Read Online A Dream to Cling To by Sally Goldenbaum - Free Book Online Page B

street. “And people here don’t have much need to venture into the rest of Windemere. At least my parents didn’t.”
    Brittany swiveled on the seat in surprise. “Your parents? Then this is where you grew up?”
    He nodded.
    She turned again to look out the window and her voice grew thoughtful. “Funny, I guess I assumed you were from somewhere else, not Windemere. I don’t know why.”
    “Actually. I
wasn’t
from Windemere. I was from Shadyside.” He smiled crookedly and ran a finger over her cheek.
    “Semantics,” she said.
    “No, truth.” He gestured to the houses they were passing. “This was my family’s whole world. Shadyside had everything they needed. Grocery stores, a movie theater, a couple of churches, and its own red brick VFW building, where they had meetings every Friday, bingo every Saturday, and poker for the guys on Thursday nights.”
    “Sam, it’s a charming place.”
    “Homey.”
    “Whatever. But it is picturesque.”
    Sam turned another corner and she gazed at the rows of houses. They were all of the same vintage, one hundred years old or more, she guessed, and had the same flavor about them, as if they’d been scooped out of the same batter and dropped neatly onto the land. Small square parcels of yard were meticulously kept,and bunches of brilliantly colored marigolds and late-blooming flowers lined walkways and porches. “Sam, let’s stop.”
    He shrugged. Hell, they were here, he thought. For what bizarre reason he could only begin to guess. Maybe he unknowingly wanted Brittany to see it all, and to understand him better through the seeing. So she’d know what he was all about, why he didn’t stay put for long. Know it all, right from the start. And then again, maybe
he
wanted to figure out what he was all about … And then again …
    He raked a hand roughly through his hair and laughed at himself and the tangle of thoughts vying with one another inside his head. It was a beautiful day, Brittany was beside him; what more mattered for the moment? “Okay, Brittany. Sure, why not? They even have a few eateries in Shadyside. Including one that makes the best hamburgers in the known world. You’ll love it.” He drove a few blocks farther and pulled over to the side of a street lined with small stores.
    “Shadyside’s main drag,” he announced ceremoniously as they both climbed out of the car. “My parents’ house was that one right off Main Street.” He pointed beyond the car to a side street and Brittany spotted a neatly kept house with deep blue shutters that looked just like all the others.
    Sam’s house
. A giant old oak tree shadowed one of the upstairs windows and she could picture him climbing its tangled branches, his blue jeans torn and a mischievous grin spreading across his youthful face.
    “I used to sneak out my window and shimmy down the tree,” he said, pointing, and she laughed.
    “I knew that.”
    He looked down and grinned at her. “Oh, you did, did you? And what else do you know about me?”
    “More each minute.” She smiled back, her heart feeling strangely full.
    His gaze lingered on her face a moment longer, thenshifted to the signs and storefronts along Main Street. He could close his eyes and picture each one with the details a child records. The peeling paint, the plants in an upstairs window, the dentist’s lopsided tooth hanging proudly next to his sign.
    Brittany’s soft voice filtered into his memories. “Has it changed much since you lived here?” She stood close, and her shoulder gently touched his when he moved.
    He looked at her and took her hand. “Changed? No, not one bit. Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.”
    The street was nearly empty as they walked along hand in hand, the crisp leaves crackling beneath their footsteps and the cool breath of dusk quickening their step.
    “Where is everyone?” Brittany asked.
    Sam glanced at the large clock that decorated the front of Christenson’s Variety Store. “It’s