Bowled Over by Victoria Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

“corrections” of his better half’s grammar and vivacity, his ego and his tendency to think he was right
all
the time.
    Daniel Collins was cut from different cloth; he was patient and good-natured, smart without being egotistical, kind to animals and small children. He was a goldarned Eagle Scout of perfection. But she didn’t love him. At least not yet.
    She and Becca had lunch together and then coordinated with the others by phone to meet in Boardwalk Park to get a premium space from which to watch the sailboat race from Heartbreak Island, around Fawn Island downstream, and back. Jaymie took Hoppy, of course, because the little dog would enjoy the afternoon so much, but she would have to bring him back to the house before nightfall, since fireworks were not his favorite thing.
    Once they arrived, they scanned the park but were the first of their group and so got to pick the spot. It was directly opposite the bottom point of heart-shaped Heartbreak Island. Already some of the sail craft were gathered, anchored at the mouth of the marina entrance. There was just enough breeze on the river that they might get in the race, which was fairly short and limited to smaller sail craft. It would be run in the east channel, closer to Johnsonville, Ontario; that channel was shallow enough that freighters could not use it.
    While Becca walked down to the dock to wait for the ferry that would be bringing her new beau, Jaymie spread out the blanket on the grassy rise near, but not on, the walkway, and screwed Hoppy’s tether into the ground. As she stood and shaded her eyes, she saw Daniel walking toward her, and her heart did a little skip. Maybe she cared for him more than she thought! Jaymie greeted Daniel with a hug and kiss, but was saved from too serious a greeting by the arrival of Dee and her husband, and Valetta and her extended family.
    Valetta Nibley was a self-described spinster who owned her own house—a small cottage in the oldest section of town, near the Emporium—but she was rarely alone. Her widowed brother, Brock, and his two kids, and her sister-in-law, Violet—Valetta and Brock’s brother had diedmany years before, but both had maintained a strong relationship with his widow—were often with Valetta, leaning on her for support and taking up most of her free time.
    That’s how Jaymie thought of it, but Valetta probably saw it differently; it was her life, and they were her family. As the two kids tore off to meet up with friends, Brock unfolded a low card table and set his cooler beneath it. Daniel greeted Hoppy, who loved him ardently in the way only a dog could, then sat down on the blanket beside Jaymie.
    “So, where is Becca’s new guy?” he murmured, moving a bit to pull a doggie toy out from under him. He tossed it to Hoppy, who settled down to chew on it.
    “Kevin is leaving his car in Johnsonville and coming on the next ferry, so Becca walked down to meet him. Looks like the two o’clock is on its way over now. He’ll go back on the last ferry.”
    The ferry between Johnsonville and Queensville stopped at Heartbreak Island on each run, so it took its time, and could not carry cars, just passengers. There were municipal parking lots in both Johnsonville and Queensville for folks to take the ferry back and forth. Jaymie’s attention was pulled away from the ferry, though, by a sight she did not want to see, not today. Kathy Cooper, picnic basket and blanket in hand, stood up on the walkway scanning the crowd. When she saw Jaymie and their eyes met, she gave a tight little smile and headed toward them.
    Okay, think positive
, Jaymie told herself. Maybe she was going to try to be nice.
    But Kathy ignored her and spread her blanket on the walkway, directly in front of Jaymie’s party. It was not only deliberately rude, it was dumb. The walkway was understood to be off limits. Folks had to have an easy way to strollfrom one area to another, and the paved walk, by common consent, was left unblocked