Forever Summer - Melody Grace Page 0,2

late to go searching for a room in town. Besides, there was something symbolic about it, setting up camp in her new home, and with candles lighting the room in a warm glow and music blasting through a portable speaker as she danced her way around the room, Evie was feeling almost upbeat. This was her future right here, and a few repairs weren’t going to scare her off this life-changing opportunity. She was a capable woman, she could take it all in stride!

Plus, she was tipsy.

OK, well on her way to drunk.

But who would blame her? She’d packed a box of provisions and a couple of bottles of celebratory wine. She’d pictured toasting her new life from elegant glasses, but now she was drinking straight from the bottle, shimmying to the music as she tried to dance her way into a better mood.

She could handle this. A little TLC, the ad had said, and well, couldn’t she use the very same thing?

“We’ll be fine, you and me,” she told the house. “We’ve had some hard years, but we’re going to turn it all around, just you wait and see.”

She shimmied too hard, bumping into an old table—and spilling wine all down her front.

“Oww!” Evie paused a moment, then stripped off her dress and tossed it aside, leaving her in a silky camisole and panties. Who was here to see her? Precisely no one. The beach outside was dark, nothing but the gentle crashing of the waves and the flicker of far-off lights across the bay.

She turned the music up, relishing the sense of freedom. So what if her fresh start came with a little more dry rot than she’d planned? A good contractor could take care of that. Plus some new windows … fresh paint … a quick polish of the floors …

The list was growing longer the more closely Evie looked, so she shut her eyes and took another gulp of wine. Glen would have laughed to see her like this. He would always tease her about being a giggly drunk, gone after two glasses of Chardonnay, singing karaoke and hugging everyone in sight.

“Do I need to be jealous?” he would ask, smiling as he helped her peel off her sandals and crawl into bed after the holiday party at his research lab.

“Nope.” Evie would smile back at him, running her hands through his hair to muss it up the way she liked. “I’m all yours.”

But she wasn’t, not anymore.

Evie swallowed back the familiar sting of grief and threw herself into the music, dancing wildly around the dim room until the past seemed like a thousand miles away. The song came to a sudden end, and she caught her breath, feeling flushed from the dancing. She took another gulp of wine, glanced over to the French doors—and let out an almighty shriek.

There was somebody there, lurking in the shadows!

Evie reeled back, frantically grabbing a robe from her open suitcase and wrapping it around her half-naked body. “Whoever’s out there, you should leave before I call the cops,” she called out, her heart pounding. “And I … I … I know kung fu!”

What was she saying? She cringed, but what else was she supposed to do: broadcast the fact she was all alone with nothing but an empty bottle to protect herself? Evie was looking around, wondering if an old candlestick could double as an offensive weapon, when the lurker stepped out of the shadows, an apologetic look on his face.

“It’s OK!” he said, holding his hands up, as if in surrender. “I’m not a creeper, I promise. Are you Evelyn Baxter-Jones?”

Evie stopped, confused. The lurker knew her name?

“I … yes,” she said, slowly. “But everyone calls me Evie.”

“I’m Noah. Noah Montgomery. We’ve been emailing,” the man explained, stepping into the light. “I came by to welcome you to town.”

Oh.

“You’re Noah?” Evie said, feeling even more flustered. Because the man in front of her wasn’t the grizzled old fisherman she’d been imagining. Nope. Her taciturn, unhelpful emailer was actually … the most handsome guy she’d ever seen in her life.

Evie clutched the wine bottle, all the alcohol rushing to her head as she took him in. Sandy blond hair falling over warm blue eyes and a friendly smile. He had a strong jaw, and was that—yup, a dimple nestled in one cheek. All that, and the kind of broad shoulders that made her wonder what it would feel like to be wrapped up in those muscular arms …

Evie caught