Read Online Lorie's Heart by Amy Lillard - Free Book Online

“If she can’t remember you and you upset her by visiting, then you shouldn’t go back.”
    She bit her lip as tears filled her eyes. “You’re right, I suppose.”
    He patted her hand reassuringly. “I know I am. You need to just concentrate on your articles for baptism and joining the church. Everything else will fall into place.”
    â€œYou think so?”
    He flashed her his best smile. “I know so.”
    Â 
    Â 
    Zach let his gaze wander around the rec room searching for that one sweet face. He shook his head at his unlikely thoughts. What did he think? She was just going to show up out of the blue?
    Well, yeah, that was exactly what he thought. It was kismet or fate or something that brought her here to begin with. Surely it would bring her back.
    â€œHey, Dream Boy.” Tori Ann snapped her fingers in front of his face to bring his attention around. “Table eight needs your help.” Unlike Zach, Tori Ann volunteered at the Sundale Retirement and Assisted Living Center. The residents loved her sassy ways and bright smile, though today her brassy attitude grated his nerves. “They asked for you specifically.”
    â€œRight. Sorry.” Time to quit spacing out over a girl he would never see again and get back to work. He turned toward the table, making note that Betty Mathis was among the seniors seated there. He smiled. She was one of his favorites. There was just something about her smile and the innocent light in her eyes. She had memory problems and was easily confused, but she didn’t let that stop her. He admired her spunk.
    â€œJohnathan,” she said as he approached the table.
    â€œZach,” he gently corrected.
    â€œOh, yes, of course.” She patted her hair and smiled as if she had meant to call him Zach all along. “Will you help us with these airplane kits? We have the instructions, but I still can’t tell where the wings are supposed to go.”
    â€œOf course.” He pulled out a chair and studied the instructions. Then he showed Betty and the rest of table eight how to attach the wings.
    â€œWe’re sending these over to the children’s hospital,” Betty said, examining her plane from all angles. Normally she preferred knitting to the craft of the day, but the thought of making a balsa wood airplane must have appealed to her.
    â€œThe VA hospital,” Stan Marley corrected. Stan was a retired shoe salesman from back in the days where the reps took the shoes around to the stores. Zach loved hearing him talk about traveling and carrying a sample case. It seemed everyone had lost the human touch these days. Maybe that was why so many people were angry all the time.
    â€œOf course,” Betty said, her brow puckering, then smoothing itself out as if she had gotten it right from the beginning.
    â€œThat’s a great idea.” As Zach spoke his gaze drifted toward the entrance to the rec room.
    â€œThat’s the fifth time you’ve looked at the door,” Eugene Horton boomed. His voice was huge, but his body didn’t match. He was a short man, barely five foot, with a thin build and long, slender fingers. The odd combination of his small frame and his over-loud voice was enough to bring a smile to Zach’s face, though he hid it so the man wouldn’t think he was laughing at him. “You waiting on someone?”
    Zach shook his head. “No,” he lied.
    â€œIs it a girl?” Linda, Eugene’s sister, asked. She was the opposite of Eugene in every way—tall, rounded, and quiet-spoken. Zach had heard the rumor that the two of them were twins, but he’d not found an opportunity to ask them.
    â€œNo.” A heat rose in his face to belie his words.
    â€œI saw a girl leaving your room the other day, Betty.” Fern, Betty’s next-door “neighbor,” grabbed the page of stickers and started to place them on her plane.
    â€œIf you do the