Barefoot Bay: Hold On To Forever (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Maria Geraci Page B

crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. “I don’t get it. I mean, I know you love your brother and all, but why is his going to law school so important to you?”
    “Why wouldn’t it be important to me?”
    “Don’t do that.”
    “Do what?”
    “Play your lawyer mind tricks. If you don’t want to answer my question, then just tell me it’s none of my business.”
    “Okay, it’s none of your business.”
    “Fine. I’m hungry, let’s go get lunch.” When he didn’t move, she waved her hand at him. “Shoo! Get out of here so I can change.”
    He laughed and did as instructed, but the instant he was outside the dressing room, his smile faded. Last night he’d admitted his attraction to her. And today, the entire time he’d been in the men’s store he’d been thinking about her. Mostly because he was wondering if she was getting anywhere with Nicki, but there was more to it than that. He’d been thinking about her .
    What would Felicity think about his plans for the future? He hadn’t shared them with anyone. Certainly not his parents. And the women he’d dated in the past would think he was crazy. Maybe she would think so too. Or maybe not. He shook his head. It didn’t matter what she thought. It only mattered that she helped him get to where he needed to be.

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
    After lunch, his baby brother ditched him for a private snorkeling trip with his bride-to-be. Not that Jack blamed him, but he’d tried numerous times during the day to get him alone and it was almost as if Mitch was trying to avoid him. Which made no sense, unless Nicki had already told Mitch about her talk with Felicity and he was afraid that Jack was also going to try to talk him out of this great year of discovery plan of theirs. The good part about being in such close quarters on the resort was that Mitch couldn’t avoid him forever.
    Jack wandered down the sidewalks of downtown Mimosa Key, checking out the local flavor. Mimosa Key was about as different from his area of urban Miami as you could get. Located on Florida’s west coast, the little town resided on a small barrier island off the larger, more affluent city of Naples. This was “old” Florida. Colorful, quirky, and short on tourists this time of year. Only native Floridians, or those retirees who’d given up their homes up north permanently, stayed for the blistering heat of late summer. Come winter, however, this place would probably be packed.
    An abandoned storefront office near the sheriff’s department on Center Street caught his attention. He peered through the windows into the darkened space. Not a bad location for a law office. If someone were inclined to set up practice here. Maybe one day, if things worked out with Mitch at the firm, he’d get a chance to do just that.
    The rest of the businesses in town seemed quietly active. Not booming, but again, this was the off season. He spotted a convenience store at the intersection. A cold bottle of water sounded pretty good about now.
    He was about to head that way when he saw Mitch standing outside a souvenir shop. His hands were stuffed inside the pockets of his shorts and he appeared to be engrossed in whatever was going on inside the store. Jack walked up and playfully punched his brother on the shoulder. “Hey.”
    Mitch turned around, wild eyed. “What are you doing here?” If Jack didn’t know better, he’d say Mitch looked more guilty than surprised.
    “Checking out the town. How about you? I thought you and Nicki were going snorkeling.”
    “Oh, yeah, we are. She just needed some, um , she wanted to get a T-shirt.”
    Jack looked up at the banner above the shop. Sunshine Emporium . Sale signs for T-shirts, flip-flops, and sunscreen were taped over the glass panes. Outside the shop, bins filled with sand buckets and boogie boards took up most of the sidewalk area in front, along with about a dozen canvas watercolors propped along the bottom of the wall.
    Jack studied a