, Liam, Freya! Come and greet your auntie properly now, please!”
    Mia moved to the counter and
flicked the switch on the yellow kettle just as the two boisterous blond fairies
came barrelling into the room, bundling Cara into matching bear hugs. The third
child, Freya, skulked up the rear with no sign of pink or sparkles and no
indication of an imminent embrace either.
    Cara kissed the top of each fairy’s
head, being careful not to dislodge their tiaras. She then extended her hand to
Freya, who eyed her warily before cautiously taking her fingers in a firm
shake.
    “Good to see you again, Freya,”
Cara said in a businesslike tone.
    The older girl gave a grudging nod.
    “Okay, kids, go and play outside
for a bit. There’s a storm on the way and I don’t need you climbing the walls
once you’re holed up in here. Go run off some of that energy while you can. You
can catch up with Auntie Cara later.”
    The children obediently tore across
the kitchen and out the back door, slamming the flyscreen behind them.
    “Do they run everywhere?”
    “Everywhere,” Mia confirmed. “They’re
always full on and flat out, as their father was.”
    Cara didn’t miss the slight
emphasis on the past tense that still colored Mia’s conversations about her
former husband.
    Mia had married her childhood
sweetheart, Joe, right after high school. They had been a solid loving match.
Joe had been a model husband and provider, and their life together seemed to
make Mia happy. Mia had thrived on mothering their three children and turning
the old house they had bought into a home.
    Whenever Cara had watched them,
thought about their cozy existence, she had felt…stifled. There was no way she
could settle for the kind of bland, predictable life her sister had chosen.
Sports all weekend, slow renovations, nine-to-five jobs, jolly street parties
with the neighbors, not to mention scraped knees and winter colds, hard won
promotions, study, and the kind of day-to-day domestics that would have done Cara’s
head in.
    Maybe they did Joe’s head in
because one November day three years ago, he packed up and shipped out, leaving
his family behind. There were still odd spaces where his belongings had been—a
blank square on the wall over the lowboy dresser, empty corners where twin
black Bose speakers had stood, and an open space on the end of the kitchen
table where there had always been a jigsaw puzzle in progress.
    “Tea still okay? Black? Have you
eaten?” Mia asked.
    “Yes. Yes. And no.”
    “Will toast do? What do you want on
it?”
    Cara’s mouth tilted up in a
spontaneous smile, thinking of Levi. “Er...cheese would be great if you have
it. Want me to make it?”
    “You sit and tell me what’s been
happening in your life. It’s been too long,” Mia chided.
    Cara drank her tea and ate her
toast and told Mia a little about her recent projects, some funny yarns about
her travels, and about the dramatic theft of her precious motorcycle that
morning.
    “You still gallivanting round on
two wheels, Cara? Heavens, you’re twenty-eight years old and still living like
a teenager.” There was no heat in the comment, but Cara knew the disapproval
was real and quashed a familiar prickle of defensiveness.
    It was a fair point, Cara
acknowledged. Rootless and solitary, Cara didn’t own property, didn’t possess a
car. She lived her life out of a San Francisco studio apartment she rented
cheaply from a director friend, but it was more a place to store her few
belongings