A Chesapeake Shores Christmas by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

up, Mick breathed a sigh of relief. As bad as the conversation had been, somehow he’d managed to avoid telling her that he’d banished Connor from Chesapeake Shores. Which meant he either had to get his son home for Thanksgiving or prepare to cancel his plans for a wedding on New Year’s Eve.

4
    I t was two days before Thanksgiving before Megan came back to Chesapeake Shores. Though there had been precious little time for anything other than preparations for their big show opening, she’d managed to have at least a few conversations with Phillip about starting a gallery of her own. She had pages of notes she wanted to go over during the long holiday weekend. He’d given her a lot of things to think about.
    Though Phillip was willing to consider a branch of his Upper East Side gallery, they’d both agreed she might be happier with a business over which she had total control. Phillip would act as her mentor and would help her to arrange shows with some of his regular artists, most of whom she’d come to know well over the years. Many would be happy to have a new outlet for their work.
    Megan had enough savings to get things in motion, but she would need additional capital to operate for the first year. She planned to see Lawrence Riley—her son-in-law Trace’s father—at the bank over the next couple of days to discuss a small business loan. She was optimistic that her experience in New York, combined with the business plan she’d devised with Phillip’s help, would be enough to impress the bank president.
    Despite her determination to do all of this on her own, she was realistic enough to understand that her remarriage to Mick would come into play. Somehow, though, she would find a way to show Lawrence Riley and everyone else here in town that she might be Mrs. Mick O’Brien once more, but she nevertheless had her own separate and independent life. It would probably be difficult for some people to adjust to that idea, but she wanted to start that process now.
    Beyond her business plans, there were a million and one details to finalize even for the small family wedding that she and Mick envisioned. Not the least of the things she hoped to accomplish was building on the overture she’d made to Connor on her last visit.
    It was so important to her that all of the children be comfortable with her coming back to town once again as Mick’s wife. That was going to be even trickier, she feared, than teaching their neighbors to view her in a new way, especially after whatever had happened between Connor and Mick. She still needed to get to the bottom of that. Something told her she knew only part of the story. Even during Mick’s quick visit to New York the previous week, he’d remained stubbornly evasive about the details.
    When she arrived Tuesday morning, she insisted Mick drop her off on Main Street. “Bree and I can talk about the flowers for the wedding. Then I want to stop by the bank to see Lawrence.”
    Mick frowned. “Why would you need to see him?”
    “If I’m going to open that art gallery we talked about, I’ll need to arrange for a loan.”
    “Nonsense,” Mick said at once. “I’ve already told you that I’ll give you whatever money you need.”
    She scowled at him. “And then it won’t be my business, will it? No, Mick. We’ve talked about this. I need to do this on my own. I have a solid business plan.”
    To her annoyance, he looked skeptical. “Maybe you should run it by me first. I have a lot of experience dealing with Lawrence. I know the kind of questions he’s likely to ask.”
    “Absolutely not!” she said stubbornly, then backed down at his hurt expression. “It’s not that I don’t want you to see the business plan, Mick. I’m sure your insight would be very helpful, but I just feel this is something I have to handle on my own.”
    “Why?”
    “To prove to everyone that I’m my own person now.”
    “Well, before you go dashing off to the bank, you need to come with