Seaside Dreams (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book One) Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

rock.
    “Nervous? You might say that. I’m excited and maybe a little scared, but not really. What’s the worst that can happen?”
    “You could end up jobless and living in your cottage.” Jenna smiled up at her. “Guess that’s not really so bad, is it? But it’s just not like you to pick up and start over. That’s more Leanna’s thing. She’s always been part gypsy like that, but you’re stable Mable.” Jenna tossed the unimpressive rock into the water.
    “I know.” Jenna knew her so well. She’d nailed the reason Bella was feeling edgy before Bella even realized it. “It’s totally not like me, but dating Jay wasn’t like me, either. I never date guys I work with. I know better than that—or at least I thought I knew better than that. It can only lead to complications with peers and supervisors. Everyone knows that. I’ve been mulling this over in my mind since spring break, and this is what I came up with. I’m almost thirty, and I worked so hard to get where I was in the school system, and it’s been great, but I am stable Mable. So even if it weren’t great, I’d have stayed for years.”
    “So, what are you saying?” Jenna stopped walking and gave Bella her full attention.
    “Well, as I said, ever since Leanna made her dreams come true, I’ve been thinking about making mine come true. I think I dated Jay to force myself to make a change.”
    “Like a subconscious nudge?” The moon rose higher into the sky, glistening off the water behind Jenna.
    “More like a conscious and trying-to-ignore it nudge,” Bella said. “The whole time I dated Jay, I wasn’t connected to him. When I found out he had lied about being divorced and was just separated, I broke it off without thinking twice. And you know what? I knew that second that I was going to quit my job. What does that say about me?”
    Jenna leaned her head against Bella’s arm and walked farther down the beach. “It says you’re normal, like the rest of us. That you followed your heart, which, I might remind you, is exactly what you told Leanna to do when she met Kurt.”
    “Do you think it’s still called following your heart when you make a career and life change, or is that following your mind?” Bella was having a hard time separating the two when it came to the Cape. Everything about the Cape filled her with happiness, from the morning crows to the smell of the salty air, making her heart very much involved with her decision. But this decision was also made with her mind. She wanted a challenge, and the work-study program offered that.
    “I think it’s both.”
    “So you don’t think I’m nuts? And I’m serious about not dating, too. I think I need to make sure my life is in order before I become some guy-who-can’t-be-honest-or-keep-a-commitment’s girlfriend.”
    “I think you’re brilliant and fearless, not nuts.” Jenna pointed down the beach. “Look, don’t you love when the fishermen head back to their cars like little soldiers in a line? It’s like the minute the gray sky turns black, they have some secret wave, or nod, or something that alerts them all to fall in line.”
    Bella squinted at the fishermen with their long surf fishing poles over their shoulders and white buckets hanging from their thick, bare arms.
    “Show me a man who’s not an asshole and I’ll go searching for rocks with you every day of the summer.” Bella nodded to two men as they walked past. She turned to check out their butts and walked backward. “God, I love rugged men.” Okay, so maybe I won’t swear them off completely. I just won’t get involved. “What’s better than a guy in a pair of cargo shorts and a tank top who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and isn’t overly concerned with his looks? A man who can take the cold night air against his skin? You know they can keep you warm.”
    “How about a hot cop without his uniform?” Jenna tugged Bella’s arm.
    Bella spun around just in time to see Caden