Safe Harbor Read Online Free PDF Page B

her cheerfully.
    “Really?” Andy looked at her. “Because you were talking in full sentences and it sounded as if you were asking what you wanted for breakfast.”
    “I was,” Stevi replied without hesitation. “I can’t decide between pancakes and scrambled eggs this morning. I always talk to myself,” she added, as if it was the most natural thing.
    Andy frowned. “Since when?” She wanted to know.
    “Since forever,” Stevi answered in the same cheerful voice. “Nobody else listens to me so I might as well talk to myself, right? You probably do it, too. You just haven’t realized it.”
    “No, I don’t and if I did, I would have realized it,” Andy protested. Stevi opened her mouth again, but Andy held up her hand to stop the flow of words. “So what did you decide?”
    “About what?” Stevi asked cautiously. Was Andy playing her? Had Andy caught a glimpse of the sleeping mystery man?
    “Eggs or pancakes?” Andy prompted. “You know, your big breakfast debate.”
    “Oh, that,” she said, sighing with relief. “Both, actually.”
    “Both?” Andy echoed as they walked into the dining area. “Stevi, you hardly ever finish a meal. Just how do you think you’re going to manage to put away two?”
    “Don’t worry about it—I feel hungry,” she said, avoiding looking at her. “This is the new me, no longer obsessed with getting the best grades, worrying if I’d gained half a pound. You have no idea what a relief it is not to have to study anymore.” That, at least, was true. She’d lived with that pressure for a long time and it was finally over. It could also explain why she felt somewhat at loose ends. Happy, but restless. “I feel like a new woman. A free woman.”
    “So what’s the free woman going to be doing with all her free time? Besides jogging on the beach at ungodly hours, I mean,” Alex said, coming up behind the two of them.
    “I’m still trying to figure that out,” Stevi answered.
    “Well, here’s something for you to think about while you’re doing that figuring. You really are a good event planner.” Alex picked a table for the three of them and sat down. Andy slid in on her right, but Stevi remained standing. “The inn could use that talent of yours, you know.”
    She never had any doubts that the inn would always be her fallback plan, somewhere she could turn to if things fell apart. But she didn’t want to settle; she wanted something to be passionate about, like Cris with her cooking, or Alex with running the inn.
    “And Dad would be tickled pink if you decided to stay on at the inn,” Alex added.
    “Dad doesn’t look good in pink,” Stevi deadpanned.
    Although she knew her father wanted all of them to have ambitions, to follow their dreams, she also knew that her father was hopeful that all their dreams could be fulfilled within a ten-mile radius—if not closer.
    “You know what I mean.” Then, before Stevi had a chance to say anything in response, Alex warned, “Don’t argue with a pregnant woman. It’s not safe.”
    Still standing over her sister, Stevi grinned. “For whom? Me or the pregnant woman?”
    “Why, you, of course,” Alex retorted. “Why aren’t you sitting down, Stevi? It’s hurting my neck, having to look up to talk to you.”
    Stevi made no effort to take a seat. Instead, her smile grew. “Now you know how we feel around you all the time.” Alex had always been taller than the rest of them. “Why don’t you two tell me what you want for breakfast and I’ll go in and give your orders to Cris.”
    Andy looked at her in surprise. “You’re playing waitress now?”
    Stevi turned in her direction. “I’m playing the good sister,” she said, correcting her younger sibling. “Take advantage while you can.”
    “Does that mean you’re going to be leaving for New York, after all?”
    Although 85 percent certain that a stay in New York was in her near future, she wasn’t committed to it yet—at least, not the admitting