That Carolina Summer (North Carolina) by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page B

promised, but Josh had already turned to leave. “Thank you,” she called after him.
    As his long unhurried strides carried him away, Annette remained outside the door a minute longer to watch him leave. Then her glance was pulled down to the sweater clutched in her hands. The elation of triumph propelled her inside the hotel room. An airy jubilant laugh spilled from her throat as she waltzed across the room and hugged herself, her eyes sparkling and alive.
    “It worked, Marsha!” she called, trying to make herself heard above the noise of the shower.
    “What?” came the half-muffled reply.
    “I said it worked!” Annette shouted.
    “I can't hear you!” she yelled back.
    “Turn off the water!” It was several seconds before the noise subsided and Marsha ducked her head outside the bathroom door.
    “Has he gone?” she asked.
    “Yes.” Annette was smiling broadly. “It worked!"
    “Good. Another minute and I would have turned into a prune,” Marsha declared.
    Annette stared at her dripping sister as Marsha wrapped a towel around herself. “You haven't been in the shower all this time?"
    There was a blank look at the question. “You told me to stay there until you called."
    “You idiot,” Annette laughed. “I meant that you should stay in the bathroom."
    “That isn't what you said,” Marsha retorted.
    “Well, you weren't supposed to take me literally.” It was very hard not to smile.
    “Did he bring back my sweater?” Marsha changed the subject.
    Annette presented it to her with a little flourish. “Here it is.” Then she couldn't contain her excitement any longer. “He kissed me, Marsha."
    “And?” Marsha thought surely there was an invitation to go out on a date. She would have thought that the dropped-sweater trick was worth more than a kiss.
    “That's all,” Annette admitted, but it didn't lessen the warm glow. “It's enough for now."
     

 
    Chapter Four
     
    THE ANGLING LIGHT from the morning sun glinted on the blue waters separating Wrightsville Beach from the mainland. Diving from overhead, a screeching gull swooped, close to shore. Annette slowed out of her jogging trot into a walk, stretching her legs now and then so the muscles wouldn't cramp. She angled off the path onto the sandy beach. The small marina belonging to the hotel complex was in sight just ahead.
    It had been another fruitless morning with no sign of Josh. She would have quit jogging every day except that she didn't want Josh to think that she ran only in the hopes of seeing him. She wanted him to believe it was part of her normal routine. Actually she was beginning to enjoy it and was physically invigorated by the exercise.
    A chunk of blond hair had worked free of its ponytail. Annette slipped the elastic band off her hair and shook her head to let her hair tumble loose about her shoulders. Running her fingers through it, she lifted its long mass to let the cool sea breeze reach her scalp. Across the waters the mainland of North Carolina stood sharply against the horizon, and she paused to look at it.
    Behind her she heard the sound of feet running through the sand toward her. She half turned to glance idly behind her. It was a full second before it registered that the young man with the burnished gold hair was Craig, the waiter. Without the uniform he looked very much the beach type in his pale blue slacks and the fishnet T-shirt in a darker shade of blue.
    “Hello.” His smile was wide and full of charm. “I knew if I kept looking I'd find you out here somewhere, jogging away the morning."
    “You were right,” Annette agreed with only a polite amount of welcome in her voice. He wasn't exactly the person she wanted to meet this morning, but when she resumed her walk, Craig fell in step beside her. “I take it you have the weekend off, or at least today,” she remarked with a pointed glance at his clothes.
    “The hotel rotates our schedules so everybody gets at least one full weekend off a summer. This is my