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

slippery.”
    She looked down at my feet, and I got the feeling she was trying her hardest not to roll her eyes. “We’re going to need to get you some different shoes,” she said. “There are about a million ways heels like that can cause you trouble on this island.”
    Before I could snap back my response, Jerry stepped toward us. “I’m so sorry, Iris,” he said, looking worried. Over his shoulder, I could make out the shape of David’s broad back as he stalked down the dock. Thanks for the welcome , I thought, annoyed. Posey’s eyes followed mine, but if she thought it odd that David didn’t say goodbye, she didn’t mention it.
    “I was just showing her my new chicken,” Jerry explained to Posey. “She’s a beautiful thing, you should really see her.” His eyes darted over to mine. “I had no idea she would scare you so much, Iris.”
    Awesome impression I was making already. Now Jerry thought I was afraid of ferries, rain, and chickens.
    Not that he was wrong, necessarily.
    “I was just startled,” I explained. “I’m sure she’s, uh, a very nice chicken.”
    He beamed and Posey slipped her arm though mine. “We should get you home. Everyone is so excited to see you.”
    “Don’t you worry about your things, Iris,” Jerry said, patting my shoulder with his bear-paw-sized hand. “I’ll get Mac from the tackle shop to help me bring them by the house.”
    “Oh, you don’t have to do that—”
    “It’s no problem,” he said. “Least I can do for nearly spooking you into the bay.” He grinned. “Besides, if I know your grandmother, she’s been waiting all day to spoil you with something delicious out of her oven. I never turn down the chance to visit Rose’s kitchen.”
    I pushed away the remnants of my fear and any lingering thoughts of the interaction with my high school boyfriend, feeling, for the first time in days, something like excitement at Jerry’s words. It was good to see Posey, of course, she being the main reason I had chosen this place to seek my refuge. But my cousin had visited me in Chicago only a few months ago on a shopping trip with her fiancé, Paul. My grandmother, on the other hand… It had been too long.
    “Let’s go,” Posey said, her eyes soft as they searched my face. I got the feeling that she knew exactly what I had been thinking as she steered me down the dock. Posey had always been good at reading my moods.
    Despite the fact that we grew up hundreds of miles a part, my cousin had been my best friend since our mothers first plopped us down in the same playpen. Born within two weeks of each other, our similarities pretty much ended there, vastly outnumbered by our differences. Posey was energetic, enthusiastic, and more than a little scattered, while I prided myself on efficiency and organization. I had also been told by more than one disgruntled boyfriend that I needed to work on being less detached, a trait Posey could never claim.
    My cousin played softball and soccer all through our school years. I was basically allergic to sports of any kind. She could spend hours curled up with a book—I started getting anxious if I had to sit still with anything longer than a magazine. And while I loved to shop, considering clothes one of the singular necessities of life, my cousin generally pulled on whatever was clean. Today was no exception—dressed in cut off jean shorts, an old Dr. Pepper T-shirt, and a pair of black chucks, her hair piled up in a messy knot on top of her head, Posey looked comfortingly familiar.
    I felt a rush of affection for her and slipped my arm through hers—walking arm in arm was our thing.
    “Thanks, Jerry,” she called over her shoulder. “See you at the fish fry tomorrow?”
    “You better, since I’m bringing the fish.”
    Posey snorted, turning to walk backward. “I’d like to see the day when Jerry Brooks brings in enough fish for the whole town.”
    His gruff laughter chased us down the dock. When we stepped onto the