The Apple Of My Eye Read Online Free PDF Page A

house, where they had moved her grandmother after her infirmity had made it difficult to go up and down steps.
    Kara turned back to look at her friend. “Shell, you really don’t have to do that. I can make do. You don’t have to bail me out of trouble.”
    “It’s not bailing you out, and I want to help. Greenville is fifteen minutes closer to your office anyway. We can carpool.”
    Kara gave her friend a shaky, relieved smile. “Thanks, Shell. I mean it. I’d love to move in, and yes I will take the study. There’s plenty of room back there for me.” She gave her friend a hug. “Plus when you hook up with the hottie behind us, I won’t be in the way.”
    Michelle gave her friend a teasing push. “You never stop, do you? Next time, you should tell me when something like that happens. I will let you detangle the wire hell while I take a bath. When do you want to go get your stuff?”
    “We can go tomorrow. Most of the furniture is his, so there isn’t a lot of heavy stuff to move. You go on, I’ve got this!” Rolling up the sleeves of her Tiger pajamas, Kara headed over to the entertainment center with a renewed aura of determination.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    The afternoon found the two women out in the yard, bundled up against the cool, early March weather. Michelle wanted to take a careful look at the gardens, to figure out what besides the trees might need attention. “There, the bed lining has pulled up; we are going to have to replace that.” Kara scribbled notes as Michelle toured the various fruit and flower beds.
    “Are the automatic sprinklers still working?” Kara asked, tapping a semi-buried sprinkler head with her shoe.
    “I’m not sure. We probably need to test them, but that will have to wait until things warm up.” Michelle moved down the length of the house and stopped in front of a huge rose bush that rested against the outer bricks of the living room’s fireplace. “It looks like some of the roses are going to need to be pruned; there is a lot of dead wood on them.” Gingerly, Michelle touched a thorny cane where the tiny green buds of new growth that were prominent on the rest of the cane had stopped two thirds of the way up.
    “I’d wait until after that rambler blooms, if I were you.” A masculine voice joined the conversation. “Then you won’t accidentally prune off this year’s blooms. Plus you will stimulate growth for the rest of the season.”
    Startled, Michelle spun around towards the sound of the voice. Standing behind her was the handsome man from the morning before. Now he was dressed in jeans and a dark green jacket that matched his eyes. Emblazoned on the front of his coat was a name: “Marshall”.
    “I’m Hayes Marshall, with Oak Forest Arborists. You called this morning, about the apple tree?” Hayes smiled at her and held out his hand.
    Michelle snapped her gaping mouth closed with a click and smiled. “Yes, thank you for making time in your schedule, Mr. Marshall. I really appreciate it. I’m Michelle, this is my friend Kara.” Michelle took the proffered hand and couldn’t help feeling a warm glow at his touch.
    “It’s not a problem, Michelle. Please, call me Hayes. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry about yesterday, there wasn’t really time to stop and chat.” Was it her imagination, or did Michelle detect the slightest hint of pink in his cheeks.
    “Oh no, there’s nothing to be sorry about, really. I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.”
    “Was Mr. Olson asking you to chop down our apple tree?” Kara interjected, her tone oddly threatening.
    “Kara, stop that,” Michelle hissed at her friend. She was surprised by the vehemence in her voice.
    “No, it’s all right. You two have every reason to be suspicious.” Hayes’ expression grew serious. “He was asking me to cut your tree down. Ed has been bothering me about that apple tree for the last year or two. Every time I am out to do work on his property, he mentions it. Let me be