Free Falling For Zoe (The Camerons of Tide's Way #1) by Skye Taylor Page A

in front of him. She had her hands on her hips as she gazed up at him with earnest intensity in her incredible hazel eyes. “She’s a remarkable young woman, Jake.”
    “Yeah. I—she is.” Jake swallowed hard against the confusing urge pull Zoe into his arms and hold on tight. “I guess I still owe you one.”
    Zoe tipped her head, her brow creased. “How’s that?”
    “Ava needs her mother, and I can’t do anything about that. But you’ve helped me see the error of my ways from a woman’s point of view. I appreciate your honesty.”
    “And I appreciate having a dishwasher that works. So we’re even.”
    “Not even close.” Jake moved toward the front door, and Zoe followed him. As he stepped onto the porch, he remembered the envelope he’d been instructed to give her. “Almost forgot. The twins asked me to give you this.”

Chapter 11
    “JACOB ANDREW Cameron. Come down out of that tree house this instant!”
    Jake cringed at the sound of his godmother’s voice and glanced at Zoe. He’d been praying for the last half hour for a good excuse to get away from the tight confines of his daughters’ tree house where he’d been attending a tea party in Zoe’s honor. The scent of Zoe’s shampoo and the softness of her skin every time her arm brushed his kept triggering thoughts he had no business thinking. Be careful what you pray for , his father’s words echoed in his head. You just might get it! What he’d gotten was Aunt Catherine.
    “Jacob!” his godmother demanded again.
    Jake unfolded himself and moved toward the ladder. Unfortunately, that meant crawling over Zoe.
    “Sorry,” he muttered, working his way across her.
    Zoe folded her knees tight to her chest and leaned back against the wall of the tree house to give him more room. “Is something wrong?” she whispered.
    Jake sighed. “Something’s always wrong according to Aunt Catherine.”
    “Jacob!”
    “Hold your horses, Aunt Catherine. I’m getting there as quickly as I can.” When she spoke to him in that tone of voice, he felt about ten years old. It was embarrassing to say the least and irritating at the best of times. This wasn’t the best of times. He shoved his feet through the opening and lowered himself to the ground without needing to use the ladder.
    Catherine Cameron waited impatiently at the foot of the tree. Her elegantly coifed head was artificially blond, and her nails were professionally trimmed, painted, and buffed. In spite of the heat and humidity, she wore a tailored navy blue suit and high heels with a burgundy scarf and matching handbag. According to Jake’s godmother, appearances were everything.
    “Are you ever going to grow up and act your age?”
    “Not if I can help it,” Jake replied flippantly. Once upon a time he’d made an effort to answer as he knew she expected him to, but it had never resulted in her approval, so he’d long ago given up trying.
    “Don’t be rude.” Catherine turned with a haughty sniff and began walking toward the house. “I need your opinion.”
    Jake snorted. His godmother always needed his opinion, but never took his advice. He wondered why she bothered. As they approached the porch, Jake’s mother-in-law was making her way down the stairs.
    “Hello, Celia,” Catherine greeted the other woman.
    Celia frowned. “Do I know you?”
    “Of course, you do,” Catherine answered with barely curbed impatience.
    “Aunt Catherine!” Jake hissed in warning. He held his hand out to Celia. “Where are you going, Mom?”
    “Out to the garden. I thought I’d sit in the gazebo and wait for Richard.”
    The gazebo had been destroyed in Hurricane Bertha, and Richard had been gone even longer. Jake’s heart ached for his mother-in-law. For two years, drugs had kept the Alzheimer’s at bay, but recently things had seemed to take an alarming turn for the worse. How much longer before she didn’t even remember who he was?
    “I don’t think Richard’s coming today,” he said