Read Online While She Was Sleeping... by Isabel Sharpe - Free Book Online Page A

help setting each other off. Which was most of the reason Alana had moved away to Chicago.
    “Sorry, Mel. I’m cranky. And you know me, cranky equals cleaning.”
    “I knew that. I shouldn’t have taken it personally.” She poured herself juice, sloshing a bit and of course not wiping it up. “What’s going on?”
    Alana cleared her throat, and then realized in an odd flashback, that was what their mother had done before she approached a difficult subject. In a Pavlovian response, Melanie’s hand carrying the juice glass froze halfway to her mouth.
    “Uh, I had a kind of strange talk with Sawyer yesterday.”
    The orange juice glass lowered. The sleepy green-brown eyes turned cautious. “Yeah?”
    “He says you’re not dating.” Alana made sure her voice was gentle, no accusation implied. “That you’re not involved at all.”
    Melanie’s glass hit the counter with a sharp crack. She mumbled something.
    “What?”
    “I said not involved yet. ”
    “But…I mean…has he shown any interest?” She held her breath, shocked at how desperately she hoped Melanie would say no.
    “He’s the kind of guy you always told me I should want. And I do. I finally found a good one.”
    Alana nodded carefully. What she was walking on would make eggshells feel like bricks. Melanie hadn’t answered her question directly. If Sawyer had shown interest, she’d lose no time throwing that fact in Alana’s face. Which meant when he’d come on to Alana, he was single. She wasn’t going totake that thought any further just yet. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
    “I did. I told you I’d found the guy I’d like to spend the rest of my life with. That’s the truth.”
    Alana felt a twitch of irritation at the hair-splitting. And a traitorous kick of jealousy she was ashamed of. “You didn’t think I’d assume you were together already?”
    “I didn’t think you’d come barreling up here to check my story before we’d had the chance to get to know each other.”
    “Okay.” Alana gave in, moistened a sponge and wiped up the juice spill in front of her sister, not looking at her in case she was rolling her eyes again. “You said you’d known him a solid month. I thought that meant—”
    “I didn’t say solid.”
    Alana turned back to the sink, rinsed the sponge, picked up the scouring pad and went to work again on grout turned brown with mold. Otherwise she was going to want to smack her sister. “Okay. You probably didn’t say ‘solid.’ So maybe you didn’t lie and I’m sorry if I accused you. But you certainly misled me. On purpose. How come, Mel?”
    Her sister sighed, but not in exasperation. “Because I was excited about meeting him and jumped the gun…as usual. Because I thought you’d feel better about moving to Florida if you thought I was settled with a good guy, which I finally have a chance to be, with Sawyer. Because you worry about me and everyone more than you worry about yourself and I wanted you to take a break, at least on my behalf.”
    Alana turned and met her sister’s eyes across the kitchen. “Is that really why?”
    She shrugged and grinned lopsidedly. “I care about you, too, you know.”
    “Aw, Mel.” Alana swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
    “Am I the only reason you’re cleaning? When you start on grout, it usually means something more serious.”
    “Oh. That. Well.” How could she tell Melanie Mr. Dream Guy made another pass at her? That Alana had responded? She couldn’t. More to the point, she didn’t need to, because that was over, done with, not going to happen again. “I was confused about you and Sawyer. And, yes, worried. You know me.”
    “Don’t worry. He is remarkable. Really. Did you know he’s Dalton Brewing?” She grinned triumphantly at Alana’s shock. “Uh-huh. Sawyer is a direct descendant through his mom, though his dad was no slacker, either. Big-shot CEO. Major cash in the family.”
    Alana stared stupidly. Sawyer, the consummate