Falling for Hope Read Online Free PDF Page A

bantered Chris, as her new
girlfriend sighed in raptures.   “I got
distracted.”  
    “Oh, please,” said Irene, but the women on the ground
were laughing too hard to hear her.
    When Irene and Hope and Chris safely descended from
the roof, everyone retreated to the porch, and Lindsey went inside to get more
lemonade for everyone, bringing out two full pitchers and a riot of
funky-colored plastic glasses.   Chris
and Irene took their glasses gratefully, downing them, but Hope held hers in
one hand and looped her other arm around Amy’s middle, drawing the woman
closer.
    Amy could feel the flush begin to creep over her
face as the women seated in wicker chairs and leaning against the porch rails
watched in varying degrees of interest and shock as Hope bent down and kissed
her.
    “Thanks, sweetheart,” said Hope companionably, as
she raised her eyebrows with a grin and began to drink her lemonade.
    “Oooh!” said Aspen, straightening and watching the
two of them, smiling brightly.  
    “About damn time,” said Cole, crossing her legs and
grinning at Amy and Hope.   The rest of
the women made agreeing murmurs, laughter echoing around the porch, and Amy
smiled at them, feeling herself begin to relax.  
    But then she glanced at Chris.
    The woman was clenching and unclenching her hands
into fists, face tense as her jaw worked, as her shoulders began to rise.   She pushed off from the porch railing,
setting her lemonade glass down with a slam against the wood of the
rail.
    “Wow, Hope,” she snarled, words cutting through the
group like ice.   “Couldn’t even wait
until she was cold, could you?”
    Hope glanced up, blue eyes flashing.   She stared at Chris, mouth open, breathing
out.
    “Chris, you’ve got to be kidding…” began Irene,
standing as she placed a hand on Chris’s shoulder, but Chris shrugged it off,
stepped forward quickly.   Tension
crackled in the air.  
    “No.   I’m
serious,” she snapped.   “Melissa’s been
dead, what—six months?   How long has this been going on?”   She almost spat out the
last few words, growling them so that they sounded sharp, knife-like.
    “ This has been going on since last night, not
that it’s any of your damn business,” said Hope quietly, voice low, eyes still
ablaze.  
    The two women stood, glaring, but not for long.   Chris wavered for half a heartbeat, took a
step back, and then said, “Am I the only one who still gives a shit about
her?”   It was sudden, how all of the
fight drained out of her, and she turned quickly, brushing past Lindsey on her
way off the porch, into the cabin.   Doors slammed, and then all was quiet.
    “Well,” muttered Irene, pinching the bridge of her
nose.   “That might have gone a bit
better.”
    “Don’t listen to her,” said Aspen, jumping up and
hugging Amy tightly, and then Hope.   “You guys are beautiful together, really,” she said.   One by one, the women discreetly stood and
began to let themselves into the cabin, or moved off the porch toward the soggy
trails and the path leading to the lake.  
    Hope and Amy found themselves alone.
    Amy’s shoulders were trembling.   She didn’t realize why until the first tear
traced itself down her cheek.   She
reached up, surprised, and wiped it away, turning from Hope even as the woman
reached out and took her wrist gently.
    “Amy,” said Hope softly, but Amy was shaking her
head.   “No…please listen to me, Amy…”
whispered Hope, stepping behind the woman before wrapping her arms around Amy’s
waist and shoulders.   Amy felt Hope
against her back, felt the solidity of her, smelled the familiar, comforting
scent of Hope’s shampoo and coffee.   Amy
was just beginning to learn the intimate details of Hope, that new language of
a woman who felt so right… She’d felt right about other women before, but never
quite like this.   There had been such an
intensity last night, and she felt it here again, now, as Hope held