A Younger Man (Mount Faith Series: Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Harry didn't look as if they bought her explanation. Anita had put on a brittle smile hoping to convince them of her sincerity.
    "If she turns up here I will call you. I have no idea why after all these years she would use my name as next of kin."
    "How do you know her?" Harry asked.
    "She er, she was er..." Anita was looking everywhere except at Natasha and Harry, and they were looking at her in anticipation.
    "She was my girlfriend," Anita said.
    "Your girlfriend?" Harry asked, "You were in a relationship with her?"
    "Yes." Anita nodded vigorously. "Please, I don't want to talk about this. This was a long time ago."
    Natasha cleared her throat and looked at Harry. "We understand. Could you just give us a call if she shows up?"
    "Yes. Yes," Anita said taking Harry's card. "I will. Detectives could you keep this under wraps? Obviously, my link to Carol is something that I don't want out there."
    "Sure." Natasha nodded solemnly.
     

    Chapter Three
     
    The turn out at the Wednesday's meeting was much better than Sunday's. Vanley could even spot a few young people in the group. Davia was sitting at the front. She was in her work clothes, a brown boxy looking tailored-suit.
    She waved to him and he smiled at her. She really was quite cute. No drama, no terrible secrets, just simple and unassuming. He shook his head from those thoughts. “If everything worth getting was perfect, then life would be boring,” used to be his father's favorite saying.
    All through the exhortation he thought about that and inevitably thought about Anita. He hadn't seen her since that day in her office when she promised to come to the singles retreat. After the service, he toyed with the idea of going to see her. He knew where she lived; he had passed her house often enough when he went to visit his cousin Micah, but he had never once tried to intrude on her space.
    He felt like doing so now. When he stepped out of the church he saw Davia waiting for him. He smiled and said, "I'll have to drop you home tonight."
    "You mean no long moonlit walk?" Davia asked, grinning.
    "Regretfully, no," Vanley said, shaking his head. "Ready?"
    Davia nodded and followed him to his car.
    "You seem a little distant tonight, like you're not all here," she said when they neared his car.
    Vanley opened the car door for her and waited for her to settle in before going around to his side. "That is very astute of you."
    "Want to talk about it?" Davia asked, smiling at him softly. Her lips were a pale red.
    Vanley stared at them and then shook his head. He was slowly becoming attracted to Davia, especially now when she seemed so solemn and somewhat mature.
    I was wondering about Anita... but that would be too honest , he thought. He started driving up the hill slowly. "What do you do for fun?"
    Davia laughed. "Fun? What's that? Country girls like me who live in Bramble, the final farming frontier, don't have fun, unless you count playing Monopoly and Scrabble with my grandma fun."
    Vanley laughed in disbelief. "Seriously, an attractive girl like you?"
    "Yes, pastor," Davia said, laughing with him. "In these hills there is nowhere to go, nothing to do. I don't have a car, so basically, I stay put."
    "Planning to go to the singles retreat weekend?" Vanley asked out of curiosity. He didn't want her to go. Anita was going to be there, and he really wanted the opportunity to be with Anita when she had her guard down. He knew that Davia being there would complicate things.
    "No, I wasn't planning to go," Davia shuddered. "Last time I went there were mostly women there and the most unsuitable guys. Some of them were one eyed, one legged, had beer gut, and had bad breath. The eligible guys who showed up actually came with their girlfriends. I am like, why do you go to a singles retreat when technically you are not single; you are preparing to get married…that's so unfair."
    She hissed her teeth and then flushed. "Sorry. I really had a bad time last year."
    Vanley stopped the