Page 4 of Adrift

I dig out my notepad to scrawl “wheelbarrow” on the growing to-do list, and then I glance up at the driver. He’s about my dad’s age, but I don’t recognize him.

He slows down as he passes by. “Morning!” he calls, craning his neck around to see if the orchard behind me looks any different.

“Morning!” I answer, grinning as I lean on the fence and watch him go.

My new neighbour is patting down the tote bags on the seat beside him like he’s searching for his phone. And he keeps sneaking glances over his shoulder at me, swerving wildly more than once before he disappears from view again.

The whisper network is on it. I give it a day before everyone on the island knows who I am and why I’m here. So, before I put away my notepad, I add “working freezer” to the list.

I can practically feel the welcome lasagnas hurtling my way. And pie. So much pie. Sunrise Islandlovespie.

It’s almost lunchtime. My stomach grumbles, making my next decision easy. I’ll head up to the island’s only restaurant for lunch—and a slice of today’s special pie.

And I’ll pray that—somehow—everything will fall into place.

Chapter

Two

KIERAN

“Honey,nobody needs a man who can’t hurry things up in a pinch. Life’s busy, and a good bottom is even busier.” My friend Ronan tosses his pencil onto his sketchbook and briskly claps his hands together. “Chop chop. Leave your calling card, thank your bottom, and get the fuck out of Dodge.”

“Right?” I grin, running a cloth back and forth across the bar top. “I didnotwanna miss that ferry. Imagine staying the night with him. I wouldn’t sit down for a week.”

Ronan snorts with laughter. “Although… you could catch up on sleep while he’s getting to the point.”

“I was already yawning.” I giggle. “I probably had… what do they call it? A micro-sleep?”

Ronan groans sympathetically as he packs away his stuff. “All I can say is he wasn’t the one.”

And Ronan should know.

He’s only had that shiny new engagement ring on his finger for a week, and he still glows with excitement every time he sees it. His fiancé—my coworker, Alph—is a good man and I’m glad for both of them.

But it makes me think, too.

“I’m never gonna get one of those on my finger.”

Ronan gasps. His jaw drops as he looks up at me. “What did you say?”

Oh. I said it out loud, didn’t I?

Fuck.

Everyone thinks I’m happy to just play the field… and for the most part, I am. It’s only now and then that I think stupid stuff like that. My cheeks are burning. “Uh… I never said that.”

“Too late,” Ronan tells me, wagging a stern finger before he shoves his pencil case into his backpack. “I heard it. If you wanna find the one, we’ll help!Everyone on Sunrise can keep their eyes peeled...”

The community might be incredible here, but I don’t want to be their project.

“God forbid,” I groan, and he laughs. “Anyway, I don’t need a perfect man. I’d settle for a good kisser.”

“He wasn’t even a good kisser?” Ronan shoulders his backpack and staggers against the counter. “You’ve beenthroughit, sweetie! How bad?”

“Let’s just say, if I wanted fish lips, I’d just go into the kitchen here and?—”

Honk!

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