Page 45 of A Wedding in the Bay

Paige shook her head. “I don’t think I would be. I wouldn’t be in this place in my life if it weren’t for you.”

The two sisters shared a hug, and then went back to watching their movie, both smiling a little.

I can’t believe that when I first came here to Blueberry Bay, I didn’t like it, Paige thought. I can’t believe I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Now, she couldn’t wait to move back to town and settle down in Blueberry Bay. It felt more like home to her than any other place ever had.

As the sisters continued to watch the film, Paige got more and more sleepy. A comfortable drowsiness settled over her and her eyelids began to feel heavy. Just before the movie ended, she dropped off to sleep.

“Paige,” Josie whispered, shaking her sister gently.

“Huh?” Paige murmured, sitting up quickly. “Oh.”

At first, she’d thought she was in her apartment in Providence, and that it had been her roommate shaking her awake. When she saw that it was Josie, she grinned, remembering where she was.

“I fell asleep,” she said, yawning as she glanced at the rolling credits of the movie.

“Time for bed,” Josie said, standing and helping her sister to her feet. “You’ve earned a good rest.”

“I could use one,” Paige said, stretching. “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed.”

Josie’s face lit up into a smile when she heard her sister’s words. Paige smiled back, her own heart feeling light.

“I’m glad you’re home, Paige,” Josie said.

“Me too.”

The sisters hugged again.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” Josie said, and Paige laughed.

“I won’t.” It felt good to have someone around who wanted to take care of her.

Paige brushed and flossed her teeth as quickly as she could, already fighting sleepiness again. Then she changed into her pajamas and crawled into her bed, feeling a wave of contentment wash over her. Within a few minutes, she was sound asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Caitlin stood in front of her desk at home, carefully arranging cut-out pictures. She’d been brainstorming beach wedding ideas ever since she and Olivia had talked about that being the theme for Caitlin and Michael’s wedding. She had been carefully cutting pictures from magazines and printing out ones that she’d found online and particularly liked. She smiled for a moment as she looked down at a photograph she’d cut from a magazine of a couple saying their wedding vows in front of the ocean.

It’s beautiful, she thought with a sigh. I hope Michael likes this idea of a beach wedding as much as I do.

She felt a slight flutter of nervousness as she finished arranging the pictures across her desk. She wanted to show them to Michael at the same time that she brought up the idea of a beach wedding, and she hoped very much that he would like the ideas she’d saved.

“There,” she murmured, looking down at her work. “That all looks absolutely lovely. Now I just have to show it to him.”

Taking a deep breath, she left her office and hurried to the kitchen, where Michael was fixing a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he called as she approached, even though his head was inside the cupboard and he couldn’t see her. She realized that he could hear her footsteps and she smiled. “Are you here to keep me company?”

She laughed. “Sure. And when you’re done, there’s something I’d like to show you.”

He poked his head out from under the sink for a moment, grinning at her. “Sounds great. I’m almost finished here—just another minute or two.”

They continued to talk affectionately while he finished up fixing the leaky pipe. She felt grateful that he was so handy and could fix things like that.

A couple of minutes later, Michael wiggled out from underneath the sink. “There,” he said with a tone of satisfaction as he started to wash his hands. “That should do it.”

“Thank you.” She leaned against the kitchen counter. “I appreciate your help.”

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