Kayaks and Kisses: A Sunshine Bay Shops Novelette: A Shops at Sunshine Bay Novelette
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About this ebook
Can an adventure on the sea change the lives of two lonely people searching for belonging and love?
Grace has always played it safe until the loss of her best friend prompts her to seek more adventure in her life. Grief-stricken and longing for change, she confronts her fear and embraces the adventures she has always avoided.
When David, a seasoned kayak instructor, invites her to take a class, she takes the plunge despite her fears. Awkwardness marks their initial interactions as Grace grapples with her anxieties, but they soon develop a deep bond beyond their shared appreciation for kayaking.
As their friendship grows, Grace’s newfound courage inspires David to confront his own past and fear of commitment.
Kayaks and Kisses explores themes of self-discovery, healing, and the transformative power of human connections and shows that love and adventure often intertwine, offering the strength to navigate life’s challenges.
Kayaks and Kisses is a heartwarming novelette that reminds us to cherish the moments that create ripples of adventure in our own lives and to embrace the unexpected opportunities that come our way.
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Kayaks and Kisses - Jeanine Lauren
CHAPTER 1
"W ell, at least it didn’t rain," said Grace under her breath, as she walked away from Amelia’s graveside. She’d just buried her best friend. Others were waiting for her at the reception, but she needed time to herself.
Her excuse was that she wanted to visit her brother’s grave while she was here. She took the fistful of violets she’d gathered from her little plot at the Sunshine Bay community garden and walked to Tyson’s final resting place in the older part of the cemetery.
She placed the violets on the grave and stood back to read the epitaph on his headstone, just as she did every time she visited since his death ten years earlier. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing, it read. A quote from Helen Keller.
You were wrong, you know,
she told the stone. Your adventure got you into so much trouble. If you hadn’t been climbing Kilimanjaro, you might still be here.
At least I lived.
She heard his voice in her head, just as she had the day she had flown to his bedside at the hospital, arriving only a few hours before he succumbed to his injuries. Promise me you’ll do the same,
he’d said. Have adventures, Grace. Be like Helen.
Helen Keller had been their shared hero ever since Tyson read her biography to Grace when they were preteens. He was fascinated with this woman who, despite losing her sight and her hearing, became an inspiration to those who knew her. He admired her bravery almost as much as he admired the men he read about: Sir Edmund Hillary, David Hempleman-Adams, Scott Fischer—all adventurers.
Grace hadn’t kept her promise. Instead, she had brought him home to Sunshine Bay, buried him near the river where they had played as children, and lived a smaller life than her brother. A safe life. A boring life.
If it weren’t for the garden plot she tended every week with her Aunt Astrid, her rare visits with friend, and her job in the back room of the library where she processed new books and prepared them for lending, she’d never leave home. The closest she came to adventures was in books. If Tyson were here, he’d be shaking his head, but then Tyson wasn’t the one left behind, was he?
No, it was Grace who’d had to make her way through life with only the help of friends. Mostly Amelia. And now Amelia had lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of thirty-eight. And though Grace had just stood beside her grave, she still couldn’t believe her best friend was gone.
She could still hear Amelia’s whisper the day before she had slipped away. Don’t mourn me, Grace. Make sure you grab life with both hands and say yes to new things. Live the best life you can. You never know when it will end.
The wind picked up and tossed Grace’s cotton scarf around her shoulders and up into her face. As she swiped it away, she gazed down the hill toward the river and spied a kayaker paddling in her direction. Although he must have been in his early forties, he made it look easy, his strong arms dipping the paddle into the water on each side