The Sweetheart Bargain (A Sweetheart Sisters Novel) Read Free

It’s . . . a whole lot more than I expected.” She forced brightness to her voice. “Turns out there’s an animal shelter on the property, too. It’s . . . it’s closed down now.”
    “Animal shelter? Why, that’s right up your alley. Sounds like the perfect place for you.”
    “Yup. Exactly what I imagined.”
    Why was she surprised? Her biological mother had left her crying in a bassinet, alone, unwanted. Now Bridget Tuttle had saddled her daughter with a disaster that looked just as abandoned as Olivia had felt all these years. The letdown hung heavy on her shoulders, ached in her gut. She fought the urge to cry.
    She drew in a deep breath, straightened her spine. She refused to let this set her back. She was here for a new start, and by God, she was going to get one, even if it meant calling in the entire crew from This Old House to help her.
    “I better let you go now, Ma, so I can get moved in and settled before dark.”
    “Okay. Take care of yourself.”
    “I will. You do the same.” She gripped the phone, her last connection to the life she’d impulsively left behind, and wished she could send a hug through the cell. “I love you, Ma.”
    “I love you, too, honey.” A hitch sounded in Anna’s voice. “Call soon, okay?”
    “I will.” Olivia tucked the phone into her purse, then parked in the cracked driveway. Weeds sprang up here and there, determined green stalks asserting themselves in the broken concrete. She unbuckled the dog from her doggie car seat, then put up a palm in command. “Stay here, Miss Sadie, while I check things out. Okay?”
    Miss Sadie barked, bounced a couple of times, then settled in the passenger seat. Olivia climbed out of the Toyota and took a moment to stretch her legs, her back. Maybe if she got a little closer, she’d see that the house wasn’t as bad as she thought.
    Nope. It was worse. Like opening a candy bar and finding brussels sprouts underneath the wrapper.
    “Damn.” Olivia shook her head and had started to turn back toward the car when her gaze landed on a long, golden body beside the shelter.
    Beneath the tattered remains of a red-and-white awning lay an emaciated golden retriever. Hurt? Dead? Sleeping? Olivia bent down, put out a hand, and kept her voice high, friendly. Nonthreatening. “Hey, puppy,” she said to the too-thin, too-quiet dog. “Come here.”
    The dog didn’t move. Didn’t twitch so much as a floppy ear or raise its dark snout. Olivia inched forward. The golden retriever remained still. Olivia’s gut churned, and she held her breath, waiting for any sign, any movement, anything.
    Olivia took another step, then another, moving slow, cautious. All the while saying a silent prayer that the dog was alive.
    And then, a slight flick of a tail, and Olivia’s heart leapt. “Okay, puppy. Okay. That’s good.” She smiled and put out her hand again. A strong breeze whistled through and the building’s roof swayed, creaked, then let out an ominous crackle. “Come on out from there, okay? Before you get hurt.”
    The dog didn’t budge.
    “Are you hungry? Hmm?” Olivia looked back at her sedan, loaded to the gills with boxes and clothes. Miss Sadie’s tiny white butterball body popped up and down, her excited yips carrying through the lowered window and into the yard. When Miss Sadie was working in a therapy environment, she was calm, even-tempered, obedient. When she wasn’t, the nearly four-year-old dog was all puppy. Now wasn’t a time for puppy energy.
    Olivia turned back to the golden retriever and as she did, her gaze roamed the depressing scene before her: over the missing and cracked siding, the ivy weaving its way into the casements, the still, silent air conditioner covered with Spanish moss. The lawyer had lied. This wasn’t a gift—this was a catastrophe. A catastrophe Olivia had almost no budget to repair.
    Had she made an incredible mistake? Thrown away her life in Boston, on a whim?
    But what kind of life had she had,