Read Online Ember Flowers by April Worth - Free Book Online

so at most. It was
a very personal question.
    A fingertip
brushed chocolate wisps out of her eyes, a sadness. “You know I
used to sail right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Before I
bought the land, I had a yacht, lived by the bay. It was a little
gift to myself, having the business grow for a little over a
decade. Felt right at the time. ‘Tash, my wife..” Her voice trailed
off a little, before picking up again. “..Natasha..we were out past
the harbour, few miles out. Sea was calm as glass.”
    Her tongue
flicked behind her teeth, lips became a little drawn, her friend
listened compassionately. It was no surprise to Jo that Jean had
spent her life with a woman, though the brunette had never said so
in words.
    “Anyway..’Tash
had been getting headaches. Been having tests. One morning..when we
went out on the reef I came down into the cabin and she was..” Her
voice crackled, a momentary hitch.
    Jo passed the
older woman her beer. It was taken with a small grateful smile. A
sip before it was passed back.
    “She’d been
having a seizure, we didn’t know it would happen. She fell. Hit her
head. Hard. I found her on the floor. By the time I’d called an
ambulance to meet us it was pretty much..too late.” A somber look
overcame her features. She remembered the frantic phone call, the
erratic navigation back to port. The quiet of the waiting room.
Turning off the life support.
    The normally
cool gaze softened. “I’m so sorry.”
    A shrug of her
shoulders. “Sold the boat a week later. No sailing since - besides
that time with you.”
    The tall woman
turned a bit of bark over in her hands, having picked it off the
old log she sat on. “How..how long ago was this?”
    A smirk. “Then
I’d have to tell you how old I am?”
    The blonde
smiled, eyes narrowed in thought. “You don’t look a day over thirty
five?”
    Jean chuckled.
“You’re being considerate, flattery will get you no where. I’m
forty two.”
    Shapely blonde
brows raised in surprise. “Really?”
    “Yes Officer,
you wanna check my license?” with a sneer full of mischief.
    Jo’s voice took
on a hard edge, but any authority was feigned. “License and
registration. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
    Jean snorted as
she reached into her nap sack, tossing over the wallet, a clink of
shrapnel in the change compartment. She raised her hands in mock
surrender.
    Grey eyes
pinned her with an amused glance. “Got my eye on you..” She looked
down, pulling out the license. Nobody avoided looking like either a
drug dealer or an insomniac in their posed uncomfortable portrait.
Jean somehow managed to look great. A summer glow to her cheek,
glossy shoulder length hair rather than her usual pixie. A younger
face. The dark long lashed eyes were the same, almost the same.
Absent of the lines made by grief.
    Another glance,
a smile, she tossed it back. “Seems like you check out, won’t have
to run your plates.”
    They sat there
watching each other for a moment. Jo smiled to fill the silence.
She looked away when their gaze became a little intense. Her new
tent was an easy segue. 

“So..what do you think?”
    She nodded over
at the extravagant construction of weatherproof fabric, zipped
compartments and a mini shade sail that resembled an awning. Jo
obviously had an engineering degree to put it together.
    Jean
snickered.
    “What?” Grey
eyes were indignant.
    “How much did
you spend on that thing?”
    For a moment
the blonde looked a little sheepish. “Little under four hundred..”
She’d realised instantly that money wouldn’t impress her.
    “For a
tent?!”
    “It’s more than
a tent, it’s weather proof, non perishable, it even has little
windows that let you see out but not let the bugs in.” She crossed
her arms over her chest.
    The Sergeant
looked around. “You haven’t set yours up?”
    The older woman
patted the padded sleeping bag. “I prefer to see the stars.”
    “But you don’t
even have a mattress? You’ll be sleeping on