Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick Read Free Book Online Page B

Nordic skiing in the winter, and antiquing in the summer. The Thurwell College admissions brochures featured photos of professors leading seminars outdoors on the grassy quad and groups of rosy-cheeked students frolicking through the fresh snowfall at the annual winter carnival. But, like most small towns, Thurwell constantly roiled with scandal just below the surface. You just had to know where to look.
    “Morning.” Brooke padded in wearing a pink chenille bathrobe and sheepskin slippers at least two sizes too big for her tiny feet.
    Cait trailed in behind her, clad in a white ribbed tank top and a threadbare pair of blue plaid boxer shorts that looked vaguely familiar.
    “Are those the same shorts you had in college?” Jamie shook her head. “Damn, don’t you ever throw anything away?”
    “After years of living on Ramen noodles and a grad student stipend? No. Besides, I look good in these. Right, Brooke?”
    “They’re very, uh, Robinson Crusoe chic.” Brooke turned back to Jamie. “What’s for breakfast?”
    Jamie nodded toward the coffeemaker. “I’m a bartender, dearest, not a cook. If you need a killer mimosa or hibiscus, I’m your girl. You want eggs Benedict? I’m out.”
    “What’s a hibiscus?” Cait wanted to know. “Sounds exotic.”
    “Champagne and cranberry juice.”
    Cait perked up. “Ooh, that sounds good. I might have to try that.”
    “No!” Brooke smoothed her disheveled blond hair and rummaged through the cabinet next to the refrigerator. “No drinking. Today is a workday. For all of us. I have to go into the office—”
    “You didn’t quit your job yet?” Cait asked. “I thought that was the whole point of this.”
    “Do you have any idea how much it cost to put a down payment on this place? Never mind legal fees, accounting fees, liability insurance, dishware, website design, mattresses, furniture …” Brooke’s blue eyes got bigger and wilder with every word. “It’s only been three weeks, and I’m practically in the hole already.”
    Cait nodded. “Point taken.”
    “I have to keep my day job at least until I open the doors to guests,” Brooke said. “So I’m going into the office today, and Jamie’s going to start researching how to start an event-planning business.”
    “I’ll let in the inspector guy, too,” Jamie volunteered. “And call the mattress place again and harass them about delivery.”
    “What about me?” Cait asked.
    “Well, you’ll be getting your muse on upstairs,” Jamie said.
    Cait looked at them blankly.
    “Your novel,” Brooke prompted. “You’re starting today, remember?”
    “Oh yeah.” Cait poured herself a bowl of shredded wheat and shoveled in a huge mouthful.
    Brooke put down her coffee cup for a moment and clasped her hands. Her face took on a radiant, peaceful glow. “I know start-up is a lot of work, but I shouldn’t complain. We are all
so
lucky to have this opportunity. How many peopleever get the chance to start from scratch and chase their dreams?”
    “Mmph,” Cait said.
    “Exactly.” Brooke nodded. “No more negativity. Come hell or high water, Paradise Found will flourish. As God is my witness”—she waved her fist like a fair-haired Scarlett O’Hara—“I am going to do Arden proud!”
    “Mmph.” Cait took another bite, topped off her cereal bowl, and trudged back toward the staircase.
    “Me, too,” Jamie echoed. As soon as Brooke left for work, she crept back up to her bedroom and dug through the profusion of clothes, books, and shoes spilling out of her suitcases until she found the crumpled ecru envelope she was searching for. Then she hurried back downstairs to the makeshift office space set up on a card table next to the fireplace and turned on the paper shredder. She ran her finger over the law office letterhead embossed on the upper left corner of envelope and then, without a moment’s hesitation or any flicker of emotion, extracted the contents and fed them into gnashing metal teeth