The Inn at Eagle Point Read Free

vacation? Your honeymoon, I'll bet. You know you could use a
break, and the girls would love being here. They should spend some quality time
in the town their grandfather built and where you grew up. Gram could spoil them
rotten for a couple of weeks. Please. I wouldn't ask if it weren't
important."

"Life-or-death important?" Abby asked. It was an old exchange, used
to rank whether any crisis was truly monumental or only a temporary blip in
their lives.

"It could be," Jess said seriously. "At least in the sense that
my whole future's at stake. I think you're the only one who can fix this, or at
least the only one I'm willing to ask for help."

Struck by the somber tone in her voice, Abby said, "Maybe you'd better
tell me right now."

"You need to be here to understand. If you can't stay for a couple of
weeks, then at least come for a few days. Please."

There was something in her sister's voice that Abby had never heard before, an
urgency that suggested she wasn't exaggerating her claim that her future was at
stake. Since Jess was the only one of the five siblings who'd been floundering
for a focus since reaching adulthood, Abby knew she couldn't turn her back on
her. And admittedly a break would do Abby herself a world of good. Hadn't she
just been bemoaning her workaholic tendencies earlier tonight?

She smiled, thinking about how wonderful it would be to breathe the salty
Chesapeake Bay air again. Even better, she would have uninterrupted time with
her girls in a place where they could swing on the playground her father had
designed for the town park, build sand castles on the beach and run barefoot
through the chilly waters of the bay.

"I'll work something out tomorrow and be down there by the weekend,"
she promised, giving in. She glanced at her jam-packed schedule and grimaced.
"I can only make it for a couple of days, okay?"

"A week," Jess pleaded. "I don't think this can be fixed in a
day or two."

Abby sighed. "I'll see what I can work out."

"Whatever you can arrange," Jess said at once, seizing the
compromise. "Let me know when your flight's getting in and I'll pick you
up."

"I'll rent a car," Abby said.

"After all these years in New York, do you actually remember how to
drive?" Jess teased. "Or even how to get home?"

"My memory's not that bad," Abby responded. "See you soon,
sweetie."

"I'll call Gram and let her know you're coming."

"Tell her not to go to any trouble, okay?" Abby said, knowing it
would be a waste of breath. "We'll go out to eat. I've been dying for some
Maryland crabs."

"No way," her sister countered. "It's a little early in the
season, but if you want steamed crabs, I'll find 'em somewhere and pick them up
for Friday-night dinner. We can eat on the porch, but I'm not about to stop
Gram from cooking up a storm. I say let the baking begin."

Abby laughed at her enthusiasm. Gram's baking—pies, tarts, cookies, scones,
cakes—was pretty amazing. There'd been a time in her life when Abby had wanted
to learn all those traditional family recipes and open a bakery, but that was
before she'd discovered an interest in and aptitude for the financial world.
That had been her ticket out of Chesapeake Shores.

Now, after more than ten hectic years away—years spent climbing a treacherous
corporate ladder, marrying, giving birth to twins and divorcing—she was going
home for a real visit, something longer than a rushed weekend with barely time
to relax before it was time to fly back to New York. She couldn't help
wondering, based on the dire tone in Jess's voice, if that was a good thing or
not.
    *
* *
    "Couldn't you at least put on a tie?" Lawrence
Riley grumbled, scowling at his son. "If you're going to take over this
bank, you need to set a good example for the employees. You can't come in here
looking as if you just climbed off the back of a Harley."

Trace regarded his father with amusement. "That's exactly what I did. My
bike's in the parking lot."

His father's frown deepened. "I thought I