by Rachel Hanna
Also by Rachel Hanna
January Cove Series
Waiting For You
The One For Me
Loving Tessa
Falling For You
Finding Love
All I Need
Secrets And Soulmates
Choices Of The Heart
Sweet Love
Faith, Hope & Love
Spying On The Billionaire
Second Chance Christmas
The January Cove Series Books 1-5 Box Set
South Carolina Sunsets
The Beach House
Sunsets & Second Chances
Fireflies & Family Ties
The Inn At Seagrove
The Wedding At Seagrove
A Seagrove Christmas (Coming Soon)
Sweet Tea B&B
Sweet Tea Sunrise
Sweet Tea & Honey Bees (Coming Soon)
Sweet Tea B&B
Whiskey Ridge
Starting Over
Taking Chances
Home Again
Always A Bridesmaid
The Billionaire's Retreat
Whiskey Ridge Boxed Set Books 1-3
Standalone
Back To Us
Blue Ridge Christmas
Sweet Tea Sunrise
Rachel Hanna
Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Foreword
Thank you for picking up SWEET TEA SUNRISE!
I would also like to offer a FREE January Cove book to you as well! Just click on the image below to download your copy of WAITING FOR YOU.
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Chapter One
Mia stared at the computer screen with Kate and Evie standing over her like that one teacher she hated in high school. Of course, he’d had every reason to look over her shoulder since she’d cheated off the nerdy girl beside her for the entire semester.
“Well, what does it say?” Kate asked.
The whole day had been a blur after they’d managed to pull off a secret celebrity wedding for Lana Blaze. It had definitely been one of the highlights of Mia’s life to be able to hug Lana’s neck and take photos at her flashy wedding. She’d never forget the feeling as she watched the motorcade pull away, a big check in her hand, knowing she’d accomplished something big with her new sister.
Now, she was looking at her laptop screen, her eyes wide as saucers. The DNA site said there was another match, and she was afraid to click any further.
“I can’t seem to make my finger move,” Mia said, her voice shaking. The last thing she expected was another match. What if it was another sister? Or a brother? She’d always wanted one of each.
“Come on, Aunt Mia!” Evie prodded. She had all the patience of a wild fox on speed.
“Do you want me to do it?” Cooper asked. She looked up at him and shook her head.
“No, but thanks. I just need to take a breath.” Why was this so hard for her? Kate had brought wonderful things to her life, so a new family member would do the same, right? Or maybe it would shake up the delicate balance they had right now.
She took a few deep breaths and then looked back at the screen. Without giving herself time to overthink it, she clicked on the link. Blinking her eyes a few times as if she was seeing things that weren’t there, she stared at the words.
“Does that say…”
“A father connection,” Kate said, finishing her sentence, the words coming out of her mouth slowly.
Mia couldn’t believe it. That had to be wrong. Her father? There had to be some mistake.
“Wow, Aunt Mia! Isn’t this great news? Your father!” Evie hugged her from behind. “I’m so excited for you.”
Mia said nothing, but stood up and walked to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water. She gripped the edge of the countertop with one hand and downed the glass of water with the other.
“Are you okay?” Kate asked, touching Mia’s shoulder.
“I don’t know,” Mia said, softly.
So many times in her life, she’d dreamed of what having a father would be like. There were certain dreams she had in her head, little scenes that would play out in her lowest moments, in those times she really needed a dad.
Taking her to the father daughter dance at school.
Teaching her how to fly a kite.
Tearing up when she put on her prom dress.
Telling silly dad jokes at the dinner table.
Walking her down the aisle at her imaginary wedding.
She could see him vividly in her mind, but never did she really think he existed. He was more of a figment of her imagination, a mixture of all the good things about fathers.
The man, no matter who he was, would never live up to her dreams about him. She’d had years to conjure him up, many times feeling angry at her mother for never talking about him. She just assumed he was a bad guy in reality since her mother refused to talk about him. But at least her brain would allow him to be the best dad ever to walk the Earth.
“Are you going to send him a message?” Evie asked, excitement in her voice.
“I don’t know,” Mia said again. She didn’t know anything right now.
“Say, Evie, do you want to walk down to the lake with me? I’m scouting some fishing spots,” Cooper suddenly said.
“I don’t fish,” Evie said, laughing.
“Well, come help me find a spot anyway,” he said.
Mia knew he was trying to help by taking Evie out of the house. She loved her niece, but Evie was persistent and often didn’t recognize other people’s emotions.
“Come sit down,” Kate said, pulling on her arm. Mia put the glass of water back on the counter and followed her sister.
She slowly sat down in the fluffy arm chair next to the fireplace and sighed. “I never expected this.”
“But, it’s good news, right? I mean, it looks like you’re going to find your father.”
Mia looked at her. “What if he doesn’t want to know me?”
“He obviously put his DNA into the database, Mia. Surely it’s because he wants to find you.”
Mia stood up and walked over to the mantle. It had always been one of her favorite parts of the house with its carved wood, taken from an old tree on the property so many decades ago. It also held one of her favorite photos of her and her mother in a white, wrought iron frame.
She picked it up and ran her index finger across her mother’s striking cheekbones, the same ones she saw when she looked at Evie. “You know, she was a fantastic mother. She tried so hard to make sure I never wanted for anything. I know she wanted to stand in for my missing father, but I don’t know if it’s because he didn’t want me or maybe he never knew about me.”
“What if he didn’t know about you and he wants to know you? That’s a possibility too, you know.”
Mia nodded before putting the photo back on the mantle. “I guess so. I just don’t know how much more I can take.”
“What do you mean?”
She sat back down and leaned her head back. “Losing my Momma was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. But, finding you and Evie has been the best.”
“Aw. Thanks.”
Mia looked at her. “As much as I love you both, I don’t know that I can take more upheaval in my life right now. I feel so emotional these days, and I couldn’t take my father pushing me away right now. It would just be too much loss, I think.�
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Kate leaned forward and touched her knee. “I get it. Trust me.”
“I’m sorry, Kate. I know hearing me complain must be hard for you. You didn’t get to know Momma, and your adoptive father sounds like a piece of work. I have no room to whine.”
Kate smiled. “That’s what sisters are for, right? To whine and complain? Or is it drink wine and complain?”
“I think it’s the second one,” Mia said with a laugh.
“Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I deactivated my DNA site account.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I can only handle so much too. I’m glad we found each other, but I don’t need anyone else. I was afraid long lost cousins would start appearing, and I’d be going all over the country trying to reconnect with all of these people.”
“What about your father? Maybe he’ll find you too.”
Kate shook her head. “Sometimes I think it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie. I already have one louse of a father. I don’t need another one.”
“Are you sure you want to give up?”
“I’m sure that I want to focus on my new sister and my daughter for awhile. Maybe one day I’ll reactivate my account and look for my birth father, but things are good right now. Why rock the boat?”
Mia chuckled under her breath. “My boat’s about to get rocked whether I like it or not.”
“You could always deactivate your account too.”
Mia shook her head. “Nah. I’m way too curious for that. I have to know one way or another.”
She stood up and walked back to her computer. As she looked at the flashing cursor, she poised her fingers over the keys and began typing.
My name is Mia Carter, and I live in Georgia. I realize this might come as a shock to you, but it appears that you’re my father. If you’d like to chat, please send me a message.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she clicked send and shut her computer, her heart pounding. What had she just done?
Evie walked up the long gravel driveway toward the very top of the property. She loved the view from up here. Of course, her mother was always watching her like a hawk lately, after her little excursion to the creek led her to an unintended overnight stay in the woods and a sprained ankle. But, at least she had a killer story to tell.
Then again, who would she tell?
She had no friends in Carter’s Hollow, and all of her so-called friends back home had all but forgotten she even existed. The first few weeks she was at the B&B, they’d been in touch on text. Then, their correspondence had been reduced to social media and the occasional direct message. Now, she watched them all from afar, wondering if they were ever truly her friends anyway.
She’d always had a tough time trusting people. After all, her own father had abandoned her, and her mother had spent the last few years continually angry at her for one thing or another. Even her teachers glared at her with an intensity that should’ve been reserved for serial killers and people who don’t recycle.
Being at the B&B and getting to know her aunt had made her feel calmer than she had in years. She was starting to belong somewhere, even if it was out in the middle of the Georgia woods.
Nature had never been her thing, but now she enjoyed her hikes, even though most of them were only to the end of the driveway and back. Her mother had approved of those sorts of walks, as long as Evie had a fully charged phone and agreed not to veer off course.
Lately, her mother was much more occupied with her budding new relationship. Cooper seemed nice enough. He certainly carried her up that ravine after she’d fallen a couple of weeks back, so she gave him credit for that. But, there was a part of her that was jealous of the time her mother was now spending on the business and Cooper. She sometimes worried she’d get replaced just like her father replaced her with a whole new family.
As she reached the top of the driveway, she climbed up into her favorite tree. It was a big oak with low hanging limbs, perfect for climbing. It was also the best spot she’d found to stare out over the blue hued mountains and dream about the future.
Maybe she would become a nurse and try to help people. Although she really hated needles, and the smell of the hospital made her want to vomit.
Maybe she would travel the world as a nature photographer. But she really wasn't all that fond of airplanes, and the thought of getting eaten by a lion out in the middle of the jungle somewhere made her cringe.
Or maybe she would stay right here, on this land that made her feel like she was at home. Maybe she would help her aunt Mia run the B&B. For some reason, even at her young age, the thought of that didn't make her too uncomfortable.
While most of her friends back in Rhode Island had these big plans for their lives - usually traveling or going to some Ivy League college - she ached for roots. For family.
She leaned back against the sturdy wood and closed her eyes, her legs dangling on either side of the limb, lightly swaying in the breeze.
This would be her first fall in the mountains, but she was looking forward to it. It was still "as hot as blue blazes", as her Aunt Mia would say, since it was only mid August. But she was looking forward to seeing the leaves change color and then eventually fall from the trees, revealing more of the mountains surrounding them.
But then there would be school. Next month, in fact. Her mother had already been talking about going back to Rhode Island soon so that she could get on with her studies, but Evie had pushed back, saying that she didn't want to go back there for school. There was nothing left for her in Rhode Island. Beautiful as it was there, she didn’t want to go back.
For now, they had agreed to table the argument for at least another week. She told her mother that she would rather do school online then go back to Rhode Island and leave her new life behind.
A part of her had to admit that she missed having friends. Her so-called friends in Rhode Island had never been all that great. In fact, many of them were the top troublemakers in the school. Nobody popular wanted to hang around with her. She had been the oddball, stuck on the fringes of school society since she’d hit middle school.
Evie had always been a bit of a conundrum to those around her. Her personality shifted from angry to good natured in a split second, sometimes even surprising her. And her desire to constantly find herself in troubling situations wasn't something that most people wanted to be a part of, unless, of course, they liked to get into trouble too.
But she missed having people her age around. Being around grownups all the time was often boring. The thought of going to a brand new school in a brand new state scared her, but a part of her found it exciting. She would get to meet all new people, none of whom knew anything about her past. Nobody would know all the trouble she’d gotten into. Nobody would know all the times she was in detention or had to redo a class just to keep from failing the grade she was in.
And nobody would know that she had been abandoned by her own father.
Every time she thought about him, she wanted to cry. When she was little, she had been such a daddy's girl. They would sometimes throw the ball together in the front yard, with her father saying that he wished he had a son. When he would say that, it would hurt her feelings, but she never said anything. She just tried to be the best baseball player she could, often practicing against the side of their house, throwing a tennis ball at the brick over and over again when her dad was at work.
She had always wanted to impress him. But it never seemed to be enough, and the moment he could bolt and leave her stranded, he did. He built a whole new family, including a little boy, proving to her once again that she just didn't matter much.
Of course, her mother was different. Kate had tried everything to keep her daughter in line, and Evie appreciated it, even when she acted like she didn't. She knew that her mother was doing everything possible to give her a good life, including coming all the way to Georgia to give her another family member who cared about her.
She leaned ba
ck against the tree again, taking a deep breath of the mountain air, thick and hot as it was.
Just as she was dozing off against the trunk behind her, she heard a crack. Thinking it might be the limb she was sitting on, she immediately bolted upright, looking down at where she was sitting, trying to assess the situation. What would she latch onto if the whole thing fell? She wasn't exactly the outdoorsy type just yet, so she didn't have an idea in her head on what to do if she started falling towards the earth at a rapid clip.
When she realized that her limb wasn't moving, she looked around, surveying the rest of the tree. Maybe a limb was about to fall on top of her. As she looked up and in front of her, she saw another pair of feet dangling from the tree. Startled, she put her hand on her chest, her breath stuck in her throat.
"Hey! Who's up there?" she called, the familiar hint of anger in her voice.
She heard a deep voice respond, obviously that of a boy whose voice had recently changed. "A better question is who's down there?"
She looked up again, noticing only a pair of dirty white Converse tennis shoes dangling there, the sun obscuring his face and only showing a dark silhouette.
"I live on this property. And you happen to be in my tree, so I think you should answer me first!"
"Do you have a survey to prove where your property ends and mine begins?"
"No. That would be stupid."
Without warning, he suddenly started shimmying down the tree, landing on another thick limb right beside hers. She cut her eyes over at him, unable to keep herself from looking. He was a teenage boy, after all, and she had newly acquired hormones that prevented her from not noticing a good looking guy.
And he was good looking. Scruffy, but cute. Hair longer than it should've been, a dirty brown color. Fuller lips. Light colored eyes. An oversized pair of khaki shorts, not the most fashionable. A band T-shirt for some group she’d never heard of, but cool in the fashion sense.