Summer at Seaside Cove Read Online Free PDF Page B

sinking into the soft, white sand, still warm from a day of sunshine. As she headed toward the water, she drank in the azure sky streaked with the first mauve ribbons of what promised to be a spectacular sunset.
    Several dozen people still lingered, sitting in sand chairs, tossing balls to kids and dogs. A trio of youngsters built a sand castle, while a couple walked hand in hand toward the pier that jutted into the surf a half mile down the beach.
    Jamie took a few minutes to stick her feet in the water and grinned. Just enough chill to make it refreshing. She couldn’t wait to hit the waves tomorrow.
    Her cell phone buzzed and with a sigh she pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. Her trepidation immediately faded when she read Kate Moore. Hearing from her best friend was always welcome.
    â€œHow’s it going?” Jamie asked, twisting her feet to bury her toes in the cool, wet sand.
    â€œExactly what I called you to find out. How’s the beach?”
    â€œThe beach is . . . perfect. Everything else, not so much.”
    â€œUh-oh. Have Maggie and Patrick been calling you?”
    Jamie huffed out a humorless laugh. “What are you, clairvoyant?”
    â€œNo, just your BFF. Tell me what’s going on. You sound tired.”
    â€œI am.” With the water washing over her feet, Jamie filled Kate in on her adventures thus far since arriving at Paradise Lost, concluding with, “So for now all I can do is wait until this Nick Trent gets home from his latest bender, and when he does, believe me, he’s going to get an earful.”
    â€œWow . . . I don’t know whether to laugh or cry for you. I can just picture you with that bag of dead clams.” Kate chuckled, then coughed to disguise the sound. “Laughing with you, kiddo, not at you.”
    â€œUh-huh. Except I’m not laughing.”
    â€œYou will—eventually.”
    â€œMaybe. But it’s not funny now. Especially when faced with deciding whether or not to stay in the very non-paradisey Paradise Lost for the next two months.” Jamie sighed. “With my apartment sublet, I don’t really have much choice. At least not one that wouldn’t break my budget.”
    â€œIf you come back to New York, you know you’re welcome to stay with Ben and me.”
    Jamie’s heart cinched with love and gratitude. “That’s very sweet and generous, and just like you, but you’re a newlywed and need a houseguest for two months like you need a hole in your head.” Her gaze settled on a pair of seagulls swooping toward the water, then soaring upward, wings spread, hovering in the breeze against a backdrop of the brilliant sky. “And even though Paradise Lost is a disaster, the beach is really great.”
    â€œNot that I’m backpedaling on my invite—which remains open,” Kate said, “but the beach is also seven hundred miles away from New York—which, crappy house or not, is a huge point in its favor.”
    â€œTrue.” Jamie blew out a sigh. “I don’t want to even think about going back to the city. Not yet.” A searing pain that felt like a knife plunging into her back hit Jamie between her shoulder blades. Tears pushed behind her eyes and she furiously blinked them back. Damn it, she refused to cry any more.
    â€œI don’t blame you,” Kate said quietly. “And I know I’ve already told you this, but it bears repeating—especially since I hear those tears in your voice. I’m really proud of you, Jamie, for taking this time for yourself, especially given all the pressure your mom and everyone else at Newman’s put on you to stay. You weren’t just in a rut, you were in a veritable abyss. And now you’re climbing out. You stuck to your guns, drew a line in the sand, and made a change. One that I think will be really good for you, even though it’s difficult right now.”
    â€œThanks. I needed