Sea Glass Cottage by Vickie McKeehan Page A

I’m remodeling. When he left the living room to get them out of his study, I heard him talking to someone. It was Isabella’s voice talking about a guy by the name of Henry. It was obvious by the tone of their voices neither one of them cared for this guy too much. It was odd. As I stood there waiting, Kinsey walked through the door and called out that she was home. Right away, Isabella and Logan stopped talking and came out to the hallway, dropping the subject entirely.”
    “That doesn’t mean much,” Thane pointed out. “Isabella often goes over there to babysit the kids.”
    “I guess you had to be there. It was like the two of them had a secret they didn’t want Kinsey to hear. Not only that when they came out of the study, Logan had forgotten to bring the blueprints. He had to go back and get them.”
    “Maybe Logan’s stepping out on Kinsey. Maybe they’re having an affair,” Zach volunteered.
    “Whoa. I’m not prepared to go down that road,” Thane said. “That’s a huge leap.”
    “Me either,” Ryder proclaimed. “First of all, I don’t think Logan would ever do that to Kinsey.”
    “That’s not the kind of secret I meant,” Troy said, throwing a glare at Zach. “Don’t you dare go out of here repeating gossip like that, understand?”
    Zach held up his hands. “Okay. Okay. Just thinking outside the box here, offering suggestions, reasons why she’d act like she does.”
    “Well, don’t go down that path,” Thane warned. “I know how rumors get out of control enough to cause major damage, especially if it’s nothing more than speculation.”
    “I’m not out to hurt anyone,” Zach said in his own defense. “I guess I decided last spring, Isabella might be gorgeous but she’s just too complicated for me to handle right now with everything else. That’s all I’m saying. I might’ve wanted to ask her out, but something always held me back. I’m glad now I didn’t.” Zach shrugged and added, “Sorry but I’m just being honest. I think I’ll knock off early, go get ready for my date with Drea. Hopefully my self-imposed abstinence has an end in sight.”
    “Thanks for planting that image in my head,” Thane grumbled as he watched Zach pack up his tools and disappear out the doorway. “Is it just me or does Zach enjoy stirring things up?”
    “It’s his specialty,” Troy clarified. “If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s about to become my brother-in-law in November, I might try and take him down a peg.”
    “His attitude doesn’t cause rancor between the three of you?”
    “Not really,” Ryder answered. “Troy and I are used to all the different personalities that come together on a construction job. But with Zach, it’s true you never quite know what will fall out of his mouth.”
     

     
    A little nervous about the night ahead with Zach Dennison, Drea did something she rarely did, even when business was slow—she closed up her flower shop three minutes early. After turning the closed sign around on the door, she made her way upstairs to shower and get ready.
    The year she’d opened her business, to save every penny she could, she’d turned the industrial space directly above the store into an open, livable loft. What had started out as a cost-saving measure, ended up being the best decision she’d made since high school. She loved the fact that after a long day dealing with customers and filling orders, sometimes playing delivery driver, she could simply walk up a flight of stairs and into her own personal, sunny space.
    Once she reached the landing, she opened the front door and crossed over the polished hardwood floor to the bank of windows. From her vantage point, she looked out on the grounds of The Plant Habitat, the garden center her aunt and uncle owned. The nursery supplied all of her inventory.
    She’d grown up in a household where the exchange of bad, cruel words had been the norm. It had taken a traumatic event to change all that.
    Her brother,