Her Canadian Dream [Her Canadian Dream] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF Page B

long. The main street wasn’t busy at this time of day and she managed to keep up with the truck with no problems. As they skirted the town boundary, Jan took a turning off the highway, and after about a mile, turned into a small road leading down to the lake. As they rounded a bend, Aly gasped.
    At the edge of the lake, set in a landscaped lawn area, was the most beautiful house she had ever seen. Two stories, with a verandah wrapped right around, it was everything Aly had dreamed of when first coming to this country. It even had a swing seat to the left of the main entrance.
    She pulled up behind the truck and got out of the car on shaky legs.
    “Jan, I can’t afford to live here! It’s wonderful. Just the sort of place I imagined when I came here but I know I can’t afford anything like this. Whose house is it? What is the rent going to be? It must be more than I can pay?”
    Her words tumbled over one another as she stood staring at the house of her dreams.
    Jan grinned at her.
    “Don’t worry, sweetie. The rent is cheap and the person who owns the place is a very dear friend of ours. Let’s get the key and I’ll show you around.”
    Lifting a plank on the steps leading up to the front door, Jan retrieved the door key and let them into the spacious hallway. The walls were painted a warm peach colour and the wooden floor had been sanded and polished until it shone. A bright rug was a welcoming touch, as they walked into the house.
    Aly’s eyes shone as she took in her surroundings and her friend led her through to the lounge. Everything in this room was big. Two massive sofas faced each other on either side of a large open fireplace. The floors again had been left bare, apart from the bright rugs the owner seemed to favour. In the corner sat a flat-screen TV. A state-of-the-art music system sat on the shelf beside it.
    The window at the far end of the room looked out over the lake. There was a window seat, padded and covered in the same sort of fabric as the rugs. She could visualise herself, sitting there, with her e-reader, watching the changes on the lake as the seasons changed.
    Hang on! This isn’t your house. You don’t even know if you can afford to stay here yet, and you won’t be here long enough to watch the change of seasons.
    Aly tried to calm her inappropriate thoughts.
    Jan called her through a door on the left of the room, which Aly discovered was a large kitchen/dining room, clad in pine, an enormous table sitting in the centre. Through another door further on, she could see a utility room, complete with washer, drier, and freezer. Back in the kitchen, the fridge freezer took up almost one wall behind her. The sink and work surfaces were set under the room-width windows, which also gave wonderful views of the lake.
    Aly felt as if she were in a dream as she followed Jan back into the hallway and toward the stairs.
    A small cloakroom was tucked away under the staircase and another door opened onto another small seating area, this one looking out over the front of the house and parking area. There was a smaller fireplace in this room with a couple of comfy recliner chairs on either side. Floor-to-ceiling shelves held thousands of books, and she could imagine a cold winter night curled up reading in the glow of the fire.
    It was everything Aly could have dreamed of. The furnishings were just what she would have chosen herself. It was almost spooky to think that, whoever this house belonged to, they had such similar taste.
    She was becoming more and more curious as to the owner but Jan still refused to say whose house this was.
    They mounted the stairs and Jan turned to the left at the top and went into a room on the right.
    “This would be yours I think.”
    Aly followed her in and gasped in awe. The room was double aspect. On the left, the window overlooked the gardens at the side of the house. Ahead, there were French doors, opening out to a balcony overlooking the lake. The balcony ran right