Ex’s and Oh’s Read Online Free PDF Page B

with my looks and I think I failed my kid and my ex, too, but hell, there’s only so much blame one person can handle at a time. Does that answer your question?”
    Caroline took her turn at the mirror. “I meant what do you think about this dress?”
    Their eyes met and they both grinned.
    “Too much information,” the woman said. “The story of my life. That dress looks fabulous on you. I’m Victoria Young.” She held out her hand.
    “Caroline Moore.”
    “My friends call me Tori. Nice to meet you. Unfortunately, even though not much happens in real estate on rainy days, I need to get back to the office.”
    “You’re a Realtor?” Caroline asked.
    “As a matter of fact, I am.” She handed Caroline an embossed business card. “The main office is in Charlevoix, but I do a lot of my business here.”
    Examining the card, Caroline said, “Does your brokerage company handle any summer rentals?”
    Tori flashed a perfect set of teeth. “I don’t know whose lucky day this is, yours or mine. We handle dozens upon dozens of them. Are you interested in looking at summerhouses in Harbor Woods or Charlevoix?”
    “Harbor Woods.”
    “I’ll put together some listings. I could show them tomorrow.”
    Naming a time, Caroline gave her the address of the inn. Both women headed for their respective fitting rooms. Just before closing her door, Tori said, “By the way. Nice shoes.”

CHAPTER 4
    The first two summerhouses Tori took Caroline to see were located high on a hill inside the city limits. One had a nice view of Harbor Woods, the other glimpses of Lake Michigan. Both were clean and comfortably furnished. But there was something about the third summerhouse she really liked. Once a guesthouse for the larger estate next door, it rested on a postage-stamp-size lot on the channel that connected Oval Lake to Lake Michigan. Roses climbed the weathered picket fences surrounding the property, and an old flagstone walkway meandered from a narrow gravel driveway to the front door.
    Unlocking the door, Tori said, “This cottage has been well maintained, but traffic comes to a standstill whenever the bridge is raised to let the big boats in and out of Oval Lake.”
    Since Caroline planned to walk everywhere, she wasn’t worried about traffic. She had no place she had to be all summer. She hadn’t taken more than a week or two off atone time in fifteen years. The thought of spending the rest of the summer idle was foreign and a little disconcerting. It wasn’t as if she planned to do nothing, she reminded herself. Now that she’d met Karl, she would continue to visit him. She was going to begin looking for a reputable obstetrician. And she needed to take care of herself, to be as healthy as she could be for her child.
    She told herself everything was fine, that she was fine. She’d been telling herself that for a few months now. And yet something was missing. What? The idea of a traditional family? She almost wished that was it, but she feared that whatever was missing was more vital than that. What was missing was joy and excitement. What was missing was life. And she wasn’t at all certain how or where to find it.
    Holding the door for Caroline, Tori said, “I can see why you like this one. It’s charming, isn’t it? Those ceilings are open-beamed, and the glass in the windows is original. The stone exterior keeps the house cool even in the heat of summer.”
    “Hmm.” The heels of Caroline’s Emilio Pucci’s clicked quietly over floors made of hickory planks, wide and worn.
    Tori said, “An artist from New York rented it last year. The year before that an out-of-work soap-opera actor stayed here. Movie stars summer up here, you know. Don’t expect to see them. At least don’t expect to recognizethem. Without their makeup, they look worse than you and me.”
    Tori’s left eyebrow rose a fraction, her glance opaque and slightly sheepish. “I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded.”
    Caroline had come