Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

thought you might want something better than a frozen dinner like you usually eat for Devon’s first night home.”
    When Dad and Susan looked at each other there was no mistaking the connection between them, and Devon’s jaw went a little slack. Whoa. Weird.
    “Uh…it smells great,” she managed to say. “And I’m starving.” She wasn’t. She hadn’t been starving since she’d gotten that wedding invitation in the mail, but they didn’t need to know that. Was Susan going to stay and eat with them?
    As Devon and Susan both moved at the same time to the cupboard where the plates were kept, she got her answer. Apparently Susan was going to stay and eat with them, without even a direct invitation from Dad. Apparently it was just assumed she’d stay for dinner. Again, whoa.
    She and Susan both hesitated. Awkward! They eyed each other. Clearly Susan was comfortable here in Dad’s kitchen. Susan stepped back and beamed the smile again. As Devon lifted plates out of the cupboard, Susan found cutlery and they quickly set the table, then sat down to eat.
    “So your friends are getting married this weekend,” Susan said. “This wedding has been the talk of the town for weeks.”
    “Oh. Really.”
    “The Ralstons and the Brewsters have been such close friends for years. It’s just so romantic that they’re now going to be joined by marriage. Everyone thinks so.”
    Everyone but Devon.
    Susan clearly didn’t realize that she and Josh had once been…together. Her throat tightened and she looked down at her plate of lasagna, which was actually really delicious, with chunks of shrimp and scallops and crab, and melty cheese.
    Yes, Josh and Allie’s families were close. Allie’s mom, Lily, and Josh’s mom, Sophie, had been best friends, and their kids had grown up together. Devon had met Josh through Allie when she and Allie became friends as teenagers, although their first meetings had been really nothing. He was three years older than they were, a senior in high school. The first time Devon had met him had been one Christmas, at a big, two-family get-together.
    She’d immediately developed a crush on him, which she didn’t even share with Allie because it was just so…crazy. He was gorgeous, six feet tall with spectacular shoulders, a football player on the school team. He had dark brown hair, eyes the color of whiskey and a wide, easy smile, and at that time a beautiful, blonde, cheerleader girlfriend who spent the holiday draped over him like the garland on the Christmas tree. So really, there wasn’t even a smidgen of hope that Devon would ever get together with him. She just liked watching him and listening to him talk and worshipping him from afar. At the time she didn’t think he even noticed her, but she found out later—years later—that he had.
    She saw him around school occasionally, and sometimes at the Ralston home when she was there visiting Allie and he happened to be there too. He’d gone away to college in Boston the year after that, and he’d come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and a few other occasions over the years. She’d had other boyfriends, and it wasn’t as if she spent years mooning after Josh Brewster, but every time she saw him she felt a tug of attraction and a squeeze of lust that she always hid from Allie. From everybody.
    “That Josh Brewster is such a nice boy,” Susan continued. “Everyone in town loves him, especially after he rescued the Cardwell children from their home when it caught on fire. He’s so brave.”
    Devon murmured her agreement, still staring down at her food.
    “And everyone admires the way he looks after his family. His mom and his sister. And truthfully, he does a lot for the Ralston family too, since Lily passed away.”
    Of course he did.
    “And Allie is so beautiful,” Susan chatted on. “They make such a gorgeous couple. I hear her wedding dress is spectacular.”
    “Allie always did like pretty clothes,” Devon murmured.
    When Devon