Sweetheart Cottage (Cranberry Bay #1) by Mindy Hardwick Read Free Book Online

you’re doing great in reading and science.” Lisa pulled Lauren close to her. “Maybe Maddie would like to work with you. She’s good in math, right sweetie?” Lauren turned and smiled a tight smile at her daughter.
    “Is it a paying job?” Maddie asked, lifting her eyes away from her obsessive study of her cell phone and up to her Mom.
    “Of course not.” Lisa snapped. “Lauren is your niece. She’s family.”
    “Oh.” Maddie drew a circle with her finger on the island’s granite counter. “I was hoping to make some money, for college and everything.”
    “Family helps each other.” Bryan stepped toward Maddie. “We’ll deal with college when it gets here.”
    “Okay, I guess. It looks like I’ll have the time here to help her. There’s nothing to do in this dump of a town.”
    Bryan shook his head. He wasn’t sure what had happened to Maddie in the time since he’d seen her last, but she was not the same sweet girl he remembered. He reached into the cabinet above his head and pulled down a heavy blue coffee cup. Maddie was still a child. She may be a surly one, but she was still a child. Inside all of that rudeness, she was still the niece he loved, and he was determined to win her affections again.
    He poured himself a cup of coffee, dumped a spoonful of sugar into the black liquid, and reached into the cabinet above his head to pull down a bag of chocolate cream cookies that Sawyer always kept on hand. The bag was unopened, and Bryan carried it to the island, ripped off the top, and pulled out a seat beside Maddie. “Cookie?” He held out the bag.
    Maddie shook her head. She moved her cell phone away from Bryan and stuck it into her jacket pocket.
    Bryan pulled out two sandwich cookies. “How are you?” He eased back on the stool. He was used to working with teens. He had a regular rotation of kids during the summer parks season. Sometimes there was someone who didn’t want to work the job. Usually, with a little patience and kindness, the teen would come around.
    “I hate this place.” Maddie slumped onto her stool. She placed her head between her hands.
    “This place?” Bryan twisted one of the cookies open and placed the chocolate cookie top on the counter. “I kinda thought Sawyer’s house was a pretty cool place to be myself. There’s this great kitchen. He’s always got good cookies.” Bryan raised one of the chocolate cookies to Maddie in a toast.
    “Not here,” Maddie raised her voice. “I hate Cranberry Bay.”
    “That’s enough!” Lisa said sharply and stood up. She ran her hands through her hair. “We talked about this and agreed there would be no negative talk about Cranberry Bay.”
    Bryan unscrewed the second cookie top and placed it beside the first. He merged the two cookies together to make one cookie with extra icing. “How long are you staying?” he asked his niece.
    “Too long.” Maddie turned away from him and stared at the table.
    Bryan raised an eyebrow at his sister.
    “For awhile,” she said. “We need to get out of Seattle for a little bit. There was some trouble with Maddie.” Lisa’s lips tightened.
    “Just say it, Mom,” Maddie said. “I stole a few things and had to spend some time at the juvenile detention center. I’m a criminal.”
    Lisa crossed her hands over her chest. “You are not a criminal. You just got in with some wrong people.”
    Maddie shrugged and turned toward the TV.
    “We’ll get through this,” Bryan said, reassuring his sister. Family was important, and they had always supported each other. “You’ll be staying with Sawyer? He’s got a lot of great rooms upstairs.”
    Sawyer cleared his throat and stepped away from the TV. “I’m giving them the carriage house.”
    “The carriage house? I thought that was the place I rented.” Bryan pushed back the stool and stood up. The carriage house had one bedroom and a loft. It wasn’t big enough for the three of them.
    “Sorry, brother.” Sawyer lowered his