Maid for Love (A Romantic Comedy) by Caroline Mickelson Read Free Book Online Page B

Daddy never would have left you if he’d had a choice. You must know that.”
    Zoe nodded again.
    “But this situation with Michael is different. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean that your heart will get broken.”
    “Yours did.”
    Her mother sighed. “Yes, it did. But it was after many happy years together, and I’d never trade that time for anything.”
    “Even if it meant that you could have avoided all the sadness?”
    “I’d do it all over again for half the time and twice the heartbreak, it was that worth it.”
    “I wish I knew what to do.”
    “I think you do, Zoe. Deep down. You know.”
    They sat in silence for a few moments. Zoe knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wanted her daughter to throw caution to the wind and rush up to the beach house in Nantucket. According to her mother’s romantic notions, Michael would declare his undying devotion to her the first moment he saw her. As if.
    But the beginning of an idea began to germinate in Zoe’s mind. Maybe she should join Michael and the kids. Just not for the reason her mother wanted her to. She leaned further back into the sofa cushions and out of her mother’s direct line of vision. “You might be on to something, Mother.”
    Her mother clapped her hands together. “Wonderful, darling. So you’re going to head down to Nantucket?”
    “I am. First thing in the morning.” Zoe felt a sudden surge of certainty that she was making a wise move, just not the one her mother wanted her to make. The smart thing to do would be to end the Skype session before her mother tuned into her plan. She leaned forward and blew a kiss toward the computer.  “Thank you, Mother.”
    “Kisses, darling.” She waved goodbye. “I’m so proud of you.”
    Zoe disconnected their session with a trace of guilt for so blatantly misleading her mother. Not about heading to the beach house. She was going to go just as she’d said she was. But she wasn’t going to reconnect with Michael in the hopes of rekindling their romance. No. Just the opposite. She was going to have another go at memory alteration. Just in case Michael started to remember her, Zoe was going to make him forget all over again.
    ***
    Michael watched as his niece and nephew ran down toward the water. The late afternoon sun still held a trace of warmth but the breeze coming in off the Atlantic brought with it a bit of cool relief from the summer warmth. Seagulls soared over-head although their cries did little to drown out the sound of Kathryn’s laughter as the cold water lapped against her ankles.  He smiled and leaned against the deck railing. They were great kids. His sister and brother-in-law were lucky. He loved being an uncle and didn’t doubt that he’d love being a father. An image of a smiling Zoe with a baby on her hip popped into his mind. His smile faded. Zoe couldn’t even bear to acknowledge that she’d met him before.
    Yet she hadn’t refused to spend time with him, not outright. Granted, she’d turned down the invitation to join them at the beach house, but that was a case of too much too soon. Not to mention that it had come on the heels of an evening gone wrong. But still, he had to take heart that Zoe had at least agreed to have dinner with him in the first place. In fact, when they’d run into Kendra, Zoe had been the one to suggest they all get together for a meal.
    But as much as he might try to convince himself that there was hope, he couldn’t buy into it. Bottom line, if Zoe didn’t want to admit that they’d had a past, he was a fool for even daydreaming about a future with her. Now he just needed to get his mind to stop replaying their kiss the other night. If he’d had any doubt that he was still in love with Zoe, kissing her had removed it. In the brief moment she’d been in his arms, he’d fallen in love with her all over again.
    He sank down on to the weathered wooden steps. Reconnecting with Zoe had done nothing but wreak havoc on his