Island Girls by Nancy Thayer Read Free Book Online Page A

okay.”
    Liam’s low, masculine voice flowed through Meg’s body like a warm balm. “Oh, Liam, hi. Yes, I’m here. I’m looking out my window at the town. It’s like looking back in time.”
    “How was your trip?”
    As they talked, Meg could just see him, probably on the back deck of the little ranch house he rented in Sudbury, his long legs stretched out as he lazed on a lounge chair. He told her he was looking at the stars, enjoying an early June night that was as mild as deep summer.
    His blond hair would gleam in the starlight.
    “How are you getting on with Drusilla and Anastasia?” Liam knew enough about Meg’s life to use the Disney names for her step- and half sister.
    “So far, so good,” she told him. “We’re all tiptoeing around on hot coals, trying to be pleasant and not offend each other. They’re at a party now—”
    “And you’re not?”
    Meg tried to sound offhand, even witty. “Didn’t get asked to go along.”
    “What little witches.”
    Liam’s indignation on Meg’s behalf made her laugh. “It’s notlike that. I think it’s a business kind of thing for Arden, although we haven’t had a chance to talk seriously.”
    “Want me to come down and give them a piece of my mind?” Liam suggested hopefully.
    “Save it. But I do want you to come sometime to enjoy the island,” Meg answered gently. “Just not quite yet.”
    “I miss you,” Liam told her.
    Meg took a deep breath. Aiming for the voice of a sexless Girl Scout leader, she replied flippantly, “I haven’t even been gone for one day.” Before he could disarm her with any more sweetness, she rushed on, “You know I’m determined to dig into this book.”
    “Good for you.” Liam hesitated. “Okay, then, well, if you ever need me …”
    “I want you to come visit, and soon,” Meg promised. “I need to get settled and accomplish some work first.”
    But after she said good-bye to Liam, Meg went to her desk. Rather than reading, she observed the night sky and pondered life’s mysteries. Louisa May Alcott had financially supported her philosophical but impractical father and the rest of the family. She’d worked incessantly, scribbling away by hand, not only her
Little Women
books but, under a pseudonym, a series of wild thrillers starring dangerous hypnotic villains. She never had a suitor of her own, never married.
    Gales of laughter interrupted her thoughts. Arden and Jenny were home.
    For a fraction of a moment, Meg considered keeping her dignity and staying in her room, but instead she went out into the hall and leaned over the railing, looking down at the two women bent over with laughter. “You must have had a good time.”
    “We got stopped by a policeman on—on—on—” Jenny sputtered.
    “On
what
?” Meg demanded, so curious she hurried down the stairs.
    “A
bicycle
!” Arden burst out. “He was ten years old!”
    Meg arched an eyebrow. “You were arrested by a ten-year-old policeman on a bike?”
    Jenny leaned against the wall in the front hall, pulling off her sparkling sandals. “It’s a new arrangement here in the summer, bike cops to help with all the traffic violations.”
    Arden added, “He wasn’t really ten, he just looked it.” She wandered into the kitchen. “I’ve got to drink some water.”
    “God, me, too.” Jenny followed.
    “Are you drunk?” Meg demanded, entering the kitchen.
    “Jeez, Meg, don’t be such a prig,” Jenny carped.
    “We’re not drunk,” Arden informed Meg in a nicer tone of voice. “We hardly drank at all.”
    “Then why did you get arrested?”
    “We didn’t say
arrested
,” Jenny corrected her. “We got stopped. I didn’t have my lights on.”
    “So you
were
drunk!” Meg argued.
    “No,” Jenny said with patience. “It was just turning dark. This nature thing called twilight? It stays light here late in the summer. We’d only gone one block when the child in black biker shorts and yellow shirt with POLICE on it stopped us. He just