Read Online My Sunshine by Catherine Anderson - Free Book Online

beautiful eyes. “I’m not clear on why, Laura. My mom and your grandmother were trying to set us up, and we found them out. I admit that it could be an uncomfortable situation if we allowed it to be, but why should we? Let’s just laugh it off and continue as planned.”
    â€œI only wanted the job if you thought I’d be good at it,” she said. “For someone like me, that’s very im-portant.”
    â€œI do think you’ll be good at it.”
    She flicked him a dubious look. “You’re a smart man. You say your mom has done this before. I think you knew all along and were only being kind. There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you. But I can’t take a job I didn’t get on my own merit.”
    So that was it. Isaiah rested his fork on the edge of the plate and leaned back in the chair, which creaked in protest under his shifting weight. “I’m a busy man, Laura. Smart, maybe, but hopelessly absentminded, too. I have way too much on my mind to keep track of my mother’s matchmaking schemes. Maybe I should have known, but I honestly didn’t.”
    She still looked unconvinced.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “You want the actual truth?”
    She nodded.
    â€œI never suspected a matchmaking scheme because my mother told me you had brain damage. I pictured a shuffling, overweight lady with blank eyes, a lax mouth, and drool on her chin.” He paused to let that sink in. “Mom has tried to set me up a number of times, but never with anyone like that.”
    Stomach knotted and hands clenched into fists under the table, Isaiah waited for her reaction, half-afraid she might be hurt and burst into tears. Instead her mouth quirked at the corners, and then she giggled. “Drool?”
    Relieved, Isaiah grinned. “Bad of me, right? I shouldn’t stereotype people, but that’s honestly what I expected. When I saw you in my office and realized who you were, I was so surprised—pleasantly so—that I never gave my mother’s motives a thought.”
    â€œOn my chin? ”
    He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m sorry.”
    â€œNot all people with brain damage are like that,” she informed him.
    â€œIntellectually, I knew that,” he confessed, “but I wasn’t wearing my thinking hat or trying to call up clinical images the afternoon she told me about you. I was worried about a sick cow.”
    She tipped her head questioningly. “If you thought my brain damage was that bad, why did you agree to meet with me?”
    Isaiah picked up his wineglass. “Because my mom seldom asks me for a favor. To make her happy, I said I’d interview you. I honestly didn’t believe you’d be able to do the work. But once I met you, I changed my mind.”
    She dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “After I got hurt, not being able to talk was only part of the problem. My right arm and leg were almost useless, and I had motor problems.” A faraway look entered her eyes. “When I wasn’t in rehab, my parents had to look after me. When I started to get better and could do some things for myself, I swore I’d get well and never need help again.”
    Isaiah nodded. “Becoming self-reliant wasn’t easy for you, in other words.”
    â€œNo.” Her gaze flicked to his and held. “I had to take it one day at a time. I’m as well now as I’ll ever be.” She gestured at their surroundings. “For this to work, I have to make it on my own. No special favors, not from my parents, not from you, not from any-one. It’s no good, other-wise. I’d only be kidding myself. Do you understand?”
    Isaiah understood better than she knew. His sister, Bethany, had expressed similar concerns after the barrel-racing accident that had paralyzed herfrom the waist down. I need to do it by myself, she had cried whenever anyone tried to help her. It