Read Online Song of the Surf (Pacific Shores Book 3) by Lynnette Bonner - Free Book Online Page A

have killed you, kid. Do you live around here?”
    “Yeah.” The word was a bit flippant for someone who’d just almost gotten run over.
    “Well…” Justus flitted a glance toward the narrow space between the boy and his front bumper. “I think your guardian angel just got a whole lot skinnier.”
    A bubble of nervous laughter threatened to escape Dakota. She leaned one hand against the car and covered her mouth so the kid wouldn’t think she was laughing at him. Her good leg trembled, nearly useless.
    The boy only frowned. “What?”
    Justus mussed his hair. “I just meant God was watching out for you. We just had a close call here. You know that, right?”
    He nodded again.
    The boy reminded her of someone. Who?
    “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
    There was a beat before the kid said, “I’m homeschooled.”
    “I see. Well, I hope you’ve learned not to go dashing out into roads without a little double checking next time?” Sternness coated Justus’s words.
    “Sure. I guess.”
    Dakota closed her eyes. The scent of burnt rubber clung like smoke in the air. Nightmare images of the coastal highway not too far from here on a windy night peppered her mind. The sound of screeching tires and crunching metal could no longer be held at bay. The acrid odor stirred memories of the same smell mixed with blood and loamy earth.
    She forced her eyes open and her attention onto Justus’s broad shoulders where he still squatted in front of the child – a child who was healthy and whole and who would never understand how much pain and sorrow he could have caused for so many with his one careless moment of abandon.
    “Good. Now…” Justus ruffled the boy’s red hair gently. “Which side of this road do you live on?”
    The boy pointed in the direction he and his dog had been running.
    Justus scanned the empty road. “Alright then, go on. And please be more careful.”
    The boy ran off without another word.
    Dakota met Justus’s gaze and sank against the hood of the Z3 in relief.
    Justus clasped his hands behind his head and paced several steps back and forth, his feet crunching against some gravel on the pavement, his cheeks puffed out in a combination of terror and thankfulness all in one. Finally he stopped and sank down onto the hood next to her. “That was way too close for comfort.”
    She nodded and eased a tremulous breath through pursed lips. “We should get out of the road. And I think the flowers are going to be a little worse for the wear.” Her hands quaked as she reached to brush a strand of wind-whipped hair from her eyes and when she stood to hop around to her door, her good leg gave out from under her.
    “Dakota!” Justus dove for her and managed to break her fall, but not before they both ended up on the pavement.
    And then she was crying. Great gulping sobs. And the memories that had been pushing for preeminence could no longer be staved off.
    Justus’s arms came around her, just like her arms had wrapped around Jason that night.

Chapter 6
    Marinville, OR 2007
     
    …After a year of living in Marinville while Daddy itinerated and raised money from churches to support their family for another four years on the mission field, the time had come for them to return to Africa. Dakota had been beside herself with tumultuous emotions that couldn’t seem to decide where to settle. One moment she was thrilled to be returning to her friends at boarding school. The next moment she was grieving the loss of her friends in Marinville. One in particular. Jason Murton. Their flight, scheduled for the next day, took off at eight a.m. She wouldn’t see Jason for a whole year until she graduated and came back to the States.
    Jason rang the bell at their door that night. And when she opened it she could tell by the sheen in his eyes, he was feeling some of the same loss she was.
    “Hi.” She eased one shoulder onto the doorframe, leaving him on the stoop. He wore his leathers, his black Harley Davidson