Far Harbor Read Online Free

Cove.
    “It isn’t going to be easy.”
    “That’s okay.” She lifted her chin and did her best to pull off at least a bit of her sister Raine’s Xena-the-warrior-princess impression. “I’m tougher than I look.”
    “You’re going to have to be, if you’re planning to tackle this place. Because it’s definitely a wreck.”
    “A challenge,” she corrected.
    He chuckled. “You and John should get together and open a Coldwater Cove chapter of Optimists Anonymous.”
    His words rubbed at some still-raw wounds and had her feeling perversely annoyed. Savannah seriously doubted that he would have questioned Raine taking on such a challenge. Then again, Raine had always had the reputation of being the “smart, sassy” sister, while Savannah was known throughout Coldwater Cove as the “sweet, pretty one.”
    Well, she was going to change that. There was nothing she could do about pretty since she’d been gifted—or cursed, she sometimes thought—with the best of her parents’ looks. Her mother might be fifty, her rock-star father five years older, yet both had remained stunningly attractive individuals. Nevertheless, when Savannah had finally quit hiding beneath the covers, she’d vowed to abandon her lifelong habit of avoiding unwanted conflict by abandoning her own wishes. No longer would she be so damn accommodating, especially when such knee-jerk submission wasn’t in her best interests.
    “Do you have something against optimism, counselor?” Her back stiffened along with her resolve even as she secretly wondered which of them she was trying to convince, Dan or herself.
    “Not at all.”
    “Good. Because I’m going to make this lighthouse beautiful again, and when it’s done I’m going to throw the biggest blowout grand opening party Coldwater Cove has ever seen.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”
    He made another of those long, silent assessments that made her feel as if he were evaluating her for jury duty, then, just when her nerves were on the edge of screeching like banshees, he picked up the flat of glossy-leaved, dark green plants. “Guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, then.”
    “Tomorrow?”
    “I handle all of Henry Hyatt’s legal affairs, including property sales, and while I don’t want to scare you off, if you happen to have a suit of armor in your closet, you might think about wearing it for your meeting with the guy.”
    Dan’s tone suggested that negotiating with Henry may prove nearly as difficult as refurbishing the buildings. Before she could respond that she was certainly capable of doing business with a frail old man, he flashed a quick grin that was even more charming than it had been back in those long-ago days of her adolescent crush, then sauntered away, his cheerful, off-key whistling drifting back on the fir-scented breeze.
     
    The following morning Savannah lay in bed, futilely chasing sleep. She’d left the shade up so the stars that she’d never been able to see while living in California could shine into the room. A full white moon floated in the center of the darkened rectangle of the dormer window. The ring around the moon meant something, but she couldn’t remember exactly what. Magic, perhaps? Or trouble?
    The moon drifted by, eventually slipping out of sight as she struggled with her churning thoughts. By the time a shimmering lavender predawn glow revealed the violets that blossomed on the wallpaper she and Raine had compromised on so many years ago, she surrendered to the inevitable. There’d be no more sleep tonight.
    Untangling herself from the twisted sheets, she pulled on a robe, went into the adjoining bathroom, splashed cold water on her face, brushed her teeth, and clipped her unruly red-gold hair into a quick twist. Then, not wanting to wake her grandmother, who was sleeping across the hall, she crept down the stairs to the kitchen, where she made coffee in the snazzy red coffeemaker she’d sent Ida last Christmas.
    Drawn by the lure of birdsong,