Cross My Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

the evening a little more.
    She didn’t have the heart to say no, so the three of them walked back to Michael’s house together. Once they were inside, Claire ran upstairs to get the CD.
    Down in the foyer, it was suddenly quiet. “I’ll walk you back home,” Michael said after a moment, looking down at her.
    “You don’t have to do that,” she objected.
    “It’s late. I’ll walk you.”
    “But I live next door. In a ridiculously safe neighborhood. Also, I’ve spent the last twelve years of my life walking alone on the streets of Chicago, Detroit, L.A…”
    “Only because I wasn’t there,” he said, smiling at her. “Call me old-fashioned, but it’s just not in me to let a woman walk home alone.”
    She shook her head slowly. “I didn’t know men like you still existed. Okay, you can walk me home. And if I drop my handkerchief on the way you can pick it up for me.”
    “Deal,” he said with a grin.
    “Okay, here it is,” Claire said, running down the steps with the CD in her hand. “You can borrow it as long as you want. And…” She hesitated.
    “Yes?” Jenna asked after a moment.
    “Just…thank you. For tonight. It was really fun.”
    “I had fun, too. And I’ll be seeing you again, won’t I? You’re right next door, after all. And don’t forget you promised to watch the Mollies practice next week.”
    Claire’s face glowed. “I won’t forget,” she said. She looked at her dad with the same expression, which made Jenna very happy. “Good night, you guys.”
    “Good night,” they both said.
    Jenna glanced at Michael, who was watching his daughter disappear up the stairs. Then he turned to her. “I don’t know how to thank you,” he said as he opened the door and the two of them stepped outside. “Claire was so different, tonight. With you here.”
    “It was my pleasure. And I had a great time, not to mention an incredible meal.”
    They walked in silence for a minute, across the broad expanse of his beautiful lawn towards her much more unkempt one. The soft night air was lush and fragrant.
    She glanced up at him, and the moonlight was bright enough that she could see his face clearly, although she wasn’t sure about his expression. He seemed to be frowning a little.
    “Michael, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
    He looked down at her. “Uh…sure. I mean, no. I don’t mind.”
    “I should warn you, it’s personal. So don’t answer if you don’t feel like it.”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “How personal?”
    “Why does Claire live with her grandparents? And not with you?”
    “Oh,” he said, as if he’d been expecting something else. They were close to her back door now, and she took a detour to a bench in the back yard. She sat sideways, facing him with her legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around her shins, while he faced forward. He didn’t answer her question right away, and she had a chance to study him.
    His hands were in his pockets and his legs were stretched out, one ankle hooked over the other. Even in the moonlight she could sense the tension in him—his shoulders stiff, his muscles tight.
    “It’s okay if you’d rather not talk about it.”
    He shrugged. “No, it’s all right.” He turned his head to look at her. “Claire’s mother and I split up when Claire was three. After the divorce, Angela took Claire to Florida, to be near her family. A few years ago, Angela was killed in a car accident.”
    Jenna’s heart clenched. So she had died.
    Michael took a breath. “I thought about moving down there, but I had commitments at the hospital I couldn’t walk away from. I asked Claire to come live with me, but her grandparents offered her a home and she said she’d rather stay where she was.”
    Ouch.
    “Have you asked her again, since then?”
    He was quiet for a moment. “I think she’s better off where she is,” he said finally. “My schedule is pretty hectic, and I don’t have family in the area. It would just be me, and I wouldn’t