The Cottage Next Door by Georgia Bockoven Read Free Book Online

you up there.”
    “Can I see?”
    “Sure—­but it can get claustrophobic.”
    “I don’t mind. I was stuck inside a paper-­mache cow for four hours and did okay.”
    “You don’t expect me to let that one go.”
    She pulled the elastic band from her hair and shook her head. “I was in Future Farmers of America in high school and we made an overly ambitious float for the Fourth of July parade. The cow was supposed to be animated, but the motor stopped running just as we pulled into line. Which meant we either settled for second place—­ again —­or put someone inside to manipulate the head and tail by hand. That someone turned out to be me.”
    “The parade lasted four hours?” Michael had an insane urge to touch her hair to see if it really was as soft and silky as it looked.
    “Oh, there’s more.” She grinned. “The hole I crawled through wouldn’t stay closed so someone came up with the brilliant idea to use superglue. Of course all this happened before they told us that an alarm had gone off at a bank on the parade route and we wouldn’t be allowed to start until they made sure it was safe.
    “So, I either stayed inside the cow or they cut a hole in its belly. Which meant we would have a mutilated nonfunctioning animated cow as the main feature on our float. This was the first time in three years that we actually had a chance at first place. You can understand why no one was anxious to cut me out.”
    Michael showed her the apartment and it was everything she could do to keep from asking about the rent, knowing there was no way she could afford it. Not only was the apartment the perfect size, it was fully furnished and decorated in all her favorite colors.
    They left the apartment and went down the hallway to another locked door. This room held the circular steel stairway. Every riser creaked and groaned; the sides came in closer and closer as the tower narrowed. Finally, they reached the top. Michael unlatched a window and swung it open before he moved aside so Diana could join him.
    “Oh, wow,” she said, leaning forward until she could see the entire coastline over the rooftops of the single-­story homes between the gallery and the beach. Sailboats skimmed the sun-­dappled water, a dozen surfers lazily rode their boards as they waited for a wave. “Wow, wow, wow. I’ll bet you used to spend a lot of time up here. I know I would.”
    “It’s even better at night, especially in winter when it’s clear and there’s a full moon and the air is crisp and cold. I used to imagine this was a real lighthouse on an isolated point of land and it was just me and the seagulls.”
    “I’m not sure I could do that—­be a lighthouse keeper, I mean. I don’t mind being alone, but not for more than a day or two at a time.”
    Michael spotted something to his left. “Look over here,” he said, pointing.
    “Give me a hint what I’m looking for.”
    “Just keep watching.”
    Nothing happened. “I don’t see anything.” And then she did. “Oh my God,” she grabbed his arm. “Is that a whale?”
    “It is.”
    “Why is she coming up out of the water like that?”
    “It’s called breaching, and she could either do it all day or come up one time and disappear.” He’d forgotten how great it felt to share the excitement of someone discovering the magic of the ocean for the first time.
    “This is just so friggin’ cool.”
    He liked her enthusiasm almost as much as he liked that she hadn’t immediately let go of his arm. She was so close he could feel her warmth and smell a trace of lavender in her hair. A sobering thought threaded its way through his mind. The more confident he made her feel about fitting in, the harder it was going to be to tell her she didn’t. “Once you’ve been here a while, you’ll get used to it.”
    “No, I won’t.” And she wouldn’t. This was too special.
    “ There —­” He pointed again, only this time straight out in front of them.
    She looked in