Cape Cod Promises: Love on Rockwell Island by Bella Andre, Melissa Foster Read Free Book Online Page B

for each other made Trent long for Reese even more.
    “We should be able to finish the little we have left to get Shelley’s café ready to open over the next two weeks, then bring in a painting crew to finish up, which shouldn’t take more than a couple days at most,” Quinn said. “The opening is in less than three weeks, and assuming everyone’s work is on schedule, we should make it with a day or two to spare.”
    “I’m almost done with the shelves. One more night is all I need,” Trent said.
    “Derek and I will finish the attic work this week, too.” Ethan was Trent’s youngest brother, and with his dark hair tousled from his early-morning fishing trip, he looked a hell of a lot more carefree than the rest of them.
    “Shelley and I have curtains we want to put up,” Sierra said, “but of course that will wait until after the painters come in.”
    “And since I’m having lunch with Darla this week,” their mother added, “I’ll have her put Shelley’s grand opening on Chandler’s calendar.” Darla Collins was their grandfather’s personal secretary, and she and Abby had been friends for a long time.
    “You think Chandler will come to Shelley’s grand opening?” Derek asked. “Isn’t that a little bit beneath him? Making time for a celebration?”
    All of them had a complicated relationship with their grandfather. Mostly because he was a prickly, stern man who rarely smiled and always seemed to be trying to control everyone and everything.
    “Derek,” Abby said, “I know Chandler isn’t the easiest man in the world to get along with, but he is your grandfather, so please show a little respect. He cares about this island, and I’m sure he’ll want to celebrate with Quinn and Shelley.”
    “Cares about the island?” Derek didn’t look the least bit chastened by their mother’s uncharacteristic lecture. “He was going to sell the resort and didn’t care that the new owners would fire the local staff, who rely on the income to survive. The locals are the island, Mom.”
    As Griffin spoke, Trent found himself comparing his warm and loving father to his cold and distant grandfather. Even after all these years, he had a hard time putting Chandler and Griffin together as father and son. Griffin was just as shrewd a businessman as Chandler, but he treated every person he met as if they were as important as the next, no matter what their social status.
    Griffin was the type of man Trent had always striven to be, but the truth was that he’d acted more like Chandler during the decade he’d lived in New York. He’d been aggressive and competitive, and the cost had been the highest he’d ever pay—losing the love of his life. Only he’d been too consumed with succeeding to see it. He hadn’t even seen their separation coming. And then, over the next ten years, instead of spending time relaxing with his family over the holidays, he’d come home for a mere two or three days, then rushed back to work.
    How had he gotten so far away from the man his father had raised him to be?
    “Before we all head out,” Quinn said as he set a folder on the table, “we still need to discuss the community-outreach program.”
    Trent gazed out the window behind Quinn, where sunlight glistened off the inky water and a sailboat made its way across the bay. In his mind he saw himself and Reese sharing a boat ride all those years ago. Back when she looked at him like he was the only man on earth she could ever love. His heart ached with the memory. Was Reese looking out at the same view and painting it? And was she thinking of him the way he was thinking of her?
    He’d never believed in love at first sight—not until he’d seen her painting at the top of the dune during his morning run ten years ago.
    He’d run up the dune steps faster than he ever had before, hoping that she wasn’t going to pack up her things and leave before he reached her. When he’d finally made it to the top, she’d looked like