Page 8 of Return to Lovett Cove
Jasmine found her way back to the inn with ease, the drive more scenic than she remembered. After being in Lovett Cove for only a few hours, she was already appreciating the small town and its charm.
And the view.
In a lush green mountain valley close to the Atlantic coast, Jasmine now understood why her mother wanted to live out her retirement days here. Although Jasmine wouldn’t believe her mother knew about the coffee and fantastic biscuits at Petunia’s cafe ahead of time. Jasmine much preferred to think of her mother finding this place as serendipitous.
“River told me she renovated the upstairs suite. It’s the only part of the house that isn’t dilapidated,” Jasmine grumbled.
“River?”
“R. Scott. The real estate agentandattorney.” Jasmine felt silly not having guessed they were one and the same before now. She blamed her hectic work schedule for not allowing her a moment to think about it. Truly, she just wanted to sell the inn and move forward with winning the VP position at her company.
“Mmm, River…That’s a nice name. Is he hot?”
Jasmine’s skin tingled at the image of River’s smile at her over coffee. “Absolutely not.”
“Well, that just means he is.”
“Literally not what I said.”
“It’s what youdidn’tsay that says it all.”
Kennedy couldn’t see Jasmine roll her eyes, but Jasmine rolled them hard anyway. “Okay, so he’s kind of a Hemsworth. He was at the inn when I arrived.” Jasmine switched her phone to speaker.
The volume was up high when Kennedy asked, “Naked?”
Jasmine stood in the foyer of the inn. Her memory conjured up River leaning against the wall at the opposite end, arms crossed, a sexy grin widening his square jaw. “Shirtless. Why in the world would he be naked, Kennedy?”
Kennedy laughed. “Sorry, not sorry. Go on.”
“Yeah, so…where was I?”
“Shirtless.”
“Right. Anyway. He was fixing the kitchen faucet.”
“So, he’s handy. That’s rare. Guys these days are so useless. Wait, so is he renovating the house?”
Jasmine stopped mid-climb up the stairs to the second level. She hadn’t asked River that. “I’ll have to find out. This place needs a lot of work for one guy. It would take him forever.”
“Does that mean you’re staying in Lovett Cove?” Kennedy asked coyly.
“Absolutely not. One more day to figure out how to sell this place. Then I’ll be back.”
“Well, take your time. We’re still on target with our marketing projections, and I have everything under control.”
“I know you do, Kenny. Thanks.”
Jasmine said goodbye to her best friend and assistant. When she reached the second-story main suite, Jasmine stood in the doorway and stared at the last room her mother was in. She could smell the faint flowery scent of her mother’s favorite perfume. Tears welled in Jasmine’s eyes. She blinked them away and busied herself by setting her carry-on luggage on a bench and opening it. Then she spotted the photograph on the chest of drawers.
Jasmine fingered the glass pane of the framed photograph. A picture of all her sisters on a dune at the beach, smiling. She couldn’t have been more than nine or ten in this photo, but Jasmine had to reach back into her memories to recall the beach.
Jasmine loaded the map app on her phone and gasped.
“It was here,” she breathed. The dunes weren’t far from Lovett Cove. “That’s why you wanted to buy an inn here. It wasn’t an accident.” Her mother was returning to a place she truly loved. To a time when all her daughters were together, smiling.
Jasmine sat on the edge of the four-poster bed, tears spilling onto the glass and blurring the photograph. “Mom,” she breathed. “What am I supposed to do?” Jasmine placed the photograph on the nightstand and got ready for bed. The last image she saw before she closed her eyes was of her mother’s smiling face as her mother raised the camera to take a picture.
The next morning, Jasmine heard a sad doorbell screech as she stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out onto the balcony that overlooked the front drive. River’s truck was parked next to her rental car. “River?”
