Mr. Wonderful Read Online Free PDF

adjusted to his divorce. The tranquility of the small town had healed all the old wounds from his wife’s departure long ago. Meanwhile his life was changing. He and a group of friends, some of whom had been out of work for months because of the depressed lumber business, had formed this woodworking business. To their surprise, the well-made, handcrafted chairs and tables were selling well, and they were thinking of expanding.
    I loved hearing Steve talk, watching the expressions change on his face. It was clear he had found his niche and his place in the world and was quite happy with his lot. It’s not everyone who can say that.
    We walked back to the car down the long path. When I tripped on a rock, he took my hand and then held it the rest of the way. It seemed so natural yet so thrilling to feel his hand in mine. What had happened to my neat, well-ordered little life in the space of two days? I had fallen in love for the first time in my life. That was the only reasonable answer.
    I drove him home, but begged off when he invited me in for dinner. I was beginning to feel emotionally drained, and I had to sort out my feelings and ask myself how far I was willing to let myself go. This had never happened to me before.
    Steve was to be off in his van loaded with furniture in the morning to show his samples up and down the state. He would be gone a week. He told me he’d see me when he got back, and he kissed me in the car, a warm kiss that promised much more that I didn’t know how to respond to. Not yet. I was shaking as I started my car.
    My dreams that night reflected my confused, excited, and bewildered mind. I saw a woman in a strange town packing her suitcase. Was it me or was it his first wife? I couldn’t tell. But the woman was crying. I saw his face bent over me, kissing me passionately in the dream the way we could have kissed in the car but didn’t.  Too soon, I told myself.  Way too soon.
    I woke up feeling as though I’d been awake all night, and the week ahead loomed before me. Even though it was the week before school started, and I had to work like a demon to get my room in shape, the days dragged by.
    Fortunately I had the novelty and the challenge of the first week of school to keep me occupied and the parents’ open house to plan for. I did wear my new peach suit that night, and the classroom looked great with samples of every student’s work on the walls. Even though Shauna wasn’t in my class that year, I thought the O’Donnells would stop by my room after they’d seen her first-grade teacher. And just as I was explaining our goals in the early-reading program to a parent, I saw a tall figure come through the door.
    Luckily the parent was just leaving because I really couldn’t think of anything to say about reading and writing anymore. In a minute Steve was at my side.
    “Kristin, I’ve missed you,” he said.
    “How was your trip?” was all I could say, but my eyes must have said more. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
    “It was wonderful, but I thought about you all the time. Well, maybe not all the time,” he said with a teasing look in his eyes. “Sometimes I thought about designs, veneers, and stains and how I’m going to change the design of furniture.”
    The room was empty now and he took my hands in his.
    “When can you leave?” he asked. “I have so much to say. We have so much to talk about.”
    We got away shortly, and at my house, which he didn’t seem to find old fashioned like Sophie did, we talked about us and the future. He was convinced I was the right woman for him. He said he’d been waiting for me for years, but his big worry was that I wouldn’t be happy in his town, and he’d thought of an answer to that too. We would live here in the suburbs, a compromise.
    But I knew deep down he wouldn’t be happy there, and I was perfectly happy to try life in a small town. After all, they have schools there, don’t they? With