Read Online By the Bay by Barbara Bartholomew - Free Book Online

her away.”
    Exhausted and frantic with worry, Florence closed her eyes. So it was going to be one of those days.
    “I’m sure Davis will understand, Chris,” she soothed.
    “We were married at the personage back at home,” Christine remembered. “A simple wedding, but very nice. I made my own dress and my sisters baked the cake. Were you there Florence ?”
    “Yes,Chris. I carried the flowers. Remember?”
    “All my sisters took part in the wedding and Papa gave me away. That’s what it should be like with the whole family involved and wishing the couple a good life.” Her voice softened almost too low to be heard with the last words. “We didn’t have a good life, did we Florence ?”
    Florence ’s heart raced. She couldn’t deal with this, not now. She needed to focus on this situation with Jillian. Dear Jillian, who had been always both practical and dependable.
    Well, she sure as heck had gone off the deep end now!
    “Not a good life at all. No happily ever after for us. Thanks to you.”
    Florence straightened indignantly. “I hardly think that what happened was my fault!”
    “You’d like to think that. I wonder what my Jillian, who thinks so much of her auntie, would feel if I told her the truth.”
    The threat in its illogic was a familiar one. Christine liked to place the responsibility for her husband’s death in other hands than her own. “Go ahead and tell her, Chris. I don’t care.”
    She was relieved when a knock on the door interrupted this painful conversation and she hurried from the room to find a worried looking Owen at the door.
    She frowned at him. “You should be working the breakfast rush,” she scolded, stepping aside so the big man could come in.
    “Ramon’s taking over the cooking this morning,” he said, frowning at her. “I got your message that you were spending the night here, but was worried that Christine was worse.”
    She sank into a cushioned chair, ignoring her sister’s voice calling her from the other room. “It’s not Chris. It’s Jillian. She’s eloped with Philippe.”
    He sat down opposite her. “That was fast. I must admit to being surprised.”
    She went into the bedroom, told Chris she would bring her breakfast in a few minutes, and picked up the note Philippe had left and went back to the living room to show it to Owen .
    She stood at his side while he read it twice, th a n looked up. “And what did Jillian have to say about all this?”
    “That’s just it. She didn’t say anything. Philippe asked me to stay with Christine while he took Jillian to the show.”
    Owen frowned. “It’s a cowboy picture. Nothing she would want to see.”
    “That’s not the point.” She let her hand rest on his shoulder, allowing his warmth and energy to seep into her own body. Owen was the best man she knew. He’d just about saved her sanity when he came more significantly into her life after her son died. She’d come to count on him in many ways, but it was not exactly a romantic relationship. They didn’t kiss and rarely even touched, but righ t now she needed that personal closeness and he was the only person in her life she could ask for that.
    Fear rose in her like a sickness as she went on, “When I got here, the door was locked and I let myself in with my key to find Chris sleeping in her room and this note on her dresser. I haven’t seen Jillian since she came by the café yesterday.”
    He considered. “Damn, Florence , I like that boy. He’s smart and educated and seems like a good guy.”
    She nodded, removing her hand from his shoulder and going back to her chair. She didn’t want to collapse in front of him and knew her legs wouldn’t hold her up much longer.”
    She heard her sister calling more urgently from the bedroom, but was unable to respond to her pleas.
    “ Florence , it’s not that I’m sure this is more than what it seems, a young couple falling madly in love and running off together, but I still think we should go talk to