Tidal Patterns (Golden Shores Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

over there and a new job is opening up.”
    “That sounds exciting,” Trish replied enthusiastically.
    “It’s not that exciting. But it is a promotion and would be a decent raise.”
    “Those are good things. Why don’t you sound so convinced?” Phil asked.
    “I just… I don’t know. I ran into this girl and I just started thinking and…” Mark trailed off.
    The minute the words had left his lips, he regretted them. Mark picked up his sandwich and took a bite, glad to have an excuse but kicking himself for speaking. He felt Trish and Phil’s eyes on him but he remained steadfast in his focus on eating the sandwich.
    “You met a girl? Who? And what does that have to do with a job?” Phil asked.
    “She’s someone I rand into and it turns out she works over at the resort and she’s interested in this job too.”
    “What’s she like?” Trish asked.
    “She’s nice. She’s cute, bubbly.”
    “Do you know her? Have you met her before?” Phil asked.
    I feel like I know her. When I held her the other night, she fit perfectly against me. And again this morning.
    “I’ve seen her around before,” he replied, without going into the details of their recent acquaintance. He cleared his throat. “She’s one of the event planners.”
    “How long have I known you now?” Phil asked.
    Mark groaned. At some point during every meal he’d been invited to at their home, Phil would wax poetic about their history together. It made him smile and squirm at the same time. They had been friends for a long time and their relationship had been one constant in his life.
    “Since the beginning of time,” Mark replied.
    “And he’s out,” Trish interrupted.
    Mark turned to look and sure enough, Charlie’s head slumped onto his chest in the high chair. Mark had been that exhausted before, he knew the feeling. But surely no one had ever made it look so cute.
    “I’m putting the baby to bed now.” She lifted Charlie out of his high chair with the ease of practice. The two year old laid his head against his mother’s shoulder and she turned to kiss him.
    Mark’s breath caught watching the sweetness and effortlessness of the instinct that both mother and child took as their due. She walked over to Phil and he half-rose in his chair to kiss his sleeping son.
    “Sleep tight buddy, you’re not a baby anymore, right? You’re a big boy now,” Phil whispered to the sleeping boy.
    “He’ll always be my baby,” Trish replied. “Good night Uncle Mark.”
    “Good night,” Mark said in a small voice. He’d never wanted kids. He’d never liked kids. But Charlie changed him.
    Phil sat back down in his chair, finished his sandwich, and turned to look at Mark again.
    “Sorry, what were we talking about?” he asked.
    “You were going to try to make me cry,” Mark teased.
    “No, you know I’m not. But we have a lot of history together. We’re almost brothers…” Phil trailed off.
    Mark drank from his glass, the bubbles from the Coke tickling his nose. He usually avoided sugary drinks, but he didn’t care. He needed something to keep him from thinking about his poor little rich boy childhood. Being born to two people so utterly incapable of devoting themselves to anything besides their needs had been disastrous. He’d dropped them from his life the minute he could, when he’d gone off to college.
    “You’ve known me a long time,” Mark agreed.
    Phil nodded. “Okay. Am I allowed to have an opinion about your life then?”
    His hands clenched into two fists. What did Phil mean by that? He tried to steel himself against whatever assault on his choices were coming his way, but it was hard to prepare to defend when he had no idea what was under attack.
    “Sure,” Mark bit out.
    “You need to ask this girl out.”
    Mark sniggered and rolled his eyes.
    “No, no. Don’t blow it off,” Phil continued waving his hands at Mark to grab his attention. “I’m serious. You came here and opened up to us about