Read Online Trapped in Tourist Town by Jennifer Decuir - Free Book Online

since they were kids. Amanda knew she wanted to leave.
    This was emotional blackmail! The whole town represented a support network that would be more than happy to help the new mom. Cady was only one person. Surely her presence wasn’t
that
important. She bit her tongue, telling herself that pregnancy did strange things to a woman’s emotions.
    Chase had complained to her just last month, that his wife had totally flipped out when he brought home the wrong flavor of ice cream. He wouldn’t have minded the tirade, except that it had been the
right
flavor, and his reason for running to the store just a short twenty minutes before. At the time, Cady had found the story amusing. She’d reminded her brother that it took two people to make a baby and that his part was infinitely easier.
    Realizing that this was one of those moments when she would have to set her own feelings aside, Cady rose to make them both some tea. By the time she brought the mugs into the living room, Amanda’s hysterics were through. She waited quietly on the couch, massaging the bump in her belly, as Cady added sugar and cream to one mug and then handed it to her friend. They sat in silence for a few moments.
    “It just never seemed as real before as it does now—you moving to the city, that is.”
    “What makes now different than any other time?” Cady settled cross-legged in a corner of the couch and sipped her tea.
    “I’m not sure. It’s something in your eyes, in your face. It’s like this powerful determination, like nothing is going to get in your way.”
    Except having to shell out 5k of my hard-earned Get Out Of Dodge savings on a new-ish pickup truck
, Cady thought.
    Cady wished that her best friend, her confidante since kindergarten, could understand the excitement she felt when contemplating a new life in the city. The thrill of a fresh start. The new experiences that would start the very second she drove over the town line.
    Burke would understand. He’d been there. She needed to see him. Their kiss, that delicious kiss, had been interrupted by a couple of stray cats fighting for dominance over the Dumpster. It had made a lovely evening a tad awkward. He’d had enough writing time. He’d earned a break. Maybe she’d drop by.
    Heat spread up her neck and across her cheeks as she thought of the brief time she’d spent in Burke’s rented cottage, the big cozy bed taking up most of the bedroom. Yeah, it was probably best that she stick to a phone call. It was becoming difficult to remember theirs was a working relationship.
    • • •
    That evening, after insisting Burke slip into one of the new pairs of Levis they’d picked up at the outlet mall the next town over, Cady introduced him to one of the town’s lesser-known attractions. Brownie’s was a tiny ice cream stand, only open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. They didn’t even have indoor seating. Everyone placed their orders at the screened-in window and took their frozen desserts to a scattering of picnic tables and benches scattered on the grass. The shop was at the top of a winding road and the picnic tables were placed in full view of the lighthouse and the powerful surf that slammed against the rocks below.
    The sun was beginning to set and Cady lifted her face, the last lingering rays stroking her cheeks like warm fingers. Her grin crooked, she realized the sky was painted the color of rainbow sherbet. She closed her eyes briefly, savoring the moment, then turned her full attention back to her companion.
    “Mm ... ice cream therapy. Just what I needed.” Cady swirled her tongue through her triple-chocolate double scoop, closing her eyes as the sweet flavor danced across her tongue. Yeah, it didn’t get much better than this.
    “Rough day?” She looked over to find Burke watching her, his eyebrow cocked in interest.
    “You could say that.” She smirked. She hadn’t intended to dump on him. She’d just needed a break from her loved ones.
    Then he