Sweet Solace (The Seattle Sound Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn’t play his guitar anymore?”
    My cheeks burned with embarrassment. “That’s not a day I’m going to forget.”
    “He shouldn’t have taken that out on you, Lia.”
    “There were lots of things he shouldn’t have done,” I snapped. I sucked my lip in. I’d kept Doug’s—my—secrets this long. I walked to the coffeepot and refilled my cup, pleased to see how steady my hands were despite my rapid heartbeat.
    “I know he was upset, but the insurance company accepted it was an accident. Maybe you could, too,” Simon said.
    “I still haven’t gotten all the money from them,” I said, pressing my lips together hard to keep them from trembling. I hated feeling this raw. I hated talking about Doug with Simon, the only one who could understand his brother’s needs and mine, too.
    Simon turned and dumped his coffee in the sink. “Lia, you can say it: he was a coward.”
    I stared at Simon. We’d worked hard to hold it together, to build a relationship based on more than anger and grief.
    “I don’t want to be angry any more.”
    Simon touched my tense shoulder. “You’ve been angry since Doug got sick and started acting out, and you deserve to feel that way. I’m still angry, too.” He glanced at the clock. “I need to go get El and the kids.”
    I grabbed the sponge and wiped the counters. “I’m coming. Be ready in ten,” I promised.

    * * *
    A bbi stood next to a boy about her age, twirling her hair the way she did when she was interested in pursuing whatever she’d started. I thrilled. She was so perfect. Her eyes were bright, her hair glossy.
    She was healthy. According to the predictive genetic test, Abbi had been spared the indignity of Huntington’s, and I should be more thankful for that. My daughter was worth all the pain of losing Doug, first to the anger of the disease and then to his “accident.”
    Abbi laughed. The boy leaned in and wrapped her in a hug. Seeing her smile, I sighed, knowing she was going to be quiet and withdrawn the whole trip back to Rathdrum. Unless she decided to once again lament her forced existence in middle-of-nowheresville.
    Sixteen wasn’t the age to explain concerns about crime statistics and traffic congestion so prevalent in big cities. I wasn’t sure if Abbi was upset with living in a small town or if she was angry we hadn’t moved closer to our family after her dad’s death.
    I never wanted Abbi to live with the anonymity of moving every year, or every two if I was really, really lucky, like I had done as a teenager until ending up in Seattle. An introvert unable to open up quickly, I’d found my family’s moves hard even though it meant we’d seen parts of the world most other Americans merely dreamed of.
    I hugged Ella. “Hey, how was the trip?”
    Ella squeezed me tight before stepping back and sliding her hand into Simon’s back pocket. A piece of her flaxen hair drifted across her pixie face. “Nineteen teenagers and a seven-year-old. Just about what you’d expect. My four parent chaperones were a godsend.” She winked one of those bright green eyes at me, and I was charmed, as always, by my sister-in-law’s Britishness.
    “Perhaps next time you can offer your time along with your daughter,” she pressed.
    “I’m nowhere near as good with the kids as you are, Ella. Abbi and I get along because we’ve grown up together. I’m going to go say hi and meet her latest crush. That way Simon can tattle on me like he’s dying to do.”
    As I walked over to my daughter, my phone rang. Bev’s name popped up on the screen. Crap. “Hey, Bev. I don’t have another book. Nothing new to report at all, actually. I’m your most pathetic client, and I don’t know if I can actually bear you saying the words to me.”
    We’d had the same conversation a few times over the last few months. I figured the least I could do was spare her the pain of asking. I wasn’t sure why she kept me around. My sales had plummeted in the last year. She and