Chapters (42)
- Cover Page
- Dedication
- Dear Friend
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Acknowledgments
- Reading Group Guide
- An Excerpt from the Goodbye Bride
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- About the Author
She heard Brody stand. “The leggy redhead? I don’t know her. They were talking when I got here.”
Kate felt a twinge of something unpleasant. It struck her as odd at first. She tried to rationalize it as common sense. After all, Lucas was wearing a wedding band, and the way Red was hanging on his arm was hardly appropriate. She glared down at the woman. Boundaries, lady. Have you heard of them?
Before she could help herself, Kate took a step toward the stairs with the thought of putting the woman in her place. Then she stopped. She imagined Lucas’s amused brow, quirking upward, his crooked smile as Kate staked her claim. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure. Besides, what did it matter if Red flirted with Lucas? It wasn’t as if Kate had feelings for him.
She was not jealous, and there was no way on earth she was going to let Lucas think she was.
Twelve
Twelve
Be careful about making rash judgments. Sometimes first impressions are wrong.
—Excerpt from Finding Mr. Right-for-You by Dr. Kate
Kate slipped from the bed shortly after four o’clock and felt her way across the floor. From the floor on Lucas’s side of the bed, Bo shifted. As she pulled her thin robe from the hook and tiptoed from the room, she heard his toenails clicking across the wood floor. Kate saw no way of making him return without disturbing Lucas.
The house was dark and quiet, except for the living room clock ticking off time. In the darkness she made her way to the back door and opened it quietly, keeping Bo inside. A warm breeze tugged at her cotton robe, and she gathered the belt, tightening it around her waist before sitting.
The dream that had awakened her surrounded her like a thick wet fog. In it, Bryan had come to her office, climbing the stairs with purposeful steps like Brody had. But Bryan wasn’t there for advice. He took her in his arms and proposed to her. When they left the building, they weren’t on Main Street, but at Jetties Beach for their wedding. As Kate approached the altar, he turned. But it wasn’t Bryan. It was Lucas.
Now, Kate watched the moonlight flickering on the surface of the shadowed water. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wooden back. The oscillating sound of the waves washing the shoreline didn’t soothe her. Inside she felt as jolted as she had in the dream when she realized Lucas had replaced Bryan.
It happened for real too. Kate sighed. She wished she could fast-forward through the year and get her life back on track. How did I get so far off course, God? What am I doing in this house with a man I barely know and hardly like?