Holidays at Crescent Cove Read Free

and Estes.”
    â€œHer father is a lawyer; why should this be so surprising?”
    Nick opened Connor’s menu. Closed his own. “I don’t know. I do know that for some reason no one has said, Grace is estranged from her family.”
    â€œI kind of figured that from a couple of the things she said while we were working on the restoration campaign.”
    â€œThat’s all I know. Maybe her reaction was because of that.”
    â€œMargaux didn’t tell you?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œDo you think Margaux knows?”
    â€œI’m sure she does.”
    â€œHave you asked her?”
    â€œNo.”
    Jake put down his menu and frowned at Nick. “I thought there weren’t supposed to be secrets between a man and his wife.”
    â€œWhere did you hear that?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œThere’s a difference between secrets and confidences that have nothing to do with me or our marriage.”
    Jake guffawed. “For a man who’s been married for all of three weeks, you sure act like an expert.”
    Nick smiled. The kind of smile that showed how happy he was, an expression Jake had never seen on his friend until Margaux came into his life. He felt just a pang of envy.
    The waitress brought their food, and Jake moved the newspaper to the seat beside him. But as he cut into his steak and eggs, he couldn’t help but ponder Grace’s sudden departure.
    He didn’t get her. He liked her. Hell, she was smart and funny and pretty in a lawyer kind of way. Not over the top gorgeous like Bri or Margaux, but more to Jake’s taste, not that he was thinking about getting involved or anything.
    Still, with Nick married, Jake felt like time was running out. His father had accused him of becoming an old confirmed bachelor; he knew a couple of guys who even thought he wasn’t interested in women at all.
    He just never seemed to have the time to look around for someone special, and he wasn’t interested in the few women who seemed interested in him.
    Nick was taking turns eating and wiping syrup off Connor’s hands and face, cutting his pancakes, eating his own eggs, and looking at Jake as if he expected him to say something.
    He didn’t know what to say. He felt deflated, in a way. He’d been looking forward to breakfast with everyone, especially with Grace. He’d hardly seen her since the petition had been approved, and when he did see her, she always seemed too busy to talk.
    Maybe she was behind in her own work because of the time she’d spent on getting the boardwalk historical status. Or maybe he had just been handy for research on the history of the buildings and was no longer needed.
    Not that it mattered. They were just friends.
    â€œAre you still worrying about Grace?”
    Jake looked up to see Nick watching him.
    â€œNo . . . Kind of. It just seems weird. The way she reacted. Running out of here.”
    â€œYou were looking forward to having breakfast with her, weren’t you?”
    Nick’s concerned expression was slowly changing to one of speculation. You couldn’t put much past Nick. At least he couldn’t. Maybe because they’d been friends for about thirty of their thirty-eight, soon to be thirty-nine years.
    Jake picked up his coffee mug while he thought of something to say that didn’t bust him.
    â€œMargaux says you two are perfect for each other.”
    Jake choked on his coffee. He quickly grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and wiped his mouth. “What the hell? You sound like a girl.”
    â€œAnd you sound like a guy that’s just been found out. So . . . is she right?”
    â€œA girly girl.”
    â€œKevin Foster called Emmet Jalowski a girl on the playground the other day and Emmet punched him,” said Connor, seriously. “Emmet got sent to the principal’s office. And his dad had to come pick him up early.”
    â€œWell, I’m not