Driftwood Cottage Read Free Page A

still claims he’s not dating your cousin Susie, they seem to spend every spare minute together,” Will taunted. “I’m thinking of writing some kind of case study for a psychology journal on the whole phenomenon of delusional nondating.”
    “Bite me,” Mack replied cheerfully, then took out his phone. “Pizza okay for everyone?”
    “Works for me,” Connor said, then looked pointedly at his unexpected guests. “As long as it doesn’t come with a side order of meddling.”
    “Absolutely not,” Kevin said solemnly.
    “Agreed,” Trace said.
    “No meddling with dinner,” Will said, then grinned. “We’re saving that for dessert.”
     
    “How’d things go with Heather today?” Mick asked Megan when they met for dinner at one of the small cafés along Shore Road in the same block as her gallery.
    “She’s getting settled in,” Megan told him. “I think her business is going to be wildly successful. She showed meher apartment upstairs today, too, and it’s adorable, just right for her and little Mick.”
    “I still don’t understand why she wouldn’t move into the house with us,” Mick grumbled. “Little Mick’s already comfortable there. We have plenty of room.”
    “And it would put the two of them right in Connor’s face every time he comes home,” Megan said. “Is that what you were hoping for?”
    “Well, why not?” Mick replied testily. “If those two would spend a little more time together, they could work things out. You know it as well as I do.”
    “I also know they can’t be rushed. Time apart may be the best thing for them right now.”
    Mick regarded his wife with amusement. “Don’t act as if you’re not doing your share of manipulating, woman. I know all about the way you put a bug in Kevin’s ear to spend some time with Connor tonight. The way I hear it, he, Jake, Trace, Will and Mack have all been dispatched to Connor’s place to extol the joys of married life.”
    Megan regarded him innocently. “Will and Mack aren’t married.”
    “Maybe not, but Will’s a shrink, so he has all sorts of insights to offer, I’m sure. As for Mack, he might as well be, for all the time he’s spending with Susie these days.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “I have no idea why my brother hasn’t stepped in and taken control of that situation. It’s time for Mack to get off the dime and propose to that girl, or at least admit he’s dating her.”
    “Your brother is not the natural-born meddler that you are,” Megan reminded him. “I’m sure Susie and Mack are very grateful for that.”
    “There you go, sounding all superior again, when Iknow for a fact you’re every bit the meddler that I am,” Mick accused.
    Megan laughed. “What can I say? I want all of our children to be as happy and settled as we are.”
    Mick studied her face, looking for any sign of discontent. After missing too many hints of unhappiness during their first marriage, he was determined to be attuned to every nuance of their relationship this time around.
    “You mean that?” he asked directly. “You’re happy?”
    “Of course I am. I have everything I could possibly want. You and I are back together. I’ve opened a business I love, and it’s gotten off to a solid start. And my relationship with each of our children is getting stronger every day. What could I possibly have to complain about?”
    “Maybe the fact that you never did get that honeymoon I promised you,” Mick suggested.
    Megan shrugged as if having the honeymoon of her dreams was of no consequence, even though they’d only been able to afford a trip to Ocean City for a weekend when they’d first wed all those years ago.
    “That’s my own fault, not yours,” she told him. “Everything started coming together for the gallery right after the first of the year. There was no time to get away.”
    “And now?” he asked. “You think you could spare a little time for me?”
    “The gallery’s opened. My assistant’s