Carolina Heart Read Online Free Page B

together.”
    “You mean, spend the day with him.”
    “Mr. Lewis is going to show us where they feed the sharks,” Hannah said.
    Madison ducked her chin, hiding behind her fall of hair. “I don’t see why you have to drag us on your dates, Mom. It’s not like he wants us along. It’s humiliating.”
    Cynthie’s heart squeezed. Madison was three when her father had lost his job cleaning and packing fish on the island. Cynthie had done her best to hold things together, had picked up a second shift as a cashier at the Piggly Wiggly to make ends meet. But after six months, she got tired of coming home exhausted to find Doug sitting on their couch, the house a mess and the baby crying.
You need to look for work,
she’d said.
    So he had. On the other side of the state.
    And he’d never looked back.
    Cynthie was careful not to criticize Doug to their daughter, not to complain when the child support payments came late or not at all. But she knew Doug’s silence over the years—and her own erratic search for love—had primed their daughter for rejection.
    The last thing Madison needed in her life now was another round of Meet Your Uncle Larry or Buddy or Phil.
    “It’s not a date,” Cynthie said firmly. “It’s a tour.”
    Madison slid her a glance. “Seriously?”
    “A group tour,” Cynthie said. She absolutely had to pay for their tickets now. She’d find the sixty dollars somehow. If she packed all their lunches . . . If she didn’t pay the minimum balance on the credit card until the twenty-third . . . “There will be other families. Probably kids your age.”
    “I doubt it,” Madison said. But she got out of the car.
    They walked up the path to the aquarium entrance, Madison almost smiling, Hannah skipping ahead past the cascading fountain of bronze fish.
    “Three tickets for the eleven o’clock, please,” Cynthie said to the fresh-faced girl behind the counter.
    “You want admission tickets?”
    “Tour tickets,” Cynthie said. “The eleven o’clock behind-the-scenes tour?”
    “There’s a tour at two,” the girl said. “You want me to see if we still have spaces available?”
    “Mom?” Hannah said, her voice rising.
    Cynthie took a deep breath, conscious of Madison’s suddenly alert posture. “We have reservations. For the eleven o’clock tour. Cynthia Lodge?”
    Unless Max had failed to make reservations. Unless he’d blown them off. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had failed to follow through on his promises to her and her daughters.
    “Cynthie!”
    She turned.
    Max Lewis was striding toward them, tall and tanned and broad-shouldered, wearing cargo shorts and a wide smile.
Boy Genius to the rescue
.
    Cynthie’s breath whooshed out as the tension she carried around inside her all the time—the voice that said,
You’re responsible, you fix this, it’s all on you
—relaxed.
    He’d come. He hadn’t let her down. The girls weren’t going to be disappointed after all.
    He loomed over them awkwardly—for one crazy moment she actually wondered if he might hug her—before he settled back and her imagination settled down.
    He rocked on his heels, hands in his pockets, beaming. “Great to see you. Hi, Hannah.”
    “Is that him?” Madison asked.
    Hannah grinned. “Hey, Mr. Lewis.”
    Madison looked at Cynthie. “Where’s the tour group?”
    “Ah, I guess that would be you. Us,” Max said. “Hi, I’m Max Lewis, your tour guide.”
    “This is my daughter, Madison,” Cynthie said.
    “Nice to meet you,” Madison muttered. But her eyes, seeking Cynthie’s, told a different story.
You said this wasn’t a date,
they accused.
    Cynthie swallowed. She’d never meant to lie to Maddie. But the truth was, she was attracted to Max Lewis, his steady gaze, his strong, tanned legs, his adorably mussed hair.
    Her insides contracted in yearning and dismay. Maybe she’d been lying to herself.

T HREE

    MAX HAD PREPARED for his date with Cynthie like a novice lecturer writing