Read Online Redemption Bay (Haven Point Book 2) (Contemporary Romance) by RaeAnne Thayne - Free Book Online

gazed at their beautiful faces. One urgent phone call, that’s all it had taken, and she had fifteen women willing to drop everything on a busy Saturday morning to see what they could do to help.
    Hazel Selby Brewer and her sister Eppie had obviously been playing tennis, at least judging by their matching white skirts and short-sleeved sweaters that showed off their knobby knees, varicose veins and age spots. Though a year apart—Irish twins, they always informed people proudly—they dressed almost identically. The two were inseparable and had even married twin brothers—though since Hazel’s husband, Donald, died two years earlier, Eppie’s husband, Ronald, had taken over escorting both women around town.
    Hazel and Eppie wore their wrinkles well. They were the oldest of the Helping Hands at eighty-three and eighty-two. The youngest, Samantha Fremont and her best friend, Katrina Bailey, were in their early twenties. They dressed in short shorts and tight T-shirts and both looked a bit hungover, as if they’d partied a little too late on Friday night at the Mad Dog, which had featured a live band the night before.
    In between the two ends of the spectrum were housewives, a real estate agent, a couple of teachers. They weren’t particular about who could come to the Helping Hands meetings.
    She loved every single one of them.
    McKenzie drew in a deep breath that smelled of flowers and raffia and sage. “Thank you all for coming to meet with us. I know everybody is crazy busy right now, especially on a summer Saturday with Lake Haven Days in less than a week. I hardly have time to take a shower most days, and I imagine it’s the same for all of you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate each one of you for dropping everything and coming for this impromptu meeting.”
    “What’s going on?” Linda Fremont demanded. “Marie wouldn’t tell me anything.”
    “Because I don’t
know
anything,” Marie Caldwell said in a testy tone. “All I heard from Hazel was that Kenzie had called an emergency meeting and it was all hands on deck. That’s the message I got and the message I passed along.”
    “It had better be important,” Linda Fremont said, her features as sour as ever. “I need to be at the store. This is one of our busiest days of the summer.”
    McKenzie gave a patient smile. Linda didn’t need to be there, since her daughter Samantha had come as well and could have passed along any message—but then Linda would have had to miss something, which she would have found intolerable.
    “This won’t take long, I promise.” She tried her best to be sweet to Linda, even when the woman was at her most annoying. Which was quite often, unfortunately.
    “I think I can guess what this is about,” Barbara Serrano said. “Does it have anything to do with our unexpected visitor and your companion at the diner this morning?”
    Only a few people looked confused—but that was still a few more than McKenzie had expected. She had anticipated the news of Ben’s return would have already spread through Haven Point like a late-October frost, touching everything in its path.
    “Who was it?” Sam Fremont asked, blue eyes widening with interest. “Are you dating somebody, Kenz?”
    “No! Absolutely not! Anyway, why would I call an emergency meeting to tell you all about my date?”
    “Breaking news?” Devin asked.
    She glared at her sister. “It wasn’t a date. I can’t believe you all haven’t heard this already, but, okay. Here it is. Ben Kilpatrick is back in town.”
    This caused a minor stir. Sam and Kat gaped at each other, probably trying to figure out how they had missed the news that a gorgeous billionaire bachelor was suddenly in their humble midst. Hazel and Eppie also looked shocked. Other than that, most of the women wore expressions ranging from curiosity to disgruntlement to outright anger.
    “Betty Orton came into the store this morning and told me but I didn’t believe it.”
    “Why