Harvest Moon (Brook Haven Romance Book 1) Read Free Page B

as he pulled it out, and the
little booger was even trying to bite him. He took him into the bathroom and
washed and cleaned up his leg. He bandaged it with medical tape, the whole
while struggling just to hang on to the wiggly little creature. After he
finished cleaning him up, he called his friend Sam.
    “Drake, what’s up?” Sam
sounded groggy, like he had been awakened from a deep sleep.
    “Hey, Sam, I’m sorry to
call so early—”
    “You forgot that I’m in
California, didn’t you?”
    “Oh, damn it! Yeah, I
did. I’m so sorry. It’s a lot earlier than I thought. I can—”
    “It’s okay, Drake, I’m
up now. What’s going on?”
    “Someone ran over Mama
Fox and I found two of her kits.”
    “Oh man. Do you have a
syringe and a heating pad?”
    “Um, I’ll have to look
for them both, but I think so.”
    Sam was the town
veterinarian and had grown up in Brook Haven with Drake. He had told Drake he
was going to California for a convention that week, but Drake had been so busy
with work it had slipped his mind.
    “Okay, so here is what
you need to do.”
    Drake spent another
precious half hour on the phone with his friend. By the time he did what he
needed to do and dropped the kits off with his uncle, he was running a half
hour late already. In spite of that, he just had to stop and look around a
little bit across the road. He didn’t see any signs of more kits. Unfortunately,
that probably meant something else had already gotten them. As he drove through
town on his way to the bed and breakfast, he was sorely tempted to stop at
Huckleberry’s and grab a cup of coffee but decided he didn’t have time. He
looked at his watch and told himself he was already late enough.
    As soon as he drove up
close to the house, he saw the beautiful owner kneeling on the front porch with
a hammer that was so big he was surprised she could hold it up. He tried to
shake off the remnants of the dream he’d had about her the night before as he
stepped out of the truck. He realized it was to no avail, however, when she
glanced over her shoulder at him and he got another look at those cool blue
eyes.
    “Good morning.”
    “Morning,” she said. Her
tone was a little short. He wondered if she was angry with him for being late.
Maybe he should have called.
    “I’m sorry I’m late—”
    “It’s fine.”
    There was no mistaking
that she really was annoyed. “Really, I’m sorry. I had some unexpected company
this morning—”
    “It’s really fine. It’s
just that my mother forgot about the rotten boards we talked about. She fell
through the porch this morning—”
    “Oh my God! Is she all right?”
Now he really felt bad.
    “Yeah, she twisted her
ankle a bit, I think.” She began hammering a long nail into the piece of
plywood she’d covered the hole with. As she hammered, the wood around the nail
split further and he heard her mumble a curse.  
    “We should probably
just replace most of this. It’s pretty warped and rotted.”
    She brushed her dark
hair out of her eyes and looked up at him again. Damn, she’s pretty, he thought once again.
    “How much will that
cost?”
    “I’d have to call and
get a price on the lumber, but I have a buddy over at the lumber yard that’ll
give me a pretty good deal.”
    Drake could tell by the
way she furrowed her pretty brow that she was feeling stressed even before she
said, “Am I being overly optimistic thinking this can all be finished and I can
open in time for the Harvest Festival?”
    “Optimistic is good,”
he told her with a smile. “Hey, why don’t I call my buddy and have him get the
lumber ready, then you can ride into town with me and we’ll get some
breakfast?”
    He couldn’t read the
look on her face, but suddenly he wasn’t very optimistic. “I should really stay
around here. I just have so much to do.”
    “Okay … yeah, I
understand. Well, I’ll call him and head into town. Can I bring you something
from the diner?”
    Again, there