Forever Love on Fireweed Island (Island County Book 4) by Karice Bolton Read Free Book Online Page A

raced and stayed in the safe zone.
    “So your mom runs a lavender farm on Hound Island.”
    “Among other things. It’s hard to keep track of her sometimes. She’s got way more going on than I do.”
    “That’s good. Keeps you on your toes.”
    He smiled and nodded. Finding out Hildie and Jake were mother and son made it impossible not to see the same spark in both of their eyes. There was this certain gusto for life that seemed to radiate from them.
    “Please tell your mom thanks again.” I adjusted my flowers in my arm and clutched the popcorn with my other hand. “And I really appreciate you getting me down to safety.”
    “How did the dog come out?” he asked.
    “Not even a bruised rib. Coco’s got a knack for escaping death . . . or so I’ve been told.”
    “And no more trees for you since then?” he asked, a curve sweeping the corners of his mouth.
    “Trees are not my first choice of where to spend time, no.” I watched Hildie talking expressively with her hands as she described something, and I turned my gaze back to her son. “Any sort of place more than a few feet off the ground doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.”
    “Letting go of fears can be really invigorating.”
    “Can be, but might not be.” I smiled, seeing Hildie out of the corner of my eye.
    “Why don’t you have coffee with me?” he asked, as it dawned on me that what I was seeing was his mom recreating the newspaper scene with the rose vendor.
    Jake followed my gaze to see his mother with her arms flailing toward the sky, and her legs kicking out as she reenacted the event that brought Jake and me together. Her gaze turned to ours, and she whipped her arms next to her as the rose vendor gave out a chuckle. She’d been caught, but it was hard not to get a kick out of her reenactment of events.
    “Your mom’s pretty flexible,” I said, grinning and holding in a laugh.
    Jake rubbed his hands over his face and groaned. “She credits yoga, and I’m so sorry for that little skit. Sometimes, things just get away from her and she can’t help herself. Both my parents were storytellers.” His hands dropped from his face. “And the tradition lives on.”
    Hildie wasn’t even fazed as she continued gabbing with the vendor, one topic traded out for the next.
    “I think she’s adorable. Like I said, I’m glad I could provide entertainment for Fireweed.”
    “So, coffee?” He sucked in a breath. “Later this afternoon?”
    “Coming through,” someone yelled, and I glanced toward the man’s voice.
    A huge cart filled with flowers came barreling toward us with two barking huskies leading the way and a teenager pushing it from behind. The grassy aisles were narrow, and there really wasn’t any room for all five of us plus a cart. I quickly attempted to jump out of the way but wound up backing right into Jake and stepping on his toes.
    To keep me upright, his hands slid right along my hips to steady me, and I drew in a deep breath as his touch swirled a million different emotions through my blood.
     “Sorry,” I breathed, sliding my foot off his as the vendor pushed the cart by.
    Feeling his warm body press against mine and his fingers sink gently into my hips created an unexpected complication to my fairly simple routine of Saturday wandering and shopping. I felt every inch of him against me, and I liked it.
    Actually, I loved it.
    Feeling all of him next to me sent my world into another orbit. For years, I’d read stories about connections like this and yearned for that kind of spark myself, even told myself I’d had it with Rich. But that was the problem. I had to convince myself that I had the tingles and sparks with the man I’d married, and I didn’t.
    I couldn’t even get a jumpstart when it counted, and I tried. But that was probably how my subconscious tried to save me from even more heartache with Rich. I knew his jumper cables were plugged in somewhere else, and I refused to be his weekend wife.
    And now I