Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance Read Online Free PDF

The sky was a deep, cloudless blue and the sun was already blazing down. Ellie realised guiltily that she hadn’t put on any sunscreen. She kept forgetting that with its proximity to the hole in the ozone layer, Australia’s UV rays were lethal and skin cancer rates were ten times those in the United States. She was surprised at how quickly she had tanned even just from walking to and from her car every day, and the few trips into town that she had made on the weekends.
    Rounding the corner, Ellie found herself on the main commercial strip of Summer Beach. She smiled, as she always did whenever she walked into the local shopping area. It had such a quaint, almost frontier-town feel. Rows of pretty terraced buildings with vintage wooden facades lined both sides of the street, their colourful awnings providing some shade from the hot sun. An old, historic hotel and pub stood on the corner and on the far side of the street was the local post office, with its miniature wooden tower proudly displaying a Roman-numeral clock.
    Ellie passed a few other town residents who nodded and smiled at her, and made her way to what the locals called the “corner shop”. This seemed to be equivalent to a convenience store back in the States, although as far as Ellie could see, the traditional Australian corner shop sold everything from milk to fresh meat to hardware to haircuts! This one in Summer Beach had a takeout counter that did a roaring trade in traditional Australian favourites such as meat pies and sausage rolls and, of course, the quintessential “fish ’n’ chips”. Ellie had always thought of trying something from the counter every time she came into the store, but she’d never gotten around to it yet.
    The door tinkled as she went into the store and she was instantly hit with the mouth-watering smell of frying bacon. The tantalising sounds of sizzling came from the back corner of the store, behind the takeout counter. Forgetting all about the milk, Ellie found herself drifting over to watch Lindsey, the shop owner’s wife, expertly flipping several slices of bacon in a large pan on top of an industrial cooker. They sizzled and spat, the edges charring and curling slightly. Ellie noticed that they weren’t thin streaky slices like what she was used to back home—instead, these were wide, chunky strips, with more meat and less fat. On a counter next to the cooker was a toaster oven in which two halves of a bread bun were toasting. The smells of the frying bacon and toasting bread combined into a heady mix which nearly had Ellie drooling.
    A man stood by the counter, obviously waiting for his order. Lindsey took the toasted bread halves out, laid the bacon slices across one half, then expertly cracked an egg into a smaller pan. A minute later, a fried egg joined the mound of bacon, then a dollop of some red sauce was added and the other half of the bun placed on top. A quick roll in some grease-proof paper and then Lindsey handed the bundle to the man who muttered, “Cheers,” before walking out of the store.
    “Hello. Ellie, isn’t it?” Lindsey looked at her with a wide smile. “What can I do for you?”
    Ellie’s empty stomach growled. There was no way she was going home to a measly bowl of cereal now. “Um… what was that? What the guy just ordered.”
    “Bacon and egg roll. Best Aussie brekkie you can get,” said Lindsey with a wink.
    “I’ll have the same,” said Ellie, opening her purse to pay.
    Ten minutes later, she watched eagerly as Lindsey turned towards her with a towering stack of toasted bun, crispy bacon, and fried egg.
    “Barbie or tomato sauce?” Lindsey held a plastic bottle poised.
    Ellie hesitated. “I’ll have the same as what that guy had,” she said.
    She watched with slight misgiving as Lindsey added a large squirt of red sauce on top of the egg, then the Australian woman finished the bun and presented Ellie with a wrapped bundle.
    “Careful… it’s hot.” Lindsey nodded