A Haven on the Bay - Nicole Ellis Page 0,26

was bothering to say anything about the noise.

Debbie flung the door open, and her face immediately erupted in a huge grin. “Sam! I’m so happy to see you!” She wrapped her arms around her daughter so tightly that Samantha had to adjust her body to catch her breath.

“Hey, Mom.” Samantha rested her head on Debbie’s shoulder, like she had so many times before. Her fingers pressed into her mother’s back, savoring the emotional and physical warmth of the loving embrace. When Debbie eased her grip, Sam stepped back, inhaling the comforting floral scent of her mother’s favorite perfume.

Debbie didn’t let go of Sam completely, holding her at arm’s length to get a good look at her. “You got sunburnt.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, that tends to happen in the Caribbean. I swear I put on a ton of sunscreen every day.”

“But you look happy too.” Debbie cocked her head to the side. “Less stressed than the last time I saw you.”

“Probably because I just got back from two weeks on a cruise ship.” Sam smiled at her. Working on the boat hadn’t been a vacation in the normal sense of the word, but it had been a nice reprieve from everything back home. She’d only been back in Willa Bay for two days and the reality of her real life was already crashing down on her.

“I bet Brant was happy to see you,” Debbie said. “He probably missed you a lot while you were gone.” She eyed Sam expectantly.

“Uh-huh. He did.” Sam hadn’t seen Brant since they’d broken up weeks before. A sharp pang of guilt stole her breath for a moment. Although she didn’t want to be romantically involved with Brant anymore, he’d been her best friend and she mourned the loss of his friendship.

“Is he working tonight?” Her mom looked past her, as though hoping to see Brant lurking by the car. “I was hoping he’d come to dinner. We haven’t seen him in a while either.”

“No, sorry. He wasn’t able to make it.” Sam hated the sadness on her mother’s face. Telling her about the breakup wouldn’t be easy, and she intended to put it off for as long as possible. She didn’t want to deal with all of her family’s opinions on the subject when she was still trying to work through her own feelings.

Debbie nodded. “That’s too bad. Well, come in. Everyone will be excited to see you.” She stepped aside to allow Sam room to enter the house.

A little girl zoomed across their path as they walked toward the kitchen, moving so fast that Sam couldn’t tell by the flash of golden hair which of Libby’s two daughters it had been. In the living room, a young boy, most likely Sam’s nephew, Tommy, shouted angrily at one of his siblings about stealing a toy.

Debbie grimaced and rubbed her temples. “They’re louder than usual. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”

They entered the kitchen, which was connected to both a small family room on one side and a formal dining room on the other. Libby rushed around the kitchen, grabbing burger fixings from the refrigerator and setting them on the counter. Debbie took plates down from an upper cupboard and carried them out to the dining room.

“Hey, Sam.” Libby, still gripping a package of American cheese in one hand, strode around the kitchen island and wrapped an arm around her sister.

“Hey, Libby.” Sam hugged her back, then raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got enough food here for several small armies.”

Libby laughed. “That’s about what our family is getting to be. You have no idea how much four growing children eat, especially the boys.” She rolled her eyes. “Some days, William eats more food than Gabe and I combined.”

Sam nodded. “I can imagine.” She couldn’t picture having four kids though. When she’d been with Brant, they’d talked about having one child, maybe two at the most. The idea of four was overwhelming.

“Okay, I can’t deal with this noise anymore,” Debbie said as she walked back into the kitchen. “Libby, can you send them outside, please?”

Libby studied their mom’s face, then nodded. “Sure. Of course.” She went into the hallway and yelled at top volume. “Kids! All of you outside! Now!”

“Me too?” William, Libby’s oldest child asked from his seat on the family room couch where he’d been playing on his tablet.

“Yeah. You too. Hand over the tablet and go play outside with Dad and Grandpa.” Libby held out her hand and William reluctantly released his