A long-lost uncle leaves his fortune to his great niece: ­but there are strings attached.

With summertime in the air, accountant and single mom Paige Maxwell has been invited to Bluestar Island for the reading of her great uncle’s will. Having lost her parents at a young age, Paige resists peeling back the pages to her painful past. Yet, she knew her daughter was counting on her to make the right decision. However, the will has very specific stipulations.

Doctor Grant Turner’s career is on the rise as the assistant director of emergency medicine, but when he’s summoned home to Bluestar Island, his future is put on hold. He’s put in the awkward position of choosing to help his family and friends versus his hard-won successful career.

Neither are happy to be stuck on the island. However, the island works its charms with soft sea breezes and striking sunsets. As the two search for a compromise, will they find love in the least likely of places?

Includes a recipe for Confetti Layered Cake!

HEAT LEVEL: Clean & Wholesome

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE
April, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A multitude of shiny soap bubbles rose into the blue sky.
They weaved and bobbed in the gentle breeze. As the sun’s rays bounced off them, they shimmered. Effortlessly they climbed higher and higher.
Paige Maxwell parked in her parents’ driveway. The engine let out a disturbing sputter followed by a clunk as it shut down. Instead of worrying about how much longer her car would continue to run, she instead focused on the new cluster of bubbles as they made their ascent. She couldn’t help but think of them as a metaphor for life as they floated, moving a bit horizontally, before continuing upward.
Her life had been filled with heartbreaks and setbacks, but she’d like to think that at last her life was on the rise once more. Adulting wasn’t always easy and parenting had its own set of challenges, but if she stayed the course, it would all work out. She had to believe it.
She grabbed her purse from the passenger’s seat before stepping out of the car. Immediately she heard the sweet sound of a child’s laughter followed by the low rumble of an adult’s voice. Paige walked past the two-story colonial style home with white siding and black shutters. She paused to open the gate on the white privacy fence that enclosed the modest backyard. After stepping through the gate, she followed the sound of voices to the back deck.
At the edge of the house, she paused as she caught sight of her mother. Jane Baker was in her sixties now but she didn’t let that slow her down. She still worked fulltime as well as made time to be a doting grandmother.
Her mother patiently helped her four-year-old daughter blow soap bubbles. Her daughter’s blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail though many of the unruly curls were working themselves free. With her brows drawn together and a determined glint in her blue eyes, Ruby’s cheeks puffed up as she took a big breath and blew over the plastic wand. An army of bubbles escaped and floated into the sky.
Ruby squealed with delight as she dropped the wand in order to clap her hands. Just watching her daughter filled Paige’s heart with such tremendous joy. She didn’t know it was possible to love someone that much. She’d come to think of her daughter as her very own north star—always guiding her along the right path.
“Mommy!” Ruby’s blue eyes lit up.
Paige rushed forward and up the couple of steps onto the deck. With a smile lifting the corners of her lips, Paige scooped her daughter up in her arms and spun around. She placed a kiss to Ruby’s forehead. “Are you having fun?”
“Grammie got me bubbles. Wanna see?” Ruby kicked her feet, trying to get down.
Paige reluctantly set her daughter on the deck. Ruby ran over to the table. She picked up the previously discarded wand and dipped it in a round tray of solution.
“Watch!” Holding out the wand, Ruby spun around in a circle. Bubbles filled the air.
“Wow!” Paige smiled at her daughter. “Look at all of those bubbles.”
“She’s been playing with it since she got home from pre-school.” Paige’s mother gathered some mail on the table.
Even though Jane Baker had started off as her foster mom at the tender age of ten, she and her husband, Frank, went on to officially adopt Paige. Jane and Frank were as much as Paige’s parents as the people who had given her life and raised her for seven years before tragically dying. Paige felt blessed to have found such loving parents.
Now her adoptive parents were devoted, loving grandparents. Ruby had both of them wrapped around her little finger. When Jane finished with her shift at the local supermarket, she insisted on picking up Ruby on her way home. It gave them a couple of hours to bond until Paige finished working.
“Oh, this came for you.” Jane reach in her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. “I didn’t want to forget to give it to you.”
Even though Paige hadn’t lived with her parents in years, she would periodically get junk mail at this address. It wasn’t until she took hold of the paper that she realized it was a notice from the post office. She had registered mail with restricted delivery, which only allowed her to sign for it.
“Do you know what it is?” Her mother’s voice drew her from her thoughts.
“I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it has something to do with my tax refund. It still hasn’t shown up.” She paused to give it some thought.
She’d filed her taxes early, hoping to get her refund to put toward a new-to-her car. The one she was driving now was on its last leg as the odometer closed in on two hundred thousand miles. The repair bills had reached a point where it would be cheaper to get another used car.
She couldn’t afford to be without a functioning vehicle. She’d just landed an accounting position at one of the big hospitals in Pittsburgh. As convenient as it would be to get an apartment in downtown to save on the commute time, she didn’t want to uproot her daughter from her friends at pre-school and her time with her grandparents, who adored her and eagerly helped out with babysitting.
“What does the return address say?” Her mother took a sip of coffee.
“The handwriting is difficult to read. I think it’s from somewhere is Massachusetts.”
Her mother’s forehead scrunched up. “Then I don’t think it’s your tax return. Do you know anyone who lives in Massachusetts?”
Paige glanced back down at the paper. It definitely had her name listed on it. “No one I can think of.”
“Maybe it’s someone you went to college with.”
It was definitely a possibility. “But what would they send me via registered mail?”
Her mother shrugged. “Is there a zip code or something on it?”
While Ruby continued to blow bubbles, Paige’s gaze scanned the paper. “I think so.”
Her mother grabbed her phone from the picnic table. “Read it to me.”
As Paige called off the numbers, her mother typed them into her phone. All the while Paige told herself this was probably part of some scam. Still, there was a bit of curiosity that nagged at her. “What does it say?”
“Bluestar Island.”
“Blue, what?”
“Bluestar Island. I’ve never heard of it either. Let me look it up.” Her mother’s fingers moved rapidly over the screen of her phone. “Apparently, it’s a real place. An island just off the coast of Boston.”