Read Online Belinda by Peggy Webb - Free Book Online

for a
job,
not a
man.
Listen, Belinda, I don’t care if
this Reeve Lawrence has a gold
you know what
, I want you
to get your feet on the ground before you go getting starry eyed.
Remember, we’re all
independent women.
    Xo
    Janet

    From: Catherine
    To: Belinda, Janet, Molly, Joanna, Bea,
Clemmie
    Re: Belinda’s Future
    Wait a minute. Aren’t we all looking for a
man? Not now, of course, but eventually. As long as we don’t have
to depend on a man, then Mr. Right will just be icing on the
cake.
    Belinda, sweetie, Janet has a point about
getting a job before you go off the deep end over this Reeve
Lawrence. I know how romantic you are, but you don’t want to end up
an old woman of forty having to ask a man for money, even if he is
your husband.
    Xoxo
    Catherine

    From: Clemmie
    To: Belinda, Janet, Bea, Catherine, Joanna,
Molly
    Re: Mr. Right
    If a Mr. Right ever came to Peppertown I’d be
willing to put my Virginia on the line without a wedding ring.
Gracious, this town is so dead they roll up the streets at night.
Hang in there, Belinda! Sounds like Tupelo was a good choice for
you.
    Hugs,
    Clemmie

    From: Bea
    To: Belinda, Janet, Catherine, Molly, Joanna,
Clemmie
    Re: THE JOB, THE MAN
    How
old
is this man? Some old Friday
fart with children sounds too old to me. If I’m going to save it
all for the proverbial Mr. Right, I’m going to find a young stud. I
want whipped cream with my icing. And BTW, girls, in case you have
forgotten the
E word
, jobs don’t grow on trees. In this
economy Belinda will be lucky to land a job this time next
year.
    Do you need $$$, Belinda? Just say the
word.
    Hugs,
    Bea

    From: Belinda
    To: Bea, Janet, Catherine, Clemmie, Joanna,
Molly
    Re: Celebrate
    I GOT A JOB!!! I’m Reeve’s new nanny, and
I’ll be making more money than a schoolteacher! Bea, he’s not an
old Friday fart, and Janet, I’m not about to let him pick my plums.
I don’t know how old he is, but he’s really nice, and his kids are
adorable. There’s this great old woman living here – Quincy – who
used to the nanny, I think, but she feels more like family than
anything else. It’s all so cool. And I’m very happy.
    Xo
    Belinda

    She turned off her email, but she was too
wound up for sleep. For one thing, she felt a little guilty that
she’d neglected to tell her friends that the job was just
temporary, but then they’d get all worried again, Janet and
Catherine would start in about college and Clemmie would want to
drive from Peppertown and get her.
    Belinda went to window and leaned her head
against the glass. Miraculously, she found herself thinking not
about her job but what it would be like if Reeve came up the
driveway, got out of his car, and then stood there in the moonlight
looking up to catch a glimpse of her.
    A girl can dream, can’t she?

Chapter Four
    Reeve got up the next morning before anybody
in the house was stirring. He went quietly down the stairs,
carrying his suitcase and telling himself how much he liked
early-morning solitude. Nobody around to muddle his thinking.
Nobody around to clutter the tidiness of his house. Nobody around
to distract him.
    Downstairs he tiptoed into his children’s
bedrooms and kissed their sleeping faces. Always when he flew out
before they awakened, he left chocolate kisses on their pillows. In
each bedroom, he pulled the kisses out of his pockets and placed
them gently on Mark’s and then Betsy’s pillows. Then he went
outside and got into his car.
    He sat behind the wheel, letting the engine
warm up and gazed back at his house. Something drew his attention
upward. There was a face at the window, a lovely face surrounded by
bright shiny hair. Belinda Diamond.
    The engine idled while he continued to stare
at the face in the upstairs window.
    Suddenly the window flew open, and her
delicate hand fluttered toward her bow-shaped lips. Like a small
bird, her hand floated gracefully downward, dropping the kiss in
the direction of his car. Unconsciously he caught