Redemption Bay (Haven Point Book 2) (Contemporary Romance) by RaeAnne Thayne Read Free Book Online Page B

dollars a year.
    “Have you had time to look at the menu or do you need a few more minutes?”
    “I’m ready. I believe I’ll have a Greek omelet and a side of whole wheat toast.”
    “Right. You want hash browns or anything?”
    “No. Just the eggs and toast.”
    “Got it.” She nodded and walked away without even bothering to make the customary server small talk.
    As soon as she left, he once more became conscious of all the gazes aimed in his direction, some simply curious, others openly hostile.
    It was awkward all the way around. He and Aidan both should have expected this. He was apparently the least popular person in Haven Point.
    At least in one respect, he was carrying on his father’s legacy.
    After looking out the window for a while at the desultory traffic passing by, he turned to the reliable diversion of his cell phone and started scrolling through and answering messages and emails.
    After a few moments, a voice intruded into his digital distraction.
    “Ben! I thought that was you.”
    He looked up and knew the man instantly, though he hadn’t seen him in years. Probably not since Lily’s funeral, when he had left Haven Point.
    Dr. Russell Warrick, their family’s longtime physician, was still handsome, though in his late fifties. He had brown hair threaded with gray, warm blue eyes and a trim, athletic build.
    Lily had quite simply adored the man. As far as Ben’s younger sister had been concerned, Dr. Warrick could do no wrong.
    He had always been so calm and patient with her, Ben remembered, even in those difficult last days of hospice.
    He stood up and held out his hand. “Dr. Warrick. Hello.”
    “Wow. It’s great to see you, son! It’s been far too long since you’ve been back this way.”
    He couldn’t say he agreed but he smiled anyway, remembering a hundred different kindnesses over the years.
    He gestured to the table across from him. “Join me, won’t you?”
    “I just finished but I’ll sit for a moment to catch up. I’m due at the hospital for rounds but not for a while yet.”
    “How are you?” Ben asked when the physician sat down. “How’s your family?”
    Warrick had two sons, one a few years younger than Ben and another who had been around Lily and McKenzie’s age.
    “The boys are good. They both live in Boise and between the two have given me three beautiful grandchildren.” He paused and sadness slanted across those blue eyes. “You may not have heard but I lost my wife a year ago.”
    He remembered the other woman as kind and matronly. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
    “She was a good woman and I miss her every day, even a year later. I try to stay busy but, well, you know. I have cut back, though. I’ve taken on a go-getter young partner and she’s doing most of the work these days. You may remember her from school, though I think she was a bit younger than you. Devin Shaw.”
    McKenzie’s half sister, he recalled. He had never known her well but he remembered her as being scary-smart.
    “So how long are you back in town?” Warrick asked him.
    “I’m not sure,” he hedged. “A week, maybe. Ten days.”
    “You’re still working with Aidan at Caine Tech?”
    “I am.”
    “He’s a good man,” Warrick said with a smile.
    Ben still found it odd that his best friend had a life here that he loved. It was more than a little surreal that the world where he had lived his first seventeen years had merged with the world he had created since leaving—and he still felt more than a little guilty about selling Aidan his holdings here.
    If he’d had any idea Aidan had a brain tumor when the other man offered an exorbitant amount for Snow Angel Cove and his commercial holdings in Haven Point, Ben never would have agreed to the deal. The whole situation still left a bad taste in his mouth, even though he had sold the property for far less than market value.
    In the end, Aidan had come out ahead—as he usually did—but Ben knew the other man never would