The Sunset Beach Collection by Marybeth Whalen

Author:Marybeth Whalen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2018-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

In her dream she was in a tree, sitting out on a limb, reading a book. Below her she could hear voices calling to her—her mother’s, April’s, Shea’s, and two male voices, voices that touched different places inside her, elicited different responses. Instead of responding to any of the voices, she’d just kept reading. But when someone knocked on her door and jarred her from the dream state, she woke up wishing she could go back, to see who finally got her attention.

“What?” she called sleepily from her bed.

“You decent?” It was Shea.

“Yeah, come in.” She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, blinking to bring Shea into focus as she buzzed into the room, a force of barely contained energy that seemed to gain power the closer they got to the wedding.

She hopped onto Ivy’s bed, joining her without asking permission just like she used to when they were kids. “So, Mom’s ‘not feeling well’ today and says she can’t take me wedding dress shopping.”

Ivy’s eyes widened. She’d assumed the dress was already bought. With the big day looming, Shea would have no choice than to buy the dress off the rack. Shea read her thoughts. “Don’t freak out. I’m going to Wilmington and I’m going to find my dress today. They’ll alter it and then it’ll be ready in time.” She shrugged. “With us agreeing to this televised thing, there was no way around it.” She looked down at her hands. “It’ll be fine.”

There was something in the way she said it that told her Shea was not being entirely truthful about her feelings. But the distance between them kept her from delving into what was really going on. “So, do you want me to go with you?” Ivy asked.

Shea turned to her. “Will you? Do you have to work at the bakery today?”

Ivy shook her head. “I’m pretty sure Leah can survive without me.” Shopping with Shea would be a good distraction. It would keep her from making some lame excuse to try and see Michael. She needed to play it cool until their date-that-he-would-never-call-a-date.

“Okay, great. I really didn’t want to be a loser shopping for a wedding dress alone.”

“Why not wait till Mom is feeling better? Seems to me that this is the kind of stuff she’d live for.”

“She says she doesn’t feel well, but I can’t shake the feeling that she’s lying. If you ask me, I think she got a better offer from her secret admirer.”

Ivy giggled. “Maybe we should follow her.”

“Or set up a stakeout!” Shea agreed, her eyes dancing at the thought of catching their mother.

“No, we’re going to go find you a killer wedding dress. Let Mom sort out her own stuff.” She rose from the bed, wearing a nightgown that Elliott had bought her as a joke. He called it her spinster gown, cotton plaid that looked like a nightshirt a man would wear in the 1800s. It was her favorite thing to sleep in, a fact that chagrined Elliott.

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