Free Flower Girl Bride by Dana Corbit Page A

Eleanor might think she never drinks from it, but Princess is probably just being sneaky.If you had a good thing going like she does, would you go and mess it up by drinking out of your bowl?”
    A chuckle bubbled up in my throat. “I never thought about it,” I admitted, tongue pressed firmly in cheek.
    â€œWell, cats, they think about such things.”
    â€œI’ll remember that.” I would have asked him how he had such insider knowledge into the minds of kitties, but the way Princess had closed her eyes and was pressing her nose into Luke’s palm hinted that he knew about felines’ preferences.
    â€œDid you learn all those skills at MSU?” I pointed to his T-shirt. “It has a great veterinary science program.”
    â€œMe, a vet? Now that’s funny. I studied business. For a while anyway.” He glanced up at me again. “Why? Did you go to state?”
    I shook my head. “University of Iowa for my bachelor’s in speech and hearing sciences. Colorado State for a master’s in communication.”
    â€œThat’s an awful lot of education.”
    â€œI guess.” Because it seemed like overkill, I didn’t mention that I’d also completed two internships in my field and then had to take a national exam to earn my certificate of clinical competence.
    â€œYou must like school a lot.”
    â€œI still work in one, don’t I?”
    The subject at its end, Luke returned his attention to the cat and started rubbing her ears. “You like that, don’t you, Princess?”
    As he spoke, he continued petting the fur on the cat’s head in slow, mesmerizing circles that had her purringloudly. Who was I kidding? It nearly had me purring. I could just feel those massaging circles on my scalp. Would he brush his fingers through my hair, finding the strands soft from the new, leave-in conditioner I’d been using?
    Plunk. I felt the rough landing in my thoughts. I really had reached rock bottom if I was jealous of a cat’s head massage.
    â€œDaddy and Miss Cassie, aren’t you coming?”
    Again, Sam was standing at the door, his face pressed against the screen, his bent hands forming a shade above his eyes.
    Immediately, Princess shot up off the floor and scrambled out of the room. A tuft of short, white fur drifted to the hardwood floor where she’d been resting.
    Luke plucked the hair off the floor as he stood and looked out the door at his son. “Did you find the perfect place for us to make camp?”
    â€œYeah. We’d better get it before someone takes it.”
    â€œOkay, let’s hurry.” Luke smiled over at me. Only the adults here understood that the exclusive beachfront real estate in this area included a private beach. The only public beach was farther down in the state park area surrounding the lighthouse. Sure, Lake Michigan was one of the Great Lakes and definitely public, but in some areas the only way to get access to the water was by sky-diving in it.
    â€œYou two go ahead. I need to change.” I’d been so focused on doing my kitty chores that I hadn’t even gotten dressed for the beach. In my bedroom, I pulled on my simple teal-colored one-piece, regretting that I hadn’t bothered to try it on before I left Toledo. Thematerial hung a bit at my waist and hips, but it would have to do. The suit wouldn’t matter because I intended to remain well covered all day. No more sunburns for me.
    Zipping on my white cotton cover-up, I looked into the mirror to smooth down the hood. I topped off the getup with a floppy straw hat and movie-star sunglasses. I looked more like an ailing star, hiding from the paparazzi during recovery from a little nip and tuck.
    I grabbed a paperback from the stack I’d brought for the trip and headed downstairs. Luke and Sam would probably want to swim. I hoped they wouldn’t mind if I watched them play from beneath a beach umbrella. They would