Free Love Blooms on Main Street by Olivia Miles Page A

She settled herself once more on the armchair that was tucked next to the big bay window and looked down onto Main Street, wondering, despite herself, if Brett was strolling the sidewalk at that very moment.
    Well, who cared if he was? Certainly, she didn’t.
    She set her tea on the coffee table she’d salvaged from a secondhand shop and refinished herself with some elbow grease, sandpaper, and a can of white paint—she was quite proud of that piece, really—opened the book again, and forced herself through the first chapter, hoping for a nugget of inspiration. Something, anything, to end this crush once and for all, and to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
    Next time she fell this hard for a guy, she had better be damn sure he was worth it.
    She flicked to the next chapter and found herself skimming it. She’d read enough of these over the years to know what to do. At least two dozen were hidden under her bed, dog-eared and highlighted, some passages even memorized. Focus on herself. Live a happy life. In time, she’d attract the right person. She could spend all day trying to cheer herself or come to her senses, holed up in her apartment, or she could get out in the sunshine and truly move on.
    She decided on the latter.
    Ivy picked up her phone, scrolled through her contacts, and dialed Kara. Her friend answered on the third ring.
    â€œI’ve been thinking,” Ivy said. “It might be time for me to finally try out that new gym you’ve been talking about.” The cost was dear, but the payout was big.
    Plans made, Ivy set the phone on her coffee table and went into her bedroom to scrounge up some workout clothes, already imagining the promise of lean, long muscles.
    So Brett may not be looking for anything. And so she might not even want him anymore. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun making him live to regret it.
    Kara was already on the treadmill when Ivy walked into the gym an hour later, her stomach full of the banana and peanut butter she’d eaten in advance to offset the exercise. She waved to her friend and wound her way through the machines, catching a few glimpses of people she knew from the shop and others she’d gone to school with since kindergarten. She knew Henry hated this aspect of Briar Creek—that there was no getting away from everyone you knew, no escaping the dark side of their past, but Ivy saw it differently. She’d grown and evolved, and she was happy to have the chance to show everyone she wasn’t the same sad scrawny kid with the drunk mom making a spectacle of herself at every town event. It was redemption, closure really, and it helped ease the bad feelings she had about her youth.
    Speaking of redemption…
    A group of girls Ivy went to high school with were fake stretching and staring shamelessly at the weight section of the room. For a minute, Ivy’s pulse pricked with interest, until she caught Brett’s image in the mirror and stopped dead in her tracks. Of course. It seemed Shea wasn’t the only one in town who had gotten wind of Brett’s arrival. It wasn’t every day a handsome, single guy moved to town. Throw an MD in the mix, and they were probably lining up around the block. No doubt Rosemary would be pushing Kara to the front of the queue if they weren’t already related.
    Brett finished his set, his biceps straining at the effort through the tight material of his gray cotton T-shirt, and he lowered the weights when he spotted her—a signal that she couldn’t turn and run, as she’d been hoping to do. Seeing no other choice, she waved and walked toward him, sparking a wave of whispers from the gaggling women on the mat. Standing to give her his full attention, he raked a hand through his brown hair and picked up a towel he’d set on a nearby bench.
    Ivy cursed under her breath. She’d love nothing more than to turn on her heel and take the long path