Return to Me (Blue Harbor Book 5) by Olivia Miles (most popular ebook readers .TXT) 📕

go back to that time and place where everything was just as it was supposed to be, when she was his and the future was theirs.

She stiffened and quickly began gathering up the pizza box. “The wind’s picking up. We won’t stay dry out here much longer.”

Sure, the rain was starting to blow onto the balcony, but Kyle wouldn’t have minded getting a little wet.

“We had our first kiss in the rain,” he reminded her. “You didn’t mind getting your hair a little wet then.”

Her hands stilled on the pizza box for a moment but then she stood, saying briskly, “Well, I didn’t have expensive highlights back then.”

He arched a brow. Used the opportunity as an excuse to let himself properly stare at her, take her all in. “Is that what’s different about you?”

Her smile was gone now. “A lot’s different about me, Kyle.”

Yes, he realized with a heaviness in his chest. A lot was different. Her smile was gone, and so was her lightness, her carefree laughter, and maybe even some of her optimism.

And maybe he was to blame for that.

“Well,” he said, clearing his throat. “I should probably get started on those shelves.”

“It’s fine. I’ll call Gus in the morning. Really.”

But Kyle shook his head. “I’m a man of my word,” he said, with a little grin, but there was a sadness that came over Brooke’s eyes.

“Yes, you are,” she said.

And they both knew that she was referring to his insistence to take over the pub after his father’s passing, even if it had cost him everything else that mattered.

Especially her.

11

By Friday night, Brooke was almost surprised that Kyle hadn’t tried to tie her down with another date, not that she didn’t have an excuse handy. It was ladies night, or at least that’s what Gabby was calling it. Her sister was determined to make up for lost time.

She wasn’t the only one, Brooke thought wryly.

Brooke sat at her desk in the shop, putting the finishing touches on the bridesmaid dress sketches for her Pine Falls client until her alarm clock alerted her that it was time to go. She smiled to herself. Yes, she was a planner, but she was also the type to get lost in a creative endeavor and lose all touch with time and the outside world, and if there was one thing Brooke didn’t like, it was showing up late.

Or letting people down.

She swallowed back the bitter taste when she considered that Kyle hadn’t felt the same compulsion. He’d let her down in more ways than one, and he hadn’t apologized for it yet either.

Maybe it was because he was content with his choice. No regrets.

Whereas she…

Brooke shook that off. Three meet-ups down, three to go. She didn’t know why the thought depressed her. She was only halfway through her time with Kyle, and so far, all it had accomplished was making her think more about the past than she’d cared to ever before.

With a light denim jacket draped over her arm, she locked up behind her and hurried down the street toward the Yacht Club, tonight’s rendezvous of choice, not that she was arguing. No Bradfords. No Harrisons. With any luck, none of the guys in their life at all. A proper ladies night was in order. She didn’t even want to talk about men.

Unfortunately, Gabby had other ideas.

“See the guy over at the bar?” she asked, jutting her chin. “I caught his eye and smiled at him only to watch his wife appear thirty seconds later and plant a kiss on his mouth.”

Brooke laughed and pulled out her chair. “I thought this was a ladies night.”

Gabby groaned. “I know, but I need to get my mind off Candy.” She poured Brooke a margarita from the pitcher she’d already ordered.

“Uh-oh, what happened?” She tried not to laugh. Chances were, in due time, she’d be having issues of her own with the blushing bride-to-be.

“Oh, more new ideas for the flowers, of course. Every week it’s something. I don’t know how many times I’m supposed to redesign it all!”

Brooke bit her lip. That was an issue.

She took a sip of her drink and thought about it. “Maybe we can join forces. Put some rules in place? I want to keep my clients happy, but I also can’t come up with fifteen different designs and then have more and more changes.”

“A fixed number of revisions before an hourly rate starts to apply?” Gabby laughed but then shrugged. “I hate to say it, but it might be necessary for some of the more demanding customers.”

“It’s one more aspect of running a business that I hadn’t considered until now.” Brooke sighed.

Gabby frowned at her. “Hey, you’re where you’re supposed to be. Doing what you love.”

Brooke chewed her lip. The doubts were there, still, and she didn’t want to get into it, not when just thinking about how her time had been spent in New York made her feel uneasy. Had she honed her skills, learned tricks of the trade that would make her more of a success here than she ever would have been in the city?

Or had she thrown everything away, only to end up not having what it took? Just to end up back in her hometown, right where she’d started?

“Speaking of love,” Gabby said, and despite herself, Brooke had to laugh. “Hey, I can’t help it! I wrote the sweetest card today for a husband who wanted to surprise his wife on their fiftieth wedding anniversary with fifty long-stem roses. Fifty years together! Can you even imagine?”

Brooke pulled in a breath and leveled her sister with a look. No, she clearly couldn’t imagine. She and Kyle hadn’t even lasted fifty days.

“Fifty years and I can’t even remember