Read Online A Broken Kind of Beautiful by Katie Ganshert - Free Book Online

proper meal. Living water. The bread of life.”
    Davis shifted. The tools jangled in the metal box.
    “You’re free from that world, Davis.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “It’s a good place to be, isn’t it?”
    Davis nodded.
    Pastor Voss squeezed his shoulder. “Maybe God wants to show Ivy Clark the same freedom.”

9

    Ivy leaned against a wall beside one of the airport’s exits, reading her weatherworn copy of Sailing Alone Around the Room . Who better to distract her from the impending car ride from Hilton Head to Greenbrier than Billy Collins? Of all the contemporary poets, he was by far her favorite. His brilliance with irony, the way he could make the mundane fascinating or strip bare the mysterious never ceased to charm her. And right now she needed to be charmed or at least distracted. Awkwardness ballooned inside her chest. What could she and Marilyn possibly talk about on the fifty-minute ride home?
    A conveyer belt rattled and hummed to life, setting into motion a sparse cluster of travelers. Ivy turned another page of her book when the doors slid open, letting in a gust of soupy air and Davis Knight, of all people—the man who stared at her through the funeral service and brought her a sandwich during the luncheon afterward. He walked with sure strides through the doors, unknowingly passing her as she leaned against the wall, and searched the travelers surrounding the conveyer belt. An army duffel bag came around the carousel. A heavyset man wearing combat boots stepped forward to claim it. A white, circular tote followed, shadowed by a matching pair of maroon suitcases. The balloon that had expanded inside Ivy’s chest popped and flew away. Marilyn’s nephew she could handle.
    She put Billy in her purse and grabbed the handle of her expandable rolling suitcase, courtesy of Diane von Furstenberg’s signature design, and rolled it over to her unexpected chauffeur. “And here I thought the drive would be boring.”
    He turned around, a day’s worth of stubble covering his strong jaw, and nodded in greeting. “I didn’t think we’d see each other again.”
    “In person, you mean?” A grin crawled across her lips. If he followed her career, as he’d admitted to doing outside Marilyn’s home, he’d see her in magazines, advertisements, catalogs.
    A faint pink tinged his cheeks as he motioned toward her carry-on. “Is that all your luggage?”
    “I’m a proficient packer. A by-product of world travel.” She swept her hand toward the sliding doors and stepped behind him. “I’ll follow you out.”
    “Can I take your suitcase?”
    She handed it over, brushing her hand against his as she did.
    He ignored the contact and headed toward the exit.
    Ivy studied him. A full head of short, dark-blond hair. Broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. And then there’d been his face—the epitome of a surfer boy. He might be younger than her usual taste, but this was Greenbrier. She’d have to compromise a little.
    Her grin came back. Maybe her exile to South Carolina wouldn’t be so horrible after all. How could it be—with a delicious distraction like Davis Knight?

    The side of Davis’s face tingled from Ivy’s teasing stare. He ignored her perusal and focused on leading her to his Jeep, Pastor Voss’s words playing through his mind. He tried to brush them aside, but they refused to be brushed.
    God, if You want to show Ivy freedom, You and I both know I’m not the guy for the job .
    He snuck a peek over his shoulder. Wearing sunglasses much too large for her face, her lips turned up into a smirk.
    And anyway, I’m not so sure she wants freeing. She looks pretty comfortable to me .
    But she hadn’t at the funeral.
    No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get that picture out of his head.The glare of the sun bounced off the concrete and hit him in the eye as he crossed the street beneath the pavilion. Squinting, he rolled her suitcase over the curb, opened the hatch of his Jeep Cherokee, and