Read Love's Stormy Gale (Heartsong Presents) for Free Online Page A

deep breath. Back went her gaze to the road.
    Jonathan shook his head. “Naw, she and I never got together.”
    A pang nipped at Olivia’s heart. “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay. It happens.”
    She wanted to tell him he deserved someone special, but held her tongue and instead concentrated on finding a vacant parking space in the Market Basket parking lot.
    “There’s one!” Jonathan jabbed at a spot at the end of a row. “And there’s Kevin and Julie running for their car.”
    Olivia responded by zipping into the parking spot. She shoved thoughts of lost love to the side for the moment. “Let’s go.”
    When they jogged to the store’s entrance, Jonathan gripped one of her hands in his rough one, his strength pulling her along.
    She pulled up short at the produce aisle, her heart pounding although the dash to the store had been a short one. Her fingers still remembered the texture of Jonathan’s hand. Olivia reached for a smooth tomato in the bin.
    “Do you see a note anywhere, or do you think someone already got the last clue?” Olivia whirled to see what Jonathan was up to and nearly collided with a sour-faced woman with graying hair. “Oh, Mrs. O’Leary.”
    “I heard you were back.” Frances O’Leary’s accusing glare seared Olivia’s face more than the summer sun could. Her look passed from Olivia to Jonathan, then back to Olivia again. “Watch her, Jon. She’ll push you, too.”
    Olivia fumbled for the words. She’d had no idea Robby’s mother still harbored anger toward her. “I don’t know what you mean by push—”
    “You pushed Robby into going on that last voyage. Always had to be telling him how to run things, you did. I just wish he’d called off the wedding and forgotten the whole idea.”
    “I really don’t think this is the place to be discussing what happened...” Olivia sensed Jonathan moving closer to her. “I think we should make a fresh start. I’m willing if—”
    Frances yanked a plastic produce bag from a nearby roll. “Fresh start. That’s easy to say. You’re not alone. First I lose Robby, then his father.” Frances wore the snarl of a wounded animal.
    “Don’t talk to Olivia that way. She lost Robby, too. Anyway, Robby wanted to go.” Jonathan’s words and his warm hand squeezing her shoulder helped take the sting from Frances’s words. “And you’re not alone. There are lots of people who care about you, too.”
    Frances slung a bag of unsuspecting tomatoes into the metal shopping cart. “Well, I can see she’s already made short work of charming you, too. Watch her, Jon, she’s bad news.” Shoulders tight, she stomped away, her shoes clicking a staccato beat on the linoleum.
    Olivia tried to relax her grip on the two tomatoes. “I never knew she was so angry.”
    “You can’t do anything about her anger. I tried going around to visit her after you left, but when Robby Senior got sicker, Frances started lashing out more and more.” He removed his hand from her shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
    “It would have come out eventually, but thanks for sticking up for me.” She reached for a square of paper taped to the lower edge of the tomato bin. “Find Blue Moon at The Music House.”
    Jonathan grinned. “We’ve got this game.”
    She nodded absently, still reeling from the effect of Frances O’Leary’s venom. Her first impulse had been a retort to Frances along the lines of, “Talk about pushy, lady, you wrote the book on it.” But instead she’d stammered and clung desperately to a remnant of Christian behavior.
    “Hey, are you going to be all right? We can stop hunting for stuff and just go back to Maggie’s.”
    Olivia would show him she wouldn’t crumble. “No, I want to keep going. I’m fine. Really.” She gave him her best smile in reassurance.
    * * *
    A faint pinkish smudge at the western horizon was the only remainder of daylight. Olivia turned to face east, watching the gunmetal gray surf pound the