The Inn at Dead Man's Point Read Online Free PDF Page A

the floor and worked on the vacuum. It smelled like burnt rubber. The belt had not only broken, it had melted all over the rollers, the clamps were all bent, and when he flipped the on/off switch, nothing happened. “This thing is toast.”
    Jenna retrieved Mattie’s vacuum, the one he’d used upstairs. Al changed the bag and cleaned the cat fur out of the filters. It wasn’t in great condition, but it would have to do. He didn’t own one himself. He didn’t own anything of value except his car, his computer, and a rundown old inn with a huge mortgage.
    Looking at Jenna, with her messy blond ponytail and open resentment in her blue eyes, he wondered if he hadn’t bought himself a whole lot of trouble. They were being polite to each other right now, but she obviously didn’t want him there. Maybe she was told that she’d inherit the inn someday, but things had changed. The inn would have been sold to someone, either by Mattie or the tax collector. Jenna would have lost it one way or another.
    If she thought she could chase him out of his home, she’d better think again, because he wasn’t leaving. He’d bought this place for the peace and quiet he needed to be creative, and he intended to make sure it stayed that way.
     

 
    Chapter Three
    A l was on the porch roof finishing the last section of the new roof when Jenna saw a vintage green Jaguar drive up. A long-legged brunette stepped out. She looked like she’d just stepped off the pages of Vogue. She propped her hands on her hips, looked up at Al, and cocked her head. “What are you doing up there?”
    “Finishing the new roof. What are you doing here, Penny?”
    “You haven’t called in weeks. Is it something I said?”
    He held the nail gun over the shingle and shot another nail in. “I’ve been busy.” He shot two more nails in and climbed off the roof.
    “I stopped by your office in town and Nick said you’d moved your office out here. What I can’t figure out is why.”
    “There were too many interruptions there to get any work done, so I bought the inn and moved out here.”
    “What a wonderful old building. Do you have time to show me around?”
    “Yeah, sure.”
    Jenna ducked back into the living room with her duster while Al brought his guest inside. “Dr. Penny Holden, Jenna Madison.” The doctor smiled and nodded slightly, and Al moved on with the lady doctor’s arm around his waist.
    Dr. Penny Whatsit was acting as if they were a couple, but how could that be when he was gay? Or was he? Brian said he was in high school, and he should know, since they had the same PE classes for two years in a row. Everyone believed he was gay back then, and the guys razzed him about it. At Brian’s urging, she’d said and done some things she shouldn’t have, things she regretted now. Al was a shy kid, and she’d been unkind to him. No wonder gay kids stayed in the closet.
    Picking on Al Donatelli was Jenna’s initiation into Brian’s inner circle. There were other kids who’d been targets of Brian’s group, but none got picked on more than Al. She’d wanted to belong so much that she became mean-spirited just like them. It was the wrong way go to about getting accepted, and somewhere down deep inside her she knew that, but every time she complained about what they were doing, they shunned her.
    She should have shunned them.
    <>
     
    Al showed Penny his office. She peered out the window. “Awesome view, but that’s not why I came. Where’s your bedroom?”
    He shook his head.
    She stared at him for several seconds. “Is it Little Suzy Homemaker downstairs? Are you with her now?”
    “Not hardly. She thinks I’m gay.”
    Penny burst out laughing, infecting Al. There were times when he missed Penny, but not enough to start things up with her again. She was first and foremost a doctor, and her mind was always on her patients. When she needed sex, she called him and they spent an evening together. She was pretty, and she was good in bed,