Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (hardest books to read TXT) 📗

contact me. Was that normal? I wanted him to have noticed that I had fled Virginia and moved far away, I wanted him to be upset about it, but I didn’t want to get back together with him. Is that terrible?

I wanted to feel important enough that my absence had left a hole in his life, but unless I looked him up online or called him, I wouldn’t know what he thought about it all.

Tivercana island was in full view now, a smaller island than Port Wayvern and a lot less foliage. It was flatter than the main island too, which I found confusing as I always thought that island clusters like this had been force upward from the ocean floor by volcanic activity, so how it lacked a mountain or two I had no idea.

It bothered me that Justin was still on my mind when I had so much else to think about. Thankfully it seemed that Rosie had packed enough emotional baggage for the two of us and she began to unload as the boat approached the dock.

“Simon is from here,” she huffed. She had needed to say it loudly for me to hear her over the engine and the moving water, so I know she wanted me to engage with a follow up question.

“Who is Simon?” I asked.

“My ex-boyfriend. We broke up five weeks and three days ago, roughly,” she yelled. The boat slowed as we got closer to the shore, she didn’t need to shout anymore. “Mutual decision, you know how it is. He is probably going to be at the golf place because he works there. Deciding to stay friends was just such a good idea for us, you can’t fight a connection like that, even if the romantic part isn’t there anymore.”

“Right,” I said, nodding encouragingly. Has anyone ever stayed friends with an ex-partner? I saw Gwyneth Paltrow talking about her success with it in some online interview, but she might be the only example.

She had made it seem as though she was just helping me out by joining me on this trip, now I suspect she had jumped at the chance as it would give her a legitimate reason to bump into him on his home island. Was that how it looked to everyone else? Was I the only one that could see it? I felt embarrassed for her, but she was younger than me by quite a few years and they were her mistakes to make, not mine.

“Sadie Alden!” a man shouted from the dock. He waved and we both waved back as the boat got close enough that he could reach out to help us disembark. “A pleasure to finally meet you, I’m Kieran Davick. I believe you made it out to Port Wayvern this morning, so we’ve been waiting by the dock all day for your arrival.”

Ouch. He was using some intense passive aggressive language to give me a scolding for taking so long to get here after visiting his adversaries. “I had an incident on the beach, twisted my ankle and got caught in the undercurrent. I almost drowned,” I replied. Two could play at this game.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t hear about that. Well obviously, that would never happen here on Tivercana, I don’t know what those fools are doing over on Port Wayvern, but we have a safe island here,” he smiled. “We’ve prepared some food over at the club and we’d be more than happy to give you a tour.”

I didn’t remember eating a single crumb since my pancake breakfast and I liked the sound of food being organized for me, I felt like I was being courted for my business. Maybe that was what was happening, he wanted me to pick a favorite. Rosie seemed excited at the prospect too, I suppose a tour of the island almost guaranteed a run in with Simon.

Kieran snapped his fingers and a golf cart lurched forward from behind a bush where it had been waiting with a driver in the shorts and t-shirt version of a caddy’s uniform. When they planned the golf cart reveal I imagine that they thought it would look much slicker than it really did.

“Rosie, I haven’t seen you on the island for a few weeks,” Kieran said matter-of-factly.

“Simon and I are taking a break,” she smiled.

“You’ve been a favorite of mine, my son has dated some real unsavory types in the past and I thought he was onto a winner with you,” Kieran replied. It didn’t feel like a kind thing to say, but it was delivered as though he was paying her a compliment. I also wondered if she was using the term ‘break’ for Kieran’s benefit, or her own.

After a short trip during which we had lapped all of Tivercana, the golf cart driver took us up to the building associated with the golf course. The signs seemed to suggest that it also housed a casino.

“This island is a playground for the rich and famous tourists that come to the Hallow Haven looking for luxury, quiet splendor and breathtaking scenery,” Kieran announced performatively. It reminded me of the in-flight videos you see for the place you are flying to, it’s like I’m already headed there, stop selling it.

“Have you had any recent incidents that Greta had to address?” I asked.

“I think some of my younger children had decided to steal a boat or two from one of the smaller islands, maybe carve bad words into a few palm trees, spray paint over a portrait of Port Wayvern’s largest lobster... nothing major,” he smiled. He had an uncomfortable edge to his voice that suggested perhaps I wasn’t getting the full story. I would have to review the notes back at the house.

A tall, thin man hurried out of the building in a smart polo shirt and cream-colored trousers. “Rosie why are you here?” he barked.

“I’m here to show Sadie the island, she’s the new—”

“You’re still following me, I told you to