Read Breakwater Bay for Free Online Page B

and chair on one wall and an entertainment unit on the other. She dropped her packages on the round dining table, threw herself on the couch, and reached for the remote.
    An hour of This Old House later she got up.
    Meri showered and changed into heels and a little black dress, then changed her mind. She wanted to be frivolous tonight. She went back to her closet and brought out platforms and a red lacy Diane von Furstenberg that Carlyn and she had found at a consignment shop.
    Fashion didn’t have to be expensive—couldn’t be expensive on their salaries—and they spent a lot of fun hours scouring shops for gently worn gems. What would Carlyn say when she found out about Meri’s past? Probably think it was a great adventure. Carlyn would never be horrified at anything she did. Would she?
    And really, did it matter these days who your birth mother was? Everybody was adopting. But you weren’t really adopted, were you?
    That was what worried her. What was her legal status? She wished she had brought the letter with her, but when she’d returned to the cottage last night, the letter and the box were gone. Gran was looking tired and worried, and Meri didn’t have the heart to dredge it up again.
    So she’d left her grandmother with a smile and a hug and thanked her profusely for the party and the presents and didn’t mention the letter or the box or anything that closely resembled a question about her birth.
    There would be time enough for that.
    She’d just changed her hair for the third time, opting for a messy ponytail instead of loose and below the shoulders, or pulled back in nacre combs, when the doorbell rang.
    She hurried to get it.
    Peter Foley leaned against the door frame. Just seeing him made her smile. Good-natured, good-looking, career focused, fun loving—Peter pretty much filled her list of what made the perfect guy.
    “Hey, beautiful.”
    “Hey.”
    He stepped over the threshold and lifted her into a kiss. She fell into it gratefully. It was so comfortable, so where she wanted to be. For a moment she forgot the rest of the weekend and only looked forward to the night.
    The kiss went on for a while and she was considering forgetting dinner altogether and knew he was thinking the same thing.
    He broke apart first. “Come on, I had to sell my soul for these reservations.” He grinned, a boyish look that made her feel all tingly. “Sustenance before fun.”
    “I’ll get my coat and purse.”
    The restaurant was crowded, but Peter had managed to get a table next to the rustic brick wall, which gave a little more privacy and cut down on the noise. He always managed those little things. In restaurants, they never sat in view of the kitchen or the restrooms. When someone gave Peter tickets to a Sox game, they were always box seats. He’d only been with Malcolm, Trade and Garrett for six years, but he was the one they sent to benefits and fund-raisers. She’d met him at a Historical Preservation Group benefit two years before.
    Meri looked across the table at him, brown hair burnished red in the candlelight, his smile slightly crooked, and she felt a rush of emotion, a mixture of love and uneasiness.
    And she knew she couldn’t tell him tonight. That wasn’t so bad of her. She had the whole summer. She wouldn’t take that long, that wouldn’t be fair. But surely he didn’t need to know tonight.
    Would it make a difference to him? That’s what worried her the most. People were adopted all the time—there was no stigma to it—and it wasn’t like she was the heiress to a great fortune or an impressive pedigree, just a family of farmers from across the bay.
    But what if her mother was someone who could be an embarrassment or, worse, a scandal? Peter was ambitious, but surely her origins wouldn’t hold him back, surely he wouldn’t hold that against her. Would he?
    Maybe the right thing would be to tell him tonight and get it over with. Take the chance that he’d say, “No biggie,” and then