Read Summer in Eclipse Bay for Free Online Page A

high school.
He felt like an idiot. He could only hope that he was not turning red. Something
had changed in the situation, but he was at a loss to know what had happened.
Only one way to find out, he thought. "Dinner tonight?"
    She hesitated; honest regret showed on her face. He'd seen that look before.
    "You're busy, right?" he said without inflection. A cold feeling
coalesced in his gut. He couldn't believe she'd set him up like that.
    "Well, I did promise Virgil Nash that I'd drive out to the Thurgarton
house after I close the gallery this afternoon.
    He and Arizona Snow want my opinion on some paintings that they discovered
stashed in one of Thurgarton's closets. The thing is, I don't know how long it
will take me."
    He relaxed. Maybe she hadn't set him up, after all.
    "Forever," he said.
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "It'll take you forever to even find the old Thurgarton place unless
Virgil gave you really, really good directions. Thurgarton liked his privacy.
There's no sign on the road leading to the turnoff, and the drive is hidden in
the trees."
    "Oh." Her fine, red-brown brows wrinkled delicately in a small
frown. "Virgil gave me a little map."
    "Forget it," he said easily. "I'll pick you up after you
close the gallery this afternoon and drive you out there. Later we can go to
dinner."
    "I suppose that might work," she said.
    She sounded so damn casual, he thought. As if the decision she had just made
weren't staggering in its implications. As if it weren't going to alter
destinies and change the fate of nations.
    Okay, he could deal with the world shifting in its orbit. What really worried
him was the question of why it had done so. After six turn-downs in a row, the
Fairy Queen of Eclipse Bay had agreed to go out with him.
    Lucky number seven.
    Be careful what you wish for.

Chapter 4
    Contents - Prev | Next
    The little girl with the glossy brown hair and the big, dark eyes was back.
    Octavia was discussing the merits of a charming seascape with a middle-aged
tourist couple when she caught sight of the youngster on the sidewalk outside.
This was the second time this week that the girl had appeared. On the first
occasion she had been accompanied by her mother, a pretty but quietly
determined-looking woman who wore the unmistakable cloak of single parenthood.
The pair had wandered into the gallery and looked at pictures for a long time.
The child had been as absorbed in the works of art as her mother—an unusual
event. Most kids found the paintings boring in the extreme.
    The woman had greeted Octavia politely and made it plain that she was not
there to buy, just to look around. She had clearly been braced for a cool reception,
but Octavia had assured her that she was welcome to browse.
    The woman and her daughter had moved from picture to picture, talking
seriously in low tones about some of them, showing little interest in others.
They had been standing in front of a brilliant abstract when the woman had
glanced at her watch, frowned in alarm, and hurried out of the gallery with the
little girl.
    The woman had not returned, but her daughter was here again, standing on the
other side of the glass staring at the colorful poster in the window that
announced the Children's Art Show.
    I'm not going to lose her this time,
Octavia thought. "Excuse
me," she said to the couple contemplating the purchase of the seascape.
"I'll be right back."
    She hurried behind the sales counter, reached down, and selected a large box
of crayons from a carton that was nearly empty. She took a pad of drawing paper
from the dwindling pile.
    Crayons and pad in hand, she straightened quickly and looked out the window.
The little girl was still there.
    Octavia crossed the gallery, opened the front door, and stepped out onto the
sidewalk. The child turned, looking a bit startled.
    "Hello," Octavia said. "Would you like to enter a picture in
the art show?"
    The child stared at her. She did not speak. "Every entrant gets a box
of crayons and a pad of