Hearts in Harmony Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Let me walk you to your car.”
    She said her good-byes and made her way out with Adrian at her side.
    He waited patiently while she struggled to get the key turned in the lock the right way to open the car door.
    â€œThank you for a lovely day, Adrian.”
    â€œYou’re more than welcome. I hope to see you again soon.”
    She nodded and quickly scooted into the car. “Yes,” she mumbled as she pulled the door hard enough to force it closed. “You’ll see me next Sunday morning. Bye.”

Chapter Three
    C eleste shut down her computer. It had been a busy day at work and she would have liked nothing better than to go home and put her feet up, but the fridge and cupboards were bare. Knowing she wouldn’t have the energy to go out again after she’d settled down for the evening, she headed out to pick up her groceries on the way home.
    List in hand, she trudged through the store. As soon as she had everything she needed in her grocery cart, she proceeded to the checkouts. One look at the long lines nearly made her groan out loud. At the same second she pushed her cart into what she hoped was the shortest line, a male voice sounded behind her.
    â€œHey, Celeste, fancy meeting you here.”
    Her breath caught and her hand shot up to her throat as she spun around. She nearly sank to the floor with relief that it wasn’t anyone too familiar. “Adrian, you startled me. What are you doing here?”
    He nodded at her shopping cart. “Same thing as you, apparently.”
    His cart contained more than double the volume of her own.
    She counted the people in the line ahead of her. “It looks like we’re going to be a while.”
    â€œOn your way home from work?”
    â€œYes. I guess you are, too,” she replied.
    He nodded, but didn’t speak.
    She tried to guess what he did for a living. His clothes didn’t give her an easy answer. Today, he wore tailored slacks that looked as though they belonged with a suit jacket, which he wasn’t wearing, a good-quality cotton dress shirt and a tie. She knew his job was in management, but she didn’t know what he managed. Obviously it wasn’t something that required manual labor or a uniform.
    She turned her attention back up to his face. He was grinning. “I knew you were here. I saw your car.”
    Her face flamed. She’d parked her mother’s car in the back corner of the lot, next to the garbage bin, far away from everyone else, in an effort to escape notice.
    She didn’t want to hear that she could be so easily found. She tried to console herself by thinking no one she used to know would associate her with her mother’s car, even if they did see it. Her own car was by now halfway across the country with her mother in it.
    â€œIf you really must know, it’s my mother’s car, not mine. We traded so she could have something safe to drive on her vacation. She left last week.”
    Adrian’s smile dropped. “It sounds like that old thing isn’t very dependable.”
    â€œIt’s not like it’s going to blow up or anything. The worst that will happen is it will stall.” She patted her purse.“If that happens, I got a cell phone on my lunch break today. All I have to do is call a tow truck.”
    One eyebrow rose, but he said nothing.
    The line moved them to the point where she had to begin unloading her groceries onto the conveyor belt. Having the length of the buggy between them made it impossible to talk softly, thus ending their conversation, which Celeste regretted. It had been so long since she’d had such a pleasant conversation about nothing in particular, she’d forgotten just how good it could be.
    Adrian’s deep voice interrupted her mental meanderings. “That’s my favorite kind of ice cream. Do you share?”
    She fumbled with the ice cream tub, then thunked it down before she dropped it. “I think