Summer at the Heartbreak Cafe: Summer Sweet Romance (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 0) Read Free

Kevin said, dropping his laptop on the small table by the hallway and loosening his tie.
    Grace tilted her head and smiled fondly. Kevin looked perpetually harassed. His short hair, dirty blond and curly was untidy from constantly running his hand through it. His tie hung askew on the left side and his eyes looked tired.
    “You look like you could do with a rest.”
    “Yes, but that’s not going to happen,” he said tersely. “Let’s go into the living room for a second, OK?”
    Grace’s insides twisted immediately at the realisation that something was wrong. Had Kevin lost his job? Her heart beat fast, knowing what a disaster that would be. They had a huge mortgage and she was just thinking of returning to university for her master’s degree and then get a job, after four years of being a (part-time) stay-at-home-mum.
    Oh no, please don’t let it be that he has lost his job.
    She clenched and unclenched her hands as she followed her husband into the living room. She sat on the edge of the chair facing Kevin, the coffee table between them. Her brain which had been swarming with jumbled up thoughts was now still, as she waited to hear his news.
    “It’s about this Lakeview trip…” Kevin began.
    Her body relaxed a little. Maybe he hadn’t lost his job after all.
    “I can’t go, honey, not now. Back in January when we booked it, all seemed fine but there’s just too much going on at the moment with the takeover. I can’t just take off for two weeks straight. Not now at least. I can maybe try and go down there at weekends though?”
    Grace’s first reaction was relief. Relief that normal family existence could continue uninterrupted. It didn’t last long though. Her mind shifted quickly to the upcoming summer holiday to Wicklow, and her eyes widened.
    “So I’ll be going to Lakeview alone with the boys?” She wasn't sure if this notion was more terrifying than the idea of Kevin losing his job.
    “You’ll be fine. In fact you’ll be better off without me. You get to do what you want whenever you want without three men in the mix.”
    “No. Let’s cancel the trip altogether,” Grace said, a panicky feeling crawling from her toes so that by the time it got to her chest, she felt incapable of thought.
    “What? Why? Of course you’ll be fine. Besides, the boys are so excited about going to the cottage.”
    “But what if something goes wrong while we’re there?”
    “Like what?”
    “What if they get sick?”
    “There are GPs in Lakeview,” Kevin pointed out.
    Grace tried to think of the million other things that could go wrong with her taking care of the twins on her own in a strange place for a whole two weeks.
    Kevin sounded so confident in her abilities, yet, that heavy feeling in her stomach refused to go away. In theory, going to the small holiday town with her twin sons didn’t sound so difficult, but in practice, it was a whole different ball game.
    Grace found herself nodding and agreeing although she didn’t have much of a choice really. As an executive of one of the top marketing firms in the country, which had just been taken over by the biggest, Kevin’s job was a big deal, and they couldn’t jeopardise that for a holiday.
    The shrill of the landline broke the silence in the house. Grace stood up quickly and went to the hallway hoping the noise had not woken up the twins.
    “Hello.” She said into the receiver.
    “Hi Grace, its Christine. I was just calling to remind you about those summer classes for the boys? I’ve signed my two up for life skills classes for next week and taekwondo after that. There’s also piano lessons at the - ”
    Once again Grace felt her anxiety levels rise. She’d completely forgotten about booking summer classes for the kids. It was hard enough trying to remember everything they might need for their upcoming trip.
    “I’ll look into it when we come back from holiday OK? Thanks for reminding me though. Coffee when we return?”
    After she and her