Carolina Home Read Online Free PDF

house to ourselves before we’re too old to enjoy it.”
    “
Mm.
You, me, and an inn full of guests. Very romantic.”She settled her weight more firmly against him, enjoying the feel of him hot and potent against her stomach.
    He patted her butt affectionately. “You don’t want me going soft in my old age, now, do you?”
    She laughed at him. “I can feel just how soft you are.”
    He smiled down at her, the old gleam in his eyes, the one that still made her breath come faster after all these years. “Why don’t you come to bed and I’ll show you?”

Three
     
    T HE PERIOD BELL buzzed. Released from their seats, Allison’s students rose like a flock of gulls, more interested in flight than the consequences of Hester Prynne’s doomed passion for that weed, Dimmesdale.
    At sixteen, they were still blind to the connections between their own struggles with conformity and identity and poor Hester’s fate.
    It was Allison’s job to help them see.
    “Make sure you get those permission slips signed by Friday,” she called as they jostled past her desk. “Anyone who doesn’t have a signed form for
Easy A
will spend both periods next week in the library.”
    Her students grunted and shuffled by. Most of them had turned in their slips days ago. There were only a few holdouts.
    She spotted one of them making his way through the rows of desks to the front of the classroom. “Joshua, can you stay after class a few minutes?”
    He regarded her without expression, a tall boy with broad shoulders and steady blue eyes. His father’s son. “It’s my lunch period.”
    “After class or after school,” Allison said firmly.
    He shifted the three-ring notebook on his hip—the only book she’d ever seen him carry—and glanced toward the hall. “I guess I have a minute.”
    Lindsey Gordon stood in the doorway, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
    “Save me a seat,” Joshua said to her. “I’ll be right there.”
    Allison waited until the girl left for the cafeteria before she spoke. “You were awfully quiet in class today.”
    Joshua shrugged, giving her non-news the non-response it deserved. He was quiet every day, and they both knew it. What she didn’t know was why. She’d seen his transcript. His test scores. She’d talked with his other teachers. Everyone agreed he was a bright boy. All of them acknowledged he was falling behind.
    And not one of them appeared particularly concerned about it.
    “You have to understand it’s still the beginning of the school year,” Gail Peele, who taught geometry and trig, had said this morning in the faculty lounge. “And the end of tourist season. Most families around here depend on the season to get by. These kids won’t have their heads back in their books until October.”
    Allison wasn’t convinced. Her other students were at least turning in their work. October could be too late for Joshua.
    She handed him a dog-eared paperback. “Here.”
    Something flickered behind his eyes. “What’s this?”
    “
The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I want you to read it by Monday.”
    He made no move to take the book. “I mean, why are you giving it to me?”
    “Last year’s students had the option of donating theirused books and supplies to the school. Since you apparently don’t own a copy, I’m giving you this one.”
    A red flush crept under his tan. “I’ve got a book.”
    “Then you should be doing the reading.”
    He lowered his head, shuffling his feet like a bull tormented by a matador.
    Like Miles.
    The memory of her brother caught Allison in the chest, a sharp and unexpected pang. She couldn’t afford to hang her heart on the success of every student. But there was no way she was leaving this ring without a fight.
    “I’ve been busy,” Joshua said. “Working.”
    Well, Gail had warned her. He probably needed the money. Or his family did. How much did a fisherman make in a year?
    “Do you think that’s the wisest investment of your