“You’re terrible,” she laughed. “Take care.”
I waved through the window as the streetcar pulled away. After I got out at my stop and
walked the two blocks to my little apartment, I looked out at the moon rising over the city.
Going to the beach for my vacation was going to be a fabulous break, and I looked forward
to watching many sunsets slowly melt over the water.
I
didn’t have to go looking for men if I didn’t want to. Sure, I had agreed to keep my eyes
open, and speak to anyone who seemed nice. But that was it. I could draw my own
personal lines anywhere I wanted. And if I didn’t want to be anxious, embarrassed, and
freaked out, I didn’t have to be.
CHAPTER ONE
* Becca *
As I sat on the warm sand, staring out at the gorgeous blue waves, I felt incredibly grateful.
I was ridiculously lucky that I hadn’t had to do a thing to plan for my summer vacation. My
brother and his wife owned a huge house by the beach of an enormous lake, and they had
invited me to stay in their guest room for two weeks.
Throughout my entire life, my brother had helped me out. While I was in school, I worked at
his law firm during the summers, and after I graduated, I naturally began to work for him
full-time.
Watching a couple jogging past on the beach, I smiled to myself as I remembered how
crazy my brother had been before he met his wife. Brendan had always been kind to me,
but he had been a bit of a party animal, and not very focussed. Julie brought him balance,
somehow, and he has been amazing ever since.
I wondered if it was difficult for him that he didn’t grow up with a father to teach him to be a man. Our mother was so quiet that she didn’t teach us much of anything. At first, I honestly
thought that Brendan went to law school as some kind of a dare. But when Julie came
along during his last year, everything straightened out and he got serious. Then our mother
passed away in a bus accident, and he had to get very serious indeed.
By the time I started university years later, he was co-owner of a small law firm, and was
able to hire me for any job I wanted.
Digging my toes into the sand and tipping my face up to the sun, I recalled how incredibly