Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
His phone dinged, and his brother Finn’s name popped up on the screen with a message. “Looks like I’ve been assigned the task of bringing a couple of big bags of ice for the party drinks.”
“We’ll see you soon,” Margaret said as the three of them said their good-byes.
Though he would never have wished a broken arm on Margaret, he was very happy to have met Tessa and couldn’t help wanting to get to know her better. Thanks to his father’s birthday party, it looked like he was going to get that chance.
No question about it, this beach was magical. Particularly when a beautiful woman like Tessa had been walking beside him on the sand.
As he headed up the hill to the local grocery store for the ice, he realized he was grinning like a fool. Because even though he and Tessa had only just met, he couldn’t help but hope she had also felt the sparks between them.
Sparks that were bigger and brighter than he’d ever felt with another woman.
Chapter Two
Tessa was both nervous and excited as she walked up the path to the front door of Howard and Betsy Davenport’s house. She held on to Margaret Percy’s good arm, but she wasn’t sure if she was lending support so much as receiving it.
She still could hardly believe that she’d met and spoken with Archer Davenport. Not to mention that he’d told her to call him Arch, the way his friends and family did. It was such a gracious thing for him to have said to a total stranger, simply because she was working with one of his friends. Of course, he was only being polite, so he would remain Archer to her.
They passed the sixty-four pink flamingos prancing all over the front yard and the huge banner saying HAPPY 64TH BIRTHDAY, HOWIE, which they’d seen as they were driving by the house earlier that day. Now the garden was festooned with helium balloons and lit up with festive lights. It was impossible not to smile.
Though she was attending the party with Margaret to keep her from doing anything crazy enough to break another limb, Tessa was more nervous about coming than she wanted to let on. Margaret could clearly read her mind, however. She’d said to Tessa earlier, “You deserve a little fun tonight. And to be around people your own age. Relax, dear. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Tessa had never told Margaret her history, but somehow she felt the older woman had seen right inside her to the pain she carried, hidden behind her cheerful smile and efficient demeanor.
She took a calming breath before knocking on the door. She could hear music and the sounds of voices coming from the other side. In a minute, the door was opened by a woman who possessed both presence and beauty. She wasn’t young, but her face expressed years of laughter and contentment. She smiled upon seeing them, and Tessa got the feeling that this was her natural attitude. Happiness.
“Margaret, I’m so glad you could come.”
“Betsy, you’re still as pretty as a picture.”
The woman laughed as she waved them in. “I’m the same age as Howie. I’ll be having my own birthday in a couple of months, but believe me, I won’t be advertising it.”
And yet, the easy way she’d admitted her age suggested to Tessa that she was perfectly comfortable with who she was, despite the years. Still, Tessa was shocked. She’d have guessed Archer’s mother to be at least a decade younger. She was trim, her golden hair shoulder length and curled into a careless updo. Formfitting white jeans and a black top showed off a pretty spectacular figure for somebody who had given birth to six children.
“And you must be Tessa,” Betsy said, reaching out to shake her hand.
Even though she was a paid caregiver, Tessa suddenly felt as welcome as Margaret, who’d known the family for decades.
Betsy said to Margaret, “You always look so glamorous.”
Margaret made an annoyed sound and mock-glared at Tessa. “She wouldn’t let me wear my high heels. I’ll feel like an elf among all you tall Davenports, except for Erin.”
She might not be able to wear high heels, but Margaret was wearing a black and gold sequined top over dark trousers and chunky jewelry, and she carried a fancy beaded purse. The only way Tessa could get her to abandon the gold stilettos had been to flat-out refuse to come with her unless she wore sensible flats. Still, Margaret regarded the Chanel ballet flats as though she’d been forced to go to a birthday party in hiking boots.
Tessa was wearing her best jeans and a sapphire blue sleeveless cotton sweater. She’d taken the time to do her hair so it hung loose in curls, and she’d even added a little mascara and lipstick. She’d tried to tell herself she was doing it out of respect for the birthday boy, but deep down she knew it was because she’d be seeing Archer Davenport again.