Read Online Sweet Reunion by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online Page A

framed in the
glass pane of the exterior door like a finely wrought portrait.
    A tremor ran through her from
head to toe, but she quickly reminded herself that she could not show him her
weaknesses. She again thought of her sleepless night, and noticed how
well-rested he looked. She couldn't let him see she was coming apart at the
seams!
    No, she was only going to
show him a completely strong and together facade. She quickly pasted a smile on
her face, striving for as natural an expression as possible, but truthfully not
even caring if it came off as slightly artificial – as long as her face didn't
betray the roiling emotions just below the surface, it could look as plastic as
a mannequin's for all she cared.
    She crossed to the back
door, opened it, and stood aside, inviting him in.
    “Is this a bad time?” he
asked as he entered.
    “Not at all,” she assured
him. “The girls went down to see Karina's grandmother, and I'm just cooking
some dinner.”
    “How is Renata doing?”
Justin inquired.
    “Oh, you know Renata. As
indefatigable as ever. I think she'll outlive us all, and be working on twelve
different community projects as she does it.”
    “She's a rock,” Justin
agreed, “Karina's lucky to have her.”
    “True. All of Hope Falls is
lucky to have her, when you think about it. So, what were you up to today?”
    “Oh, just cleaning out the
bunkhouse and getting it habitable. It brought back a lot of memories of living
there.”
    “I bet.” Amanda said, and
sitting between them, making the air electric, was the unspoken memory of the
last time they had been in the bunkhouse together. The last time they had seen
each other at all.
    She quickly turned back to
the stove and focused her attention on the chicken sizzling in the pan.
    Justin moved behind Amanda,
close. So close that she could feel his ragged breath on her neck and in her
hair. The nearness of him paralyzed her. Her vision swam and her body felt on
fire, and he wasn't even touching her.
    “Amanda...” he said, his
voice husky with emotion, with regret. With desire? Was that just wishful
thinking on her part?
    “Amanda...” he started
again, and then trailed off again.
    Slowly, so slowly that she almost
couldn't tell if she was really doing it or if it were only her imagination,
she turned her face up to his. She could barely breathe. Their mouths were less
than an inch apart, and their eyes were locked on each other. She felt as if
she would melt on the spot, or possibly explode.
     “Yes?” she whispered. With
the one small scrap of awareness of her surroundings that she had left, she
realized that her breathing had grown ragged as well, as if in answer to
Justin's.
    “I...” he started, then took
a deep breath and tried to begin again, “I just...”
    And then, displaying a sense
of timing so horrendous that it belied the flawless sense of rhythm she
possessed which was one of the factors which made her a brilliant musician,
Karina called from the front door, “Yoo hoo! We're home!”
    Amanda drew in her breath
sharply as Justin retreated across the kitchen, but couldn't manage to access
her vocal chords to summon a response. She heard Karina's voice calling as she
came down the hall, “Did you hear me? Lucy, I'm home!” she hollered in her best
Desi Arnaz impersonation.
    Amanda looked up as Karina
entered the kitchen and shook her head to clear it, but realized that the truth
of what had just happened must have been written all over her face when she saw
a sly smile spread across Karina's face. “Lucy, you've got some 'splaining to
do,” she grinned, drawing out the impression.
    “What?” Amanda asked, doing
her best to maintain an innocent expression as Lauren and Samantha entered the
kitchen behind Karina.
    As soon as Lauren laid eyes
on Amanda's face, she rushed over and took the wooden spoon out of her hand,
taking over the job of t sautéing the chicken and veggies. “Oh my goodness,
Amanda! I knew we shouldn't have left