A Trip With Destiny: Destiny's Cove, #1

By Grace Roberts

She's ready to take a chance on a new life. He's ready for true love to find him. Good thing Destiny is at hand, ready to shake things up.

Giorgia Di Maggio has left Italy to spend a sabbatical in California with her friend, hoping three months will be enough to clear her mind and reinvent herself. But when her friend surprises her with an adventurous one-week vacation in a small Florida town, she finds herself yearning for her safe, monotonous life.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Conor Callaghan hasn't felt the need for a relationship, least of all a fling. He's content with managing his Irish pub in Destiny's Cove and going out on his friend's boat. Until the day they rescue two stranded tourists, and an unexpected instant attraction ignites a spark in him.

Though Giorgia tries to stay away from Conor, a series of odd coincidences keeps bringing them together. And as her stay draws closer to the end and she's faced with a life-changing decision, they'll both realize this adventurous week has in fact been a trip with Destiny.

This is book one in the Destiny's Cove sweet romance trilogy, but it can be read on its own.

*** A shorter version of this novella was previously published in The Bay Of Love anthology. ***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Roberts
• Release date: Nov 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393553090

Grace Roberts

Grace writes heartwarming stories set in Ireland or in small towns in the United States—two places where she’d love to live while writing full-time. She’s also an avid reader who thinks daydreaming should be a paid profession and that the world would be a better place if bookworms ruled it. Growing up as an only child, she spent all her free time with her nose stuck in books, enjoying the company of fictional friends, while dreaming of becoming an author. Discovering books by Rosamunde Pilcher was the turning point in her life, and she decided to start writing down the stories that kept playing in her head, just for fun. After the first couple of stories, though, she found it impossible to stop—and she’s been writing ever since. Subscribe to Graces’s newsletter to make sure you’re always up-to-date with her writing world.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Some people lived for the thrill of new experiences and adventures. Giorgia Di Maggio wasn’t one of them. She’d never done anything irresponsible or reckless in her whole life. She was an ultra-responsible twenty-nine-year-old with her head screwed securely on her shoulders and her feet well planted on the ground. Though she wasn’t exactly living her dream, she’d been perfectly okay living her monotonous but safe life in an inconspicuous town in the northwest of Italy. Or so she’d thought, until Stephanie, her bubbly Californian friend, convinced her she had to live a little before she turned thirty. In a moment of pure craziness, Giorgia quit her job as an accountant in a big company, packed a couple of suitcases, and applied for a three-month tourist visa that would allow her to live in California with Stephanie until she figured out what she was going to do with her life. Or why she’d done such a crazy thing, which was totally unlike her. Whatever happened first.

When her friend surprised her at Miami International Airport on December 5th with the news they were going to spend a week in a town called Destiny’s Cove, in the southwest of Florida, before moving to California, Giorgia found herself wondering if she should spin on the heels of her sneakers and get on the first plane headed back to Italy.

This is so exciting, Stephanie squealed, as they drove past the Welcome to Destiny’s Cove sign two hours after Giorgia’s plane had landed.

Giorgia stared out the window at the clear waters of the Gulf and the palm trees swaying in the breeze that didn’t exactly create the Christmassy atmosphere she had hoped for. But perhaps a little sun and some relaxing days by the beach would help her feel better about what she’d done. And who knew, maybe this year Santa would bring her the answers she’d been looking for and tell her how to make her life more exciting. Maybe she’d even manage to find a house by the beach, just like she used to dream as a child.

But the following day, as she sat on the sand on a tiny island off the coast and watched the dolphin that had caused them to be stranded on that beach swim happily in the clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico, she wished she hadn’t let Stephanie talk her into this crazy adventure—and into turning her life upside down.

Giorgia hugged her knees and closed her eyes, wishing it were all just a bad dream. Whatever had possessed her to let Stephanie persuade her into renting a kayak to reach one of the small islands off the coast? When the B&B owner informed them the previous night that a good number of birds could be found on Seagull Island, Stephanie had jumped at the chance. She had a photography blog and was always looking for opportunities to add more images to her portfolio. So Giorgia had had to suck it up and follow her. She hadn’t considered the possibility she might end up dying on a beach.

And now they were stranded on a deserted island. They’d nearly reached the beach when a dolphin had swum by and jumped out of the water and over their heads. The combination of Stephanie’s excitement and Giorgia’s fright had overturned the kayak within seconds. The only good thing about it was that they were in shallow waters and could walk to the shore without needing to swim, but Stephanie had been too focused on keeping her backpack from getting drenched and saving her precious camera stored inside to care about their kayak. By the time Giorgia recovered from the shock and turned around to grab it and pull it to dry land with her, the wind had unexpectedly picked up. What only minutes before had been flat waters had now turned rougher, and in a matter of seconds big swells had washed the kayak away. Giorgia shrieked, holding one of the paddles to her chest as she stared teary-eyed at their only means of transportation being carried away, farther offshore. She wasn’t enough of a good swimmer to go after it and her legs were shaking too much for her to be able to move anyway. She’d spun around to talk to Stephanie, only to find she’d already reached the shore and was busy taking pictures, as if nothing had happened. Giorgia had picked up the other paddle and walked toward the beach with a sense of dread weighing her down.

While she dropped down on the sand and stared at the rolling waves, Stephanie didn’t stop taking pictures. She’d barely let out an uh-oh when Giorgia had reached the shore and told her the kayak had been washed away, then she’d gone after the next bird she wanted to capture on camera.

"I knew it was a bad idea. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you. Maledizione!" She cursed in frustration, tossing a shell into the surf with as much force as she had left in her tired arms after all the rowing they’d done to get there. The click-click-click of the camera’s shutter continued as if Giorgia hadn’t even spoken. As if they weren’t stuck on an island with no way of going back to dry land other than swimming—and possibly ending up on the lunch menu of a shark. Fantastico.

Are you even aware of the mess we’re in?

Stephanie’s camera came up as she stared at Giorgia through the lens. Click. Click. Click-click. Frustration flared and Giorgia picked up a big pebble that was half hidden in the sand. Stop taking pictures or I swear I’ll hit you on the head with this.

Stephanie lowered her camera and let it hang on the strap around her neck. She raised her eyes to the sky and let out an audible sigh. You’re overreacting, Gio.

"I’m overreacting? Seriously, Steph? Our kayak got washed away and I’m pretty sure that dolphin deliberately tipped us over because it wanted to eat us. And now we’re stranded on this island with no cell coverage, no food, and no water. She tossed the pebble into the surf and groaned. We don’t even have a volleyball named Wilson we can talk to. We’re going to die, and by the time they find us, seagulls will have eaten our flesh and they won’t be able to recognize us, and they’ll bury us in a nameless grave with a Jane Doe headstone, and—"

Okay, enough. Stephanie shook Giorgia by the shoulders, and she blinked the gory scenario away. We’re not going to die. We’re only twenty minutes away from the mainland, and this is on the tourist route of the boat tours. Someone is bound to come by, some fishermen or tourists. We’ll be fine.

I shouldn’t have listened to you. I shouldn’t have let you convince me to turn my life upside down, to leave everything and everyone I know just to follow some crazy dream. Giorgia ignored her friend’s words of reassurance and let out a sob, dropping her forehead on her knees. I should’ve stayed where I was, crunching numbers, safe in my office.

Just keeping your nose to the grindstone, right? Because that was totally making you happy. Stephanie plopped down beside her and poked her shoulder. Giorgia swatted her hand away. "Gio, I promised this sabbatical would help you figure out your life, and I meant it. We’re not going to die. In fact, in a few hours we’ll be