Read Online Forever Hers by Ednah Walters - Free Book Online Page A

Other than Lauren and the Fitzgeralds, everyone knew her as Mrs. Franklin.
    A flash of red from the corner of her eyes had Amy whipping around, her heartbeat hiking, but it was the red tow truck pulling up into the parking lot. Eddie left the SUV to talk to the guy. A few minutes later, he slipped behind the wheel and followed the guy.
    The closer they got to Jack’s Auto, the more Amy worried about being recognized. That changed when they parked and Eddie jumped down then came around to the passenger side to open her door. She had the solution.
    “Could you keep an eye on Raelynn while I take care of the paperwork?” she asked.
    A surprise look crossed Eddie’s face, but he nodded. “Sure.”
    “Thanks. Hey, sweetie, I’m going to talk to the car people. I’ll be right back, okay?” Raelynn nodded, her thumb slipping back inside her mouth. That habit was going to take forever to break. Amy hurried toward the service tech she’d dealt with before.
    “Jessica Franklin,” the buffed up young man with shaggy blond hair said, standing up to shake her hand. “Please, sit. I never thought we’d meet again.”
    She glanced over her shoulder, but she shouldn’t have bothered. Eddie had stayed by the car, where she’d left him. He was chatting with one of the mechanics, another one she recognized from her last visit.
    “It’s a small town, uh, Randal,” she said, reading the name on his desk. “We were bound to run into each other.”
    “What’s wrong with your car this time?”
    She explained what happened and Eddie’s attempts to restart the engine.
    “We can take a look at it and give you a call once we figure out what the problem is,” the mechanic said.
    Amy waited as the tech filled out the paperwork and wrote down the house phone number instead of her cell phone number. She was very particular about who she gave her cell number to. She signed the form, thanked Randal, then headed back to the SUV.
    They were pulling out of the parking lot when Randal flagged them. “You forgot to give me the key, Mrs. Franklin.”
    “Oh, so sorry.” She dug into her purse until she found it, her face aflame. “Thanks, Randal.”
    “I’ll call you tomorrow with some answers.”
    A glance at Eddie confirmed her suspicions. He was studying her with narrowed eyes. She cocked her brow in a silent what?
    “Mrs. Franklin?” he mouthed.
    “Married name,” she fibbed, but on the insides, she wondered how many more lies she’d have to come up with to cover her tracks.
    Silence filled the car as they drove away. Refusing to allow Nolan to screw up her day, she gave Eddie directions to the bridge.
    They didn’t get a chance to talk until after Raelynn was asleep that evening. Amy left the bedroom after reading to Raelynn and found Eddie in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher.
    “You don’t have to do that,” she said.
    “It’s the least I can do after that amazing dinner,” he said.
    Another silence followed as they worked side by side, the air heavy with unanswered questions. She had dreaded this moment, when Raelynn wouldn’t act as a buffer and it was just the two of them.
    “Where did you learn to cook like that?” he asked.
    Surprised, she answered truthfully. “Culinary lessons. My parents thought it was a productive way to spend my summer.” At seventeen, the private lessons had felt like a prison sentence.
    “So your parents live here in Sandpoint?”
    “No, Virginia.” Their disappointment in her at their last meeting was so vivid. Amy sighed, regret eating at her.
    “And Raelynn’s father?”
    “He died before she was born.”
    Eddie frowned and a pensive expression settled on his face. He closed the dishwater, dried his hands on a paper towel then studied her as she wiped the counter.
    “Then what the hell is going on, Amy?”
    Time to bullshit her way out of this. “What do you mean?”
    “I understand that some kids are shy around strangers, but what I saw today went beyond that.