April's Glow Read Online Free PDF

supposed to be a thought, not speech. That happened to April a lot, words just seemed to come to life on their own.
    â€˜Patience is a virtue,’ he replied.
    â€˜Patience is a pain in the arse.’ Oops, another thought turned speech. The man looked her in the eye again, his gaze narrow and his head tilted a little, as though she was an animal in his nature documentary and he was trying to understand her behaviour and impulsive speech. April shoved a chunk of her wavy hair behind her shoulder. ‘Anyway, if she has no name, how do you expect her to come to you when you need her to?’
    â€˜She’ll come to me when she wants to. Cats are very independent.’
    April drummed her fingers on her folded arms, while he seemed more relaxed by the minute.
    â€˜See? Look.’ He pointed to Romeo who was edging slowly away from the bushes and the other cat.
    â€˜That’s it boy, over here,’ she said. She made little clicky sounds with her tongue, then wished she hadn’t, as the man released a slight chuckle at her Skippy the kangaroo-sounding clicky noises.
    â€˜Treat them a little more like humans and they’ll be more receptive, you know,’ he said.
    â€˜Are you a vet?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜A nature documentary maker?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜A …’ She’d run out of ideas, and he was also getting more amused with her by the minute, judging by the grin on his face. Geez, the guy had nice lips. He probably used lip balm. They would be soft to kiss. April! No men, remember? And definitely no strange, unhelpful men who lived next door.
    â€˜Hey there, buddy. Thanks for the warm welcome to the neighbourhood.’ The man effortlessly leaned down and picked up Romeo, who although tense, didn’t try to scratch him or leap from his grasp. He handed him over the fence to April and she held onto her pet tightly for fear of him escaping.
    â€˜I think I’ll call you The Cat Whisperer,’ she said to the man.
    â€˜And I’ll call you The Cat Matchmaker.’ He turned to his Cat-Without-A-Name who was hiding under the small gap beneath the polished timber deck. He picked her up and patted the top of her head. ‘Come on, Juliet, how about some dinner?’ He stepped onto his deck and opened the back door, but not before he turned his head back briefly and flashed April a satisfied smile.
    The door clapped closed and April stood by the fence, her mouth slightly agape. Had he just named his cat Juliet in response to her cat being called Romeo ? She didn’t know whether to laugh or tell him not to be so silly, but he had gone back inside without so much as a ‘nice to meet you’ or ‘my name is so-and-so’.
    April shook her head and turned towards her house. But when she stepped up onto her own deck and glanced back at the scene where the weirdest first meeting of all time had unfolded, something beside the reclining timber armchair on the deck caught her eye, and surprise fluttered in her chest. A terracotta pot sat there, and a unique flowering plant bulged from the potted soil; long, slim, red petals radiating out from the centre.

Chapter 5
    â€˜But how did he know my name? Do you think he checked my mail in the letterbox or something? The snoop!’ April discussed what had happened with Belinda the next day at work.
    â€˜Hang on,’ Belinda replied. ‘Didn’t you say he closed the window during your birthday celebrations?’ She leaned on the counter with her bony elbows. One had a tattoo of a feather on it.
    â€˜Yeah, so?’
    â€˜Well he must have heard your friends singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you. They did use your name, right?’
    â€˜Oh yeah. But I could have been one of the friends, he didn’t know it was my house. Unless …’ He must have seen her setting up outside, when she’d gone all OCD with the candle table decorations.
    â€˜He’s seen you, he