Where Your Heart Is (Lilac Bay Book 1) Read Free

functional mini computer right there in my purse? That would provide some distraction for the horrible journey at the very least.
    The beep had been a notification of a new email. I hit the mail icon and gulped as my eyes fell on my father’s name, a new kind of nervousness slowly trickling through me. Despite my earlier fantasy that he might unexpectedly come home to fix everything, I wasn’t entirely sure I was actually ready for his return.
    I scanned the email quickly and breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know.
    Oh, it wouldn’t take long for word to reach him, I was sure, even with the Atlantic Ocean between us. Was it the Atlantic? The last we had spoken, he was in Paris, but that had been a week ago and a lot could change in a week. His crazy schedule of work and travel might slow down the flow of gossip in his direction, but we worked in the same industry, with many of the same colleagues. He would find out about my mistakes sooner or later. Probably sooner.
    Assured that he was still safely in the dark, I went back and read the email more carefully, wincing when I realized he was wishing me luck on the deal. I could have used that luck a few days ago. Before the world had tipped upside down. Before I single-handedly ruined the biggest deal of my career, losing my clients millions—and myself a dream job.
    All because I was upset about a fight with my boyfriend , I thought bitterly. Even worse than losing the job was knowing why I had lost it. I hadn’t been outperformed by a competitor. I hadn’t been screwed over by uncontrollable market forces. I had lost the deal all on my own because I had been too forelorn and upset about my personal life to think clearly. I had missed the fact that there was another offer on the property and advised my client to lowball the seller. I had missed it because I was sad? Seriously? What kind of a professional was I? That was the worst part. I had been too weak to keep my emotions from getting in the way of my work. One little fight—okay, not little, we were breaking up, and I suppose that was a big deal, but still —and I go and do the one thing I had promised myself I would never do. I allowed an emotional attachment to get in the way of my success. I had let a silly relationship become more important than my goals.
    To say I was disgusted with myself would be an understatement.
    “See?” Jerry said beside me, pulling me from my self-recriminations. “Nearly there already. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
    I peered out the rain-splattered windows. Sure enough, the ferry had slowed and was pulling into the harbor. Through the rain, I could make out the green of distant evergreen forests, the rockiness of dramatic cliffs stretching off to the far side of the island, and closer to the dock, the cobblestone street that would lead into town.
    Lilac Bay Island. An insubstantial little rock in the middle of Lilac Bay. On the other side of the island, Lake Michigan stretched on and on for miles, an expanse of steely grey disappearing into the horizon. This was my new home for God knew how long. We had arrived.
    Getting off the ferry wasn’t quite as bad as boarding it had been. The rain had begun to let up, and the gangway was quite a bit wider than the one back on the mainland. Jerry again grasped my arm as he led me across to safety. This guy was definitely growing on me. I was feeling pretty silly for ever having thought he was scary.
    I watched as he helped the ferry crew unload our things onto the dock. There were my suitcases, my trunk, and Jerry’s crates, which I assumed were the reason for his trip to the mainland. Actually, hadn’t he said something about picking someone else up? Now that the terror had seeped away a little, the memory came back to me. Jerry had definitely said something back in the lot about picking up his own girl.
    “Jerry,” I called. “Aren’t we missing someone?”
    He turned to me, one of the crates in his arms, confusion on his