Read Online Dance, The (The Restoration Series Book #1): A Novel by Dan Walsh, Gary Smalley - Free Book Online Page A

newspaper, started reading the want ads. They had just opened the Urgent Care center, so I called, and they said come over for an interview. I came an hour early so I could check out the area.” A big smile came over her face. “Well, you know what happened then. One slow drive around this place and I was hooked. I called Eddie all excited, telling him I’d never seen a cuter town in all my life. It was like living in Disney World.”
    Marilyn thought about her first tour of River Oaks. It had been enchanting, almost unreal. She thought the people living here had to be the luckiest and happiest people on earth. Every home was gorgeous. Every property perfectly kept. So manyparks and fountains and shady trees. The downtown area looked like a movie set from the fifties, except in vibrant color.
    “After my interview,” Charlotte continued, “and I knew I got the job, I spent the rest of the afternoon touring the model homes. It was just for fun, of course. Not like I could ever afford to live in one of those places. But I was all dressed nice for the interview, figured the realtor didn’t know that. So I walked around, asked questions, pretended I had money and might be interested.” She shook her head. “Some of the most beautiful homes I’d ever seen. Can’t imagine what it would be like to live in any one of them. Unless maybe I had died and gone to heaven. Hey, I’m sorry, hon. What’s the matter? Did I put my foot in my mouth?”
    Marilyn didn’t realize her expression had soured, hearing Charlotte go on about all the beautiful houses in River Oaks. She’d lived in one of the nicest homes in town. Hadn’t Charlotte known that? She felt sure she’d told her. “It’s nothing, Charlotte. You’re right. The homes here are lovely.”
    “Oh my, that’s right. You lived in one, didn’t you? I’m sorry. Listen to me going on like that. It’s just . . . you’re out here on this little balcony with me . . . in your pajamas . . .”
    “Don’t quite look the part? Don’t worry about it. But you know, having a house like that, even in a town like this . . . doesn’t guarantee you’ll be happy. I know a lot of miserable couples who live in big homes all around here. We used to invite some of them over for my husband’s business parties.” A few names came to mind, some of the nastiest people she’d ever spent an evening with. “I’m having much more fun sitting out on this little balcony with you.”
    “Really?” Charlotte said. “That’s nice of you to say. ’Course, I think we could be having just as much fun sitting on one of those big wraparound front porches instead.”
    Marilyn looked around at all the empty balconies in sight. She wasn’t so sure. “You know something, Charlotte? I can’t recall the last time I even sat out on our front porch. And you know something else? I can’t recall ever seeing any of my neighbors sitting on their big wraparound porches, either. Not even once.” She thought about it a little more. “I can’t remember ever seeing anyone else on their porches when I’ve driven around the different neighborhoods.”
    “Really?” Charlotte said.
    “Really.”
    “What a waste.”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “Why do you think that is?” Charlotte asked.
    “I don’t know. Why doesn’t anyone ever sit out on their balconies?”
    “Good question.” She sat up, looked around. “I never see anyone out here.”
    It was the oddest thing. It had never dawned on Marilyn before. That big wraparound porch was one of the things she’d liked best about the house on Elderberry Lane, and all the other houses in her neighborhood. It gave her a really nice feeling. Like it was the kind of neighborhood from ages past, when people really did spend time together on front porches, talking, laughing, drinking iced tea.
    But now she realized it was just for show.
    The house, the neighborhood . . . this entire town. All just an illusion of happiness. She’d had it all, the