Shaded Amethysts: A small-town love triangle romance (Brunswick Bay Harbor Gems Book 6)
Page 1
Shaded Amethysts
Brunswick Bay Harbor Gems
Ann Omasta
Contents
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1. Avery
2. Avery
3. Avery
4. Avery
5. Avery
6. Avery
7. Avery
8. Avery
9. Avery
10. Gage
11. Avery
12. Avery
13. Avery
14. Avery
15. Avery
16. Avery
17. Gage
18. Avery
19. Avery
20. Gage
21. Avery
22. Avery
23. Gage
24. Avery
25. Avery
26. Avery
27. Gage
28. Avery
29. Gage
30. Avery
31. Gage
32. Avery
Epilogue - Avery
Heartless Hunk Sneak Peek: Chapter 1 - Violet
Heartless Hunk Sneak Peek: Chapter 2 - Oliver
Let’s stay in touch!
About the Author, Ann Omasta
Acknowledgments
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I won’t let Charlotte die. I can’t. She means everything to me. She needs me to stay calm and talk her through landing the plane. We can’t let her find out this is my first time doing this, too.
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1
Avery
I was happy that everyone else’s lives were on the right track. Really, I was. I just wished my life would find some sort of direction. My train had left the station and was trying to meander through the woods… blindfolded.
Losing my job as a paralegal at Bernstein and Gray, the only law office in Brunswick Bay Harbor, hadn’t been that bad. We all knew it was because I was outspoken about my brother, Alex’s, innocence in his wife’s disappearance when everyone else believed him to be guilty.
But, of course, they couldn’t admit that was the reason for my dismissal. No, it was because they ‘didn’t have enough work to keep me busy,’ despite the fact that I had worked my ass off day and night for two years straight for that firm.
Once it was proven that Alex was indeed innocent in Claire’s disappearance, they couldn’t take me back without confessing that had been the true reason they let me go.
So, there went two years of my life down the drain. Well, not really, because now I was determined to take the final steps to become a lawyer, open a kick-ass practice right here in town, and put those jerks out of business.
I thought about taking a job unrelated to the law to make ends meet until I finish my classes and pass the bar exam, but decided I would get done quicker if I just buckled down and focused on my goal.
No job means no money for an apartment, so I tucked tail and moved back in with my parents. They are paying for my schooling, putting a roof over my head, and making sure I eat. It’s just like I’m in high school all over again, except I’m almost ten years too late.
It wouldn’t be so bad if all of my friends weren’t doing so well. They are all enjoying successful careers, getting married, having babies, and moving forward into their futures, while I keep spinning my wheels.
My love life was rather pathetic before, but now that I’ve moved back in with Mom and Dad, it has withered up and croaked. My parents mean well, but they don’t realize that having to explain to a man in his late twenties or early thirties that he has to meet my parents before we go out is mortifying.
“Their house, their rules.” Blah, blah, blah.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate my parents. I do. So much. Most parents think they’ll be done supporting their kids at 18, or perhaps, if they are really generous, after college. Mine helped me through law school the first time, didn’t freak out when I decided I needed a break, and are now supporting me once again.
They have to be wondering when it will all end as much as I am.
You’d think their daughter, who set her sights on becoming a lawyer, would have an easier time in the real world than their free-spirited son, who followed his pipe dream of becoming an author, but you’d be wrong.
Alex is a successful and loving family man. He’s every parent’s wet dream, aside from the whole murder suspect thing, but that only lasted for about a year, and it’s all cleared up now.
My best friend, Molly, and I used to commiserate about being the last two single, aimless losers in town, but then Grant Chandler––yes, the huge movie star––sped into our tiny town, nearly ran her over, and fell madly in love with her. True story! I couldn’t make this stuff up.
The lights of my life are my nieces and nephew. I might seem like a deadbeat to every adult that spends more than ten minutes with me, but those kids think I’m super-cool Aunt Avery.
It’s my mission in life to take them on great adventures every chance I get. I especially like to get them hopped up on sugar just before taking them home to Alex and Claire. That’s part of the beauty of being an aunt, isn’t it?
Today’s grand plan involved the first ice skate of the season. Alex and I had loved skating at this tiny pond on the outskirts of town when we were little, so I wanted it to be a special place for his kids, too.
Molly, her movie star fiancé, and their son, Scout, were coming to join us. It was sure to be a fantastic time.
When I went to pick up the kids, Alex’s black lab, Pepper, gave me the most pathetic puppy-dog eyes I’ve ever seen––even though she’s well beyond her puppy years. I smiled down at the persuasive animal. How could I resist her when she was so heartbroken to see her kids leave?
“Oh, okay. Go get your leash.” I could swear that dog was smiling as she ran to where her leash hung. Her tail flapped loudly on the ground as she waited for me to pull it from the hook.
As I passed by the kitchen, I said to my brother, “I’m taking the dog, too.”
Rather than responding to me, he leaned close to his wife and waggled his brows. “Mm… We get the house all to ourselves.”
“We can be adventurous,” she purred suggestively before tipping up on her toes to kiss him.
I gave an exaggerated shiver of disgust and said, “Eww. Wait ’til we’re gone.”
It’s really not fair that I have to be surrounded by nauseating lovebirds when I’m all alone. I must have some shitty karma to compensate for, but I sure don’t remember what I did to deserve this.
My oldest niece, Hannah, was a huge help in getting the wiggly little ones strapped into their car seats. With three kids and a dog along for the ride, I needed a soccer mom’s minivan, instead of my little car.
Somehow, we made it work. As soon as I parked near the pond, we all spilled out, like clowns emerging from a tiny vehicle.
Hannah and I put on our ice skates, but I told the little ones it was best to play and learn to glide with their shoes first. The pond’s ice wasn’t as smooth or cleared off as a rink’s would be, so I thought that might make it easier for them than trying actual skates.
We weren’t there long before Molly and her crew showed up. I felt a bit guilty when I saw
Grant’s wheelchair stop as Molly and Scout continued toward us. This location wasn’t ideal for his chair, but I had already told the kids what we were doing when Molly called. I didn’t want to risk my ‘awesome Aunt Avery’ status by changing plans on them at the last minute.
We had a blast sliding, twirling, and throwing snow. We all had red faces, except for Pepper. Hers was almost completely white from burying it in the fresh powder along the edge of the pond.
Grant seemed to become distressed about something as he talked on the phone on the shore, so Molly asked me to watch her son, too, as she went to see what was wrong.
I was holding onto Hannah’s hands and teaching her how to do a pair spin when I heard the deafening crack of the ice.
Hannah and I had been moving slowly enough that I was able to quickly stop us. We both stood there, barely daring to breathe, as we tried to figure out where the weak spot was.
Pepper and the younger kids were still playing, oblivious to the terrifying potential meaning of that particular sound.
My frightened gaze locked with Molly’s from across the distance just before sweet little Scout fell through the ice.
2
Avery
Panic froze me in place as I stared in horror at the scene before me. This can’t be happening. My mind went into autopilot as I scrambled forward, determined to rescue the little boy as I yelled back for Hannah to get her siblings and head to shore.
Pepper beat me to the hole in the ice and somehow––miraculously––snagged the child’s puffy coat collar with her teeth before he sank into the dark abyss.
From the corner of my eye as I hurried forward, I saw Molly sprinting in our direction. As frightened as I was, I couldn’t imagine the terror my best friend must have been feeling. Poor Grant was stuck on the shore, likely feeling helpless, but I couldn’t worry about him right now. My only priority was doing whatever it took to save their little boy.
As Pepper struggled to hold onto the child with her teeth, more ice gave way and she crashed into the water. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out, as the dog and child went under the inky water.
Fear nearly strangled me as I awkwardly ran the final steps to them on my skate blades. Some corner of my brain heard the deep voice shout, “Lay down on the ice and spread out your weight.”
The last thing I wanted to do was take the time to follow that sage advice, but I was still rational enough to know that if I fell into the frigid water, I wouldn’t be able to help anyone.
After kneeling down, I sprawled out and crawled as fast as I could the rest of the way toward the hole. Pepper surfaced with the child’s coat still clutched in her teeth. She was kicking with all her might and scrabbling to find a spot where she could pull them up onto the slick ice. The whites of her eyes were visible as she worked to save them both.
As soon as I reached the edge of the hole, I reached down to grab the dog’s purple collar. I pulled up on the collar with all of my strength. Just as I started to make some headway, the collar slipped off over the dog’s head.
I’m not normally much of a curser, but an expletive fell from my lips as I realized this would make it even harder to pull the dog and child out. I contemplated putting the dog’s collar back on, but I didn’t want to use the time to try to wrangle the panicked animal only to have the blasted thing slip off again. Besides, I wasn’t sure my cold, gloved hands could handle the task.
Instead, I tried wrapping my arms around the dog’s thick neck and pulling. Her toenails scratched at me as she frantically tried to keep the two of them afloat. Despite the adrenaline rush that must be pumping through my veins, I wasn’t able to lift them out of the water.
My helplessness made me want to shout in frustration, but I refrained. Instead, a scream of terror threatened to emerge when I felt my body begin sliding. If something didn’t quickly change, I was going to end up in the water, too.
I clutched onto the terrified animal, refusing to let her face this battle on her own. The section of ice I was on began to give way. The cold water started to seep into my down coat, making me suck in a breath involuntarily.
Rather than me pulling Pepper and Scout out, they were pulling me in. Between that and the breaking ice, I braced myself to be fully submerged in the icy water.
Just as my upper body began to fall through, a strong hand wrapped around the boot of my skate and yanked me backwards. I didn’t take the time to contemplate what had happened to bring me back to safety because Scout and Pepper were still in the water fighting for their lives.
Suddenly a rope appeared by my side. A man’s voice ordered me, “Put that around the dog’s middle and tie a knot.”
I rushed to do as he instructed. Pepper’s panicked dog paddling made it nearly impossible to get the rope around her chest, but I knew I had to make it work. Pulling her up by her neck would run the risk of strangling her.
Eventually, I got the rope in place. The hero behind me yelled, “We are going to pull together on three. One… Two… Three.”
When he reached three, we both pulled on the rope with all of our strength. After we made a tiny bit of headway, we both inched backward. Pepper’s front paws were on the ice, and she was doing her best to scoot her way up with the child in tow as we pulled.
Molly’s frantic screech pierced the air. “Scout, I’m coming!”
She had been far away, where Grant’s wheelchair had gotten stuck in the ice and snow on the path to the pond, so it had taken her a while to sprint out to us.
My eyes widened in horror as I watched her run frantically in our direction. Fear for her son’s safety had obviously made her forget that she could easily make this already precarious situation much worse.
“Freeze!” The man behind me shouted.
His firm tone stopped Molly in her tracks. She blinked in our direction as he said, “The best way for you to help is to crawl behind me and help pull.”
Molly’s gaze darted to the hole. Her mother’s instinct to rush to her little boy was clearly at war with her rational side that said to listen to the wisdom of our helper.
The man seemed to sense her indecision, so he added, “If you run over there, the ice will break, putting us all in even more jeopardy.”
Making her decision, Molly lowered to all fours and shuffled quickly to make her way to the back of our human chain.
With a giant pull that had all three of us grunting and scooting backward, we yanked the drenched duo onto the surface of the ice.
Relief surged through my veins, until the man behind me said, “They’re not out of danger yet. We need to get them each to a medical treatment facility right away.”
3
Avery
Molly scurried forward on her hands and knees to grab her son. The dog relinquished the boy from her life-saving, clenched jaw to the woman’s care.
When Molly went to stand up with the shocked little boy in her arms, the man said in an urgent tone, “The ice can still give way. Scoot a good distance away from this spot before attempting to stand, then rush him to the emergency room. Change him out of those wet clothes on the way and wrap him in something dry.”
After nodding her acknowledgment, Molly began scooting away as quickly as she could. I watched her until she was able to safely stand and run toward shore with Scout cradled in her arms.
For the first time since the fall, I glanced at Grant. His pallor was as white as the snow surrounding him on the shore. I felt bad for the father being forced to watch this horror show from the sidelines, but it couldn’t be helped.
The man’s voice pulled my attention back to our immediate vicinity. “I’m a veterinarian. I’ll take the dog up to my office and make sure she gets the best medical care.”
He angled his head up toward the shore to indicate his home office. It must have been obvious that I was struggling to absorb everything that had happened in the past couple of minutes because the man continued, “Are you able to take care of the other children?”
I glanced at the wide eyes of my nieces and nephew standing on the shore. They must have been so frightened. After nodding, I moved to stand up.
“Roll away,” the man reminded me.
By the time I rolled a safe enough distance away, the man joined me with Pepper cradled in his arms inside his coat. It was my first glimpse of his face, and I gasped in an icy breath at the sight of it. He was very clean cut and handsome, like a masculine, life-sized version of a Ken doll.
The frigid air hit my lungs, making me cough awkwardly. He held the large dog with one arm as he used his other hand to pat my shoulder. “You okay?”
His startling, blue eyes locked onto mine as I nodded. For a brief moment, we stayed frozen there as he gauged the sincerity of my answer. He evidently decided that I truly was all right because he graced me with a wide, perfect smile before he said, “I better get this brave heroine up to my office. She deserves the best treatment available.”
I nodded again, having apparently been struck mute by the man’s stunning level of physical perfection. When he turned to leave, I quickly followed to retrieve my frightened nieces and nephew.
Once we reached the shore, I quickly changed out of my skates and said goodbye to the man who had helped save our day. As I hurried with the little ones back to my car, I removed my wet coat. Thankfully, my clothing had remained dry underneath it. After dropping the kids off with their parents and providing a brief explanation of what happened and where their dog was, I raced to the hospital to check on Scout and Molly.