The Inn at Rose Harbor Read Online Free Page A

better than he realized. “I wasn’t sure I would either,” he admitted.
    “Stop by my parent’s house first,” Michelle offered. “I’ll meet you there and we can go over to Richard’s together.”
    “I appreciate the offer,” he said.
    Michelle hesitated and when she spoke her voice went soft, almost wistful. “I’ve thought about you often through the years, Josh. I wish … I wish we’d had more of a chance to talk at Dylan’s funeral.”
    Josh couldn’t remember seeing Michelle there although she would have surely attended. His own participation had been so brief there hadn’t been time to really talk to anyone. It’d stung that Richard had discounted the strong relationship Josh and Dylan had shared. It was just another slight to add to all the rest, but as it stood now, Josh was Richard’s only living relative.
    “When would you like to stop by?” Michelle asked.
    “I’ll get settled in and be there in about an hour. Does that suit you?” The sooner he confronted the old man the better. Putting it off wouldn’t make seeing him again any easier.
    “Perfect. I’ll see you at my parents’ house then.”
    “See you,” Josh said and disconnected the call. It felt good to have one ally in town, someone he could talk to freely. He’d forgotten how just being in this town, close to Richard, made him feel under siege.
    His truck keys jingling in his hand, Josh started down the staircase.
    Jo Marie met him at the bottom of the stairwell. “I’m going down to the bank this afternoon, but the key to your room unlocksthe front door as well, so if I’m not here feel free to make yourself at home.”
    “Thanks, I will. I’m heading out now,” he said. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” Josh had decided that he would drive around town before heading over to the Nelsons’. It would be interesting to see what changes the years had brought to Cedar Cove. He hadn’t noticed that much when he’d exited off the highway. From the view in his room, the waterfront area didn’t appear any different than what he remembered. He expected much had remained the same as well.
    “I’ll see you later, then.”
    “Later,” he concurred. Leaving the B&B, he paused long enough to zip up the jacket he had yet to remove. The cold hit him hard as he walked outside. Rain had started to fall, a steady drizzle that was so common in the winter months around Puget Sound.
    He headed for the high school and saw that other than a few more mobile classrooms, everything was as he remembered it. He parked the truck and walked around the back of the school to the track and football field. The track looked like it had been resurfaced recently. He’d run track in high school and done fairly well, but Dylan was the real athlete in the family—he’d even been on the Homecoming Court his senior year. By then Josh had been in the army, and he remembered how proud he was when Dylan had told him he’d been nominated.
    Josh hadn’t attended his own homecoming or, for that matter, the prom. He couldn’t afford it and Richard wasn’t likely to pay for anything beyond his most basic needs. After his mother died, Josh knew he couldn’t depend on Richard for anything more than a roof over his head, and he’d been right. In the end Richard had been unwilling to provide even that.
    From the high school, Josh drove down Harbor Street and was pleasantly surprised. The library was adorned with a freshlypainted mural and the Chinese restaurant was in the same place he remembered. But several businesses were gone, including the dog-washing shop where he’d worked one summer between his junior and senior years in high school.
    Finally he decided it was ridiculous to put his reunion with Richard off any longer and headed for his old neighborhood. Needless to say, he wasn’t anxious to see his stepfather, but he was determined not to let the old man intimidate him any longer.
    Josh parked on the street outside the Nelson house and