Gah, there’s that sexy voice again, oozing over me. The way he says my name…if swooning were a real thing, I would be doing it.
I watch him turn and walk back to the front door of the inn, appreciating the view.
I love my cottage. It used to be my parents’ until they had us three girls and they had to move to a bigger house in town. When they died, we stayed in that house for a while, but the memories were too hard for me to handle. So I asked my grandmother, who was still running the inn at the time, if I could have the old cottage. She agreed and I’ve been here ever since. Tawny still lives in the house; she says she likes being there. Kayla stays with one of us when she’s in town, which isn’t often these days.
I unlock my front door and step inside, taking a deep breath filled with the comfort and relief of being home. This is my sanctuary.
I make my way through my tiny living room, leaving my suitcase at the end of the hall that leads to my bedroom and bathroom. In the kitchen, I fill the kettle to make some herbal tea, and fill a pitcher of water for my plants. Kayla calls my cottage a greenhouse library and she’s not wrong. Plants cover almost every available surface, and where there aren’t plants, there’s a pile of books. I’ve loved to read since I was a young child. I never bothered with getting a TV; I’d much rather escape into an imaginary world between the pages of a book than on a screen. My shelves are full and for Christmas two years ago, my sisters bought me an e-reader that is packed with books waiting for me to read. My dream is to someday open a library on the island. Right now, there’s nothing, unless you go to the mainland. For that reason, I have collected a huge stock of children’s books, and I run my own sort of library from the school. But it’s not the same. It’s one of those things that I hope will happen in time if the island can return to being the fantastic place to live that it used to be.
The kettle whistles and I pour hot water over some peppermint tea leaves. As it steeps, I water the jungle and grab a proper hair tie from my bedside table to twist my hair into a messy bun. I’ll return Marcus’s rubber band this afternoon.Right, because the sexy guy with the expensive car is definitely going to miss a rubber band.
Tea in hand, I head out to my favorite spot on the entire property. My back porch is my private oasis. I’ve got a private view of the pond from here and right now all the wildflowers are in full bloom. My dad built the porch swing and I absolutely love sitting in it. I feel like they’re with me, but not in the sad way I feel when I’m at the house we grew up in. No, this place is full of love and joy, not grief.
I’ve barely had time to take a drink before my phone vibrates with a text message from my sister.
TAWNY: So, care to tell me why our hunky new guest says you’re taking him on a tour of the island?
So much for hoping Marcus wouldn’t say anything to my sister…
ELLA: It’s no big deal. We met on the ferry, he wants a tour guide, I agreed to help. Stop overreacting.
TAWNY: I’m not overreacting, I’m just reacting. Who is he? Do you even know his last name? Because I do, and I’m about to google the heck out of him
ELLA: DON’T YOU DARE. Stop, Tawny, just stop. I like this guy, and I don’t need you digging up his life story just because you think some stranger is going to come in here and…
ELLA: You know what? I don’t even know WHAT you could be worried about.
ELLA: He’s a hot guy. Who happens to be attracted to me. Let me have this, Tawny. Please.
TAWNY: Fine. But I still want to google him.
ELLA: Walk away from the google.
TAWNY: Ugh. I just want you to be safe, Ella.
ELLA: I’m twenty-seven, pretty sure I’m capable of going out on a date.
TAWNY: A DATE? I though it was a TOUR
ELLA: OMG calm down. It is a tour. And dinner… *covers ears*
TAWNY: DINNER?!?!?!?! ELLA JEAN MICHAELS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
ELLA: Wow, you middle named me. Geez Tawny.
ELLA: I’m taking Marcus on a tour of the island and then he’s taking me for dinner. That’s it, that’s all. So just relax, big sis.
TAWNY: Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
ELLA: *Snort* right. Okay. So, I can do basically anything.
TAWNY: You know what I mean. Just be careful. And text me when you get home.
ELLA: Love you, sis.
TAWNY: Love you too.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my sister in her prime. Overprotective and apparently incapable of remembering all the trouble she got into when she was younger. The stories of the chaos Tawny and her best friend Mac got into are legendary on the island. Mac, or Shawn Macdonald, moved away after he graduated from college. Everyone figured Tawny and Mac would end up realizing they were destined to be together, but Tawny always swore they were just friends. When Mac left, she hid her devastation pretty well, but I knew the truth. Her heart was broken the day he left and it’s never fully healed.
