Love Redone in Hidden Harbor (Island County Book 2) Read Free

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    “At the appointment with his brother to discuss flowers.”
    “Brothers of the groom don’t usually show up to pick out flowers,” I laughed and shook my head.
    Nick slid his phone over to me, and I glanced down at a picture recognizing Anthony Hill immediately. He didn’t look much different than when I’d last seen him. His brown hair looked a little more styled, but other than that he looked like the same old Anthony. I wondered what Cole looked like. I’d done such a good job of never looking him up. I didn’t even know what he did for a living.
    That was how over him I was.
    “I saw the band at the Paramount a few months ago,” Andrea continued. “Their music is amazing live. The band is phenomenal.”
    “ We saw the band,” Nick corrected.
    I didn’t like how Andrea seemed more interested in Anthony than Nick.
    “It’s got to sting extra now,” Andrea chirped, stretching.
    Nick flashed me a funny look and I smiled.
    “No, not really.”
    “Do you know what Cole does for a living?” Andrea asked.
    “Nope, and unless he mentions it during our flower consultation, I plan on leaving it that way,” I warned her.
    “So you haven’t ever looked him up?” she pried.
    I shook my head.
    “Not once?”
    “Not even once, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
    Andrea didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, but I didn’t care. The truth was that I didn’t think I could handle looking Cole up. What good would that do anyway? It had been eight years. Why would I make things worse on myself by looking him up? I knew how my mind operated. First, I’d casually look up his name, and then I’d start thinking about him. Then, I’d look him up again, and I’d start wondering about Cole, formulating questions I’d never have answers to. I’d give him a resting place in my brain that he didn’t deserve. The process didn’t sound like a fun one. In fact, merely thinking about Cole and his brother made my stomach turn into a knotted mess, and I doubted my decision to meet with him about wedding flowers.
    “Maybe you could give back Pickles,” Nick half-joked.
    “Pickles and I have made it for this many years, we might as well go the whole stretch. Besides, she’s getting up there in age.”
    “You’ve barely made it this many years. You do remember why she no longer lives at home with you and is the shop cat, right?” Nick grinned mischievously.
    Even though Pickles didn’t like me, I’d grown to understand her and she had a place in my heart. Granted, that place in my heart was wrapped with Kevlar, but she had one.
    “You were afraid to even go home at night,” Sophie chimed in. “Remember that one time she was hiding on top of the bookcase by your front door, and when you came home she pounced on your head and clawed your ear?”
    “She left a mark on that one.” I grumbled, touching the puffy scar on my ear.
    “What about when she’d hide under the couch and wait until you took your shoes off before attacking. She’d wrap her paws around your ankles and sink her claws into your flesh. You couldn’t even shake her off.”
    A shiver of fear swam through my body at the memory. How could I forget?
    “Or what about the time you had to barricade yourself in your bedroom?” Nick asked, wagging his finger in my direction. “It took Sophie and I to come over with a can of tuna fish to get Pickles away from the door and you out of the bedroom.”
    “And you’ve kept this thing?” Andrea hissed.
    “It’s not a thing. It’s a living being with some sort of troubled past. That’s the only thing I can come up with. I’m sure she had kitten trauma or something. I can’t just turn my back on Pickles.”
    “Not to mention she was a gift from the love of her life,” Sophie muttered under her breath. I shot her a dirty look and she shrugged.
    “That cat would be out on its ears if I’d had to deal with it,” Andrea continued. “I wouldn’t care who gave it to me. Even if it