Read Online In Shelter Cove by Barbara Freethy - Free Book Online Page A

desperate to have a child.”
    “I do, and I’m in favor of adoption. But Annie has become like a little sister to me, and I know how connected she is to this child. She’s always stroking her belly and talking to the baby. She reads parenting books and eats all the right things. This baby gives her a family again, and she really wants that. At thesame time, she wants to give her child more than she had. She’s torn.”
    “Sometimes the right thing to do is the most difficult.”
    “Now you sound like a minister.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing?”
    She offered him an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean it that way. Actually, I wanted to tell you that I thought you did a great job at Derek’s memorial service yesterday. You really personalized it. I’m sure it meant a lot to the Kanes to have you perform the service.”
    “I hope so.” His gaze turned reflective. “Sometimes I don’t know how your father presided over so many funerals for people he knew and cared about. Last week at Mrs. Johnson’s service, I could hardly keep it together. She used to make me cookies and drive me to baseball practice, and only a month ago she was attending Sunday service. Her husband couldn’t stop crying after she died. He came to me looking for wisdom, hope, peace, and I didn’t know what to say. I felt like a fraud.”
    She saw the uncertainty in his eyes and realized that Andrew was still finding his way. “I’m sure you gave him exactly what he wanted. You have a gift for being able to see what people need. I’ve watched you the last few months, and people respond to you. You say things in a way that means something to them. That’s a gift.”
    “It means a lot to me to hear you say that.” Asmile curved his mouth. “But if I have that gift, why can’t I see what
you
need? Why can’t I give you what you want, Charlotte?”
    She drew in a surprised breath. “Because I—I don’t know myself.”
    “We could be good together. We
were
good together.”
    She shook her head. “We were terrible together, Andrew. We fought, we lied, we drove each other crazy.”
    “And I cheated on you,” he finished. “But I’ve grown up since then. Give me another chance.”
    She let out a sigh. “You do tempt me, but—”
    “No buts,” he said, cutting her off. “Let’s leave it with the fact that I tempt you. That way, I still have a chance. And Annie’s here.”
    Charlotte turned around to see Annie waddling across the lot. In her last month of pregnancy, she was all baby. With her jeans and T-shirt and her long blond hair in a braid down her back, she looked far too young to be having a child.
    “I’m sorry I’m late,” Annie said breathlessly as she joined them on the steps. “Did they leave?”
    Charlotte thought she detected a hopeful note in her tone. “They’re inside,” she said. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m nervous,” Annie confessed.
    “All you have to do is say hello and get to know them a little,” Andrew said.
    “They’ll think I’m bad for being unmarried and pregnant.”
    “No one is judging you. Just try to relax and be yourself. There’s no pressure. You don’t have to make any decisions today.”
    “Okay,” Annie said. “But I need to use the restroom first.”
    “We’ll meet you inside.”
    “You really are good at getting people to do what you want them to do,” Charlotte murmured as Annie entered the church.
    “Prove it. Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”
    “Andrew, you need to stop asking me out,” she said in exasperation.
    “Not until you say yes. Come on, Charlie, it’s just dinner. Are you afraid you’ll fall in love with me again over lobster at the Blue Pelican?”
    “Yes, lobster always makes me a little giddy,” she said lightly.
    “Then you can order something else. I just want to talk to you for more than five minutes in passing. What do you say—one dinner for old times’ sake?”
    “You only want me because I’m saying no.