Read Online Babycakes by Donna Kauffman - Free Book Online Page A

clever.”
    “Sometimes you just have to know the right questions to ask yourself.”
    She was smiling as she walked back toward the welcome area. She glanced over her shoulder to find him still standing in the same place. “Very lucky turtles, indeed,” she called back to him.
    He smiled, lifted a hand, and waved.
    She waved back and headed outside. “So,” she said, walking toward her car. “So.”
    The sun was low on the horizon and the warm air had cooled significantly. She took in a deep, cleansing breath as she made a slow turn, looking toward the dunes. She remembered the dancing turtle kite, and thought about the little girl who’d lost her parents and found, perhaps, some unlikely new companions in a few stranded turtles. She tried not to think about the hunky, kite-flying uncle, but he was hard to block out. Unfortunately, so was his last name.
    Still . . . she was smiling as she finally climbed into her car. Sure, she would have much preferred a Westlake-free environment, but, given the rest of the items on the plus side of the list, it was a compromise she was willing to make. It wasn’t like they had to spend time together.
    Kit turned her thoughts to Lani’s job offer, to the excited and passionate pastry chef and her sexy, British husband, and to the lively little senior, Alva, and her love of pirates. Making her decision, Kit gave a pound to the steering wheel. “Ready or not, Sugarberry. Here I am.”
     
    Morgan was leaning in the doorway behind Gabe as Kit left the building.
    The older man didn’t seem all that surprised when he turned and found him there. “Nice young woman. Good spirit. Good heart.”
    “You got all that from a ten minute chat?”
    The good doctor smiled. “It’s easier to read some than others. No pretenses with that one. She’ll let you know how she feels.” He slid the clipboard out from where he’d tucked it under his arm and studied something on the top page. “She certainly did with you,” he added casually.
    Morgan already knew that despite his somewhat absentminded professor demeanor, Gabriel Langley was anything but.
    “Never saw her before,” Morgan said. Though, admittedly, he was intrigued enough—despite her reaction to his name or maybe because of it—to hope their paths might cross again. “Can’t say why she reacted the way she did.”
    “I believe it was your last name that gave her pause.”
    “Oh, I got that part. I just don’t know why. I know the islanders might be concerned, given my family’s history, especially with Birdie Wiggins. I think they’ll come to see I only mean to make things better—for Lilly and for Birdie. I have their best interests at heart. I do.”
    “Oh, I think you’re right about that. Just give it time.”
    “But she—Kit—isn’t from here, so I don’t know how she even knows anything about me.”
    “I believe she mentioned something about overhearing a conversation in town.”
    “So, folks aren’t saying kind things then, huh?”
    “I didn’t say that. Just that she heard something about you being here and about the situation with Miss Lilly. Might be she understands a little something of that. Personally, I mean.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    Gabe looked up, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “A look in her eyes. Sometimes a person can just tell. Maybe that was why she reacted to you the way she did. Hard to say. Seemed right friendly, otherwise.”
    When Morgan didn’t have anything to add to that, Gabe flipped a page on the clipboard and went back to reading. “Sounds like she plans to stay on Sugarberry, though,” he said, at length. “Maybe she’ll see your good intentions, too. Change her mind.”
    Morgan grinned, surprised, but kind of touched at the same time. “You playing matchmaker, doctor?”
    “Oh, I don’t play at that.” A smile ghosted around his mouth as he flipped another page. But he didn’t bother to elaborate.
    Still grinning, Morgan said, “Lilly and I