Read A SEAL's Oath (SEALs of Chance Creek Book 1) for Free Online Page B

in Silicon Valley is outrageous, though. You’d be surprised how little is left over when I pay my bills. And inside, I feel… like I’m dying.”
    A silence stretched out between them. Riley knew just what Savannah meant. At first grown-up life had seemed exciting. Now it felt like she was slipping into a pool of quicksand that she’d never be able to escape. Maybe it would be different if they joined forces. If they pooled their money, they could do all kinds of things.
    For the first time in months she felt a hint of possibility.
    “We could move where the cost of living is cheaper and get a house together.” Savannah warmed to her theme. “With a garden, maybe. We could work part time and share the bills.”
    “For six months? What good would that do? We’d run through what little money we have and be harder to employ afterward,” Nora said.
    “How much longer are you willing to wait before you try for the life you actually want, rather than the life that keeps you afloat one more day?” Savannah asked her. “I have to try to be a real pianist. Life isn’t worth living if I don’t give it a shot. That means practicing for hours every day. I can’t do that and work a regular job, too.”
    “I’ve had an idea for a screenplay,” Avery confessed. “I think it’s really good. Six months would be plenty of time for me to write it. Then I could go back to work while I shop it around.”
    “If I had six months I would paint all day until I had enough canvasses to put on a show. Maybe that would be the start and end of my career as an artist, but at least I’d have done it once,” Riley said.
    “A house costs money,” Nora said.
    “Not always,” Riley said slowly as an idea took hold in her head. “What about Westfield?” After all, it hadn’t been inhabited in years. “Uncle Russ always said I should bring my friends and stay there.”
    “Long term?” Avery asked.
    “Six months would be fine. Russ hasn’t set foot in it in over a decade.”
    “You want us to move to Montana and freeload for six months?” Nora asked.
    “I want us to move to Montana and take six months to jumpstart our lives. We’ll practice following our passions. We’ll brainstorm ideas together for how to make money from them. Who knows? Maybe together we’ll come up with a plan that will work.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Avery said.
    “I don’t know,” Nora said. “Do you really think it’s work that’s kept you from writing or playing or painting? Because if you can’t do it now, chances are you won’t be able to do it at Westfield either. You’ll busy up your days with errands and visits and sightseeing and all that. Wait and see.”
    “Not if we swore an oath to work on our projects every day,” Savannah said.
    “Like the oaths you used to swear to do your homework on time? Or not to drink on Saturday night? Or to stop crank-calling the guy who dumped you junior year?”
    Savannah flushed. “I was a child back then—”
    “I just feel that if we take six months off, we’ll end up worse off than when we started.”
    Savannah leaned forward. “Come on. Six whole months to write. Aren’t you dying to try it?” When Nora hesitated, Savannah pounced on her. “I knew it! You want to as badly as we do.”
    “Of course I want to,” Nora said. “But it won’t work. None of you will stay at home and hone your craft.”
    A smile tugged at Savannah’s lips. “What if we couldn’t leave?”
    “Are you going to chain us to the house?”
    “No. I’m going to take away your clothes. Your modern clothes,” she clarified when the others stared at her. “You’re right; we could easily be tempted to treat the time like a vacation, especially with us all together. But if we only have Regency clothes to wear, we’ll be stuck because we’ll be too embarrassed to go into town. We’ll take a six-month long Jane Austen vacation from our lives.” She sat back and folded her arms over her chest.
    “I love