Two Weeks in August Read Online Free PDF

remodeling or building a house. You need to think ahead so you won’t regret it later. Sometimes things can’t be changed.”
    After almost an hour of discussion about various changes in the house, Nina noticed Mander was getting restless.
    Thinking she was keeping her from her unsupervised crew members, Nina wrapped up the discussion and quickly bade her goodbye, dropping her empty cup into the waste bin beside the kitchen sink. As she got to the kitchen door, Mander’s low voice arrested her.
    “Er, Miss Christie...Nina...would you have dinner with me this evening? If you’re not too busy?”
    She watched Mander’s intriguing, dark face, noting the anxious sweetness in her eyes and thought of Rhonda. Then she remembered she no longer had to worry about Rhonda. But she did have to worry about accidentally encouraging Mander when Nina felt no real attraction to her. It had happened to her before with women and, besides, she was just unable to move quickly toward a new relationship. It was too soon. Oh well, she told herself with a mental shrug. An evening out might be fun and she would just make sure Mander knew how she felt as soon, and as gently, as possible.
    “Sure, what time do you want me to be ready?”
    Mander’s face relaxed and she grinned. “Would seven be too early? I thought we could go to Duffy’s. It’s nothing fancy, just a seafood bar, but the food is fantastic and the company real friendly.”
    “Good,” Nina said with a nod, remembering the rowdy bar. “Sounds fine to me. I’ll see you then. I’m in cottage eight.” She waved farewell as she walked to her car.

Chapter 6
    She arrived back at Channel Haven around five thirty, sunburned and feeling parched after an afternoon wandering the beach at Assateague. After gulping two glasses of cool water, she showered, rubbed lotion on her pink arms and face and carefully dressed. Glancing at her watch, she sighed. It was only a little after six. She still had almost an hour to kill. She stared out the front window.
    Chincoteague was such a lovely place, especially this time of day, when the sun was preparing to kiss the earth goodnight. The late afternoon sun slanted across the channel waters, creating sparkle as they moved.
    She wished suddenly that she were watching the vision from her own home, with her own possessions surrounding her. She missed her books the most. It was the spare moments of free time, such as this, when she enjoyed browsing through them, seeking the familiar and not so familiar, the words and phrases seeming to always to give her comfort and stability.
    She rose from the kitchen chair and fetched her handbag from the bedroom. Opening the change section of her battered leather wallet, she plucked out a carved gold commitment ring that winked at her from the depths. She laid it on the table.
    Idly, she twirled the ring around the tip of her index finger, hearing the harsh music it made as it rubbed the Formica tabletop.
    How could Rhonda have done that to her? Bad enough she hadn’t shown up at the commitment ceremony, humiliating her in front of her family and friends, but then to disappear from the face of the earth without telling Nina anything, well. She had worried about her well-being for days, until a mutual friend had spotted her across town.
    Tears rushed to her eyes. Straightening her spine, she let anger fill her. Why had Rhonda even bothered to give her the ring? Surely it was a waste of her family’s considerable money. She smiled meanly. Perhaps she should sell the thing.
    No, she sighed heavily, she couldn’t. Not yet. Rhonda might come back.
    Hazy appeared on the dock, interrupting her thoughts. She was closing up the boat rental business for the day, checking the boat lines and tidying up the equipment scattered about the decking. Her movements were precise and efficient. Nina could tell she’d been doing this for many years.
    Nina, cupping her hand around her chin, wondered about Hazy’s age. Yesterday