Sea of Love: A Bayberry Island Novel Read Free

move on. For ten years now he’d been a freelance closer for big developers, and the underhanded bullshit the job required was getting old, leaving him hollow and burned-out inside. Even before his best friend Brian died, he’d known he was done.
    And this particular deal—a hotel-casino-golf-marina monstrosity—smelled worse than the usual Jessop-Riley venture. Sure, Ash would go in there and convince the mermaid worshippers to let go of their land for less than top dollar, but then he was done with this part of his life. He wanted out. The only question was how, exactly, he would go about pulling the plug.
    No matter how he decided to do it, Ash’s life was about to take a decidedly different turn. At the time of Brian’s death, he had been chairman of Oceanaire, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to marine conservation and education. In his will he stipulated that Ash would take over as chairman. He couldn’t refuse his best friend, but Ash also saw it as an opportunity to kick-start changes in his life. Obviously, saving the oceans was a much nobler cause than the pursuit of wealth. Ash had more than his share of money, anyway. What he didn’t have was his lifelong best friend, a meaningful relationship, or anything close to a higher calling. And once he pulled out of his retainer agreements—with J-R and a whole slew of East Coast developers—he could give his full attention to Brian’s passion.
    Nothing would bring Brian back, of course, but Ash had come to see that his dearest friend’s request that he lead Oceanaire had been his last, great gift to him. If Brian dying in the small-plane crash had taught him anything, it was that life shouldn’t be taken for granted and he should stop wasting it on a soulless job that meant nothing to him.
    He checked the wind once more and glanced to the northeast. The white jib of the sailboat was pulled taut, luminous against a rolling purple-gray sky. Most of the sun was obscured by the storm clouds now, though at that moment, a pinpoint of light tracked the tiny dot of his sailboat as it cut through the vast sea, and the wonder of it took his breath away. Ash had always thought the foul-weather sea and sky were among the most gorgeous sights Mother Nature had to offer. It was Brian who had long ago pointed out that like many women they’d known, nature could be at her most beautiful when angry.
    A sudden gust of wind forced Ash to return at least some of his focus to the wheel and prepare to jibe, though it was a task he could probably accomplish in his sleep. He had complete faith in his skills as a sailor and in this boat. He’d inherited the thirty-two-foot classic cruiser from his grandfather, who had taught him to sail. Over the span of twenty years, Ash and Brian had survived many a hairy Atlantic storm in the
Provenance.
She was big enough to handle rough seas while maneuvering with speed and grace. That’s why Ash couldn’t help but laugh at what he was about to do—fake a breakdown and send out a distress call for a tow, an embarrassment he hadn’t suffered since he and Brian were inexperienced kids.
    If Brian were alive, he’d be the only person Ash would confess his devious methods to. Brian would disapprove, as he usually did when hearing about Ash’s job, but he would laugh until he cried at this particular story.
    As he turned the boat, Ash’s own laughter died. It had been six months, but Brian’s absence still felt like a knife twisting in his gut. Well-meaning people assured him that time would lessen his sense of loss, but he couldn’t see it happening. Because Ash was an only child of parents long dead, Brian had been more family than friend, and now that he was gone, Ash knew how it felt to be truly alone.
    It felt like being a tiny speck afloat in a vast foul-weather sea—only without the bright pinpoint of light to keep him company.
    Bayberry Island popped up on the horizon about two nautical miles from his position. The winds were