The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) Read Online Free PDF

fidget with. “Did you hear from the doctor already?”
    After the sing-a-long, and the subsequent coffee and chat time with all of Grams’ new friends, I’d finally managed to get her alone and back in her room. She settled into her easy chair, grabbed her knitting bag and immediately started clicking the needles together. She wouldn’t meet my eyes. And I knew it wasn’t because she had to concentrate on her knitting. She could do that in her sleep. It had to be bad.  
    “You did, didn’t you?” Fear rippled through me and I sat up, bracing myself for the worst. “Did the test results—”
    “Oh stop.” Her needles paused. “You worry too much for a young person. My appointment is later this week. You know that. You did say you’d take me.”
    “And I will.” Tension flowed from my body. I flipped over and settled onto my stomach so I could watch her. “But you said you wanted to talk to me?”
    “Can’t I talk about anything besides my health?” She gave me a pointed stare but I could she was trying to look stern. “There’s more to life besides dying, you know?” she added.
    “I know, I know.” I picked at the fringe on the pillow. “Well then what did you want to talk to me about?”  
    Satisfied, Grams turned back to her project. “I thought we should talk about the house. It’s an awfully big place for you alone now that I’m here.”
    I clutched the pillow tightly. “You can’t sell the house.” It was my home; I grew up there. And besides that, I could barely afford to live there. I’d never afford anything else.  
    “I wasn’t going to suggest we sell it. But that big old place is too expensive to keep on your own. Especially since we have the added cost of my rent here.”
    The mortgage payments were hefty, especially since she’d refinanced a few years back to help me with my tuition payments. But there was something in her voice that had my attention. I waited and after a few moments of silence, she said, “I think you should get a roommate. I don’t want you to worry.”
    “I’m not worried.” I sat up and shoved the pillow behind me because I was worried, but not about making the monthly mortgage payments. I didn’t like the tone in her voice. She was up to something. “I’ve been subbing pretty regularly,” I said. “And I applied to be considered for a contract position at Glenmore Academy. If I get it, I won’t have to worry at all.”
    She gave me the look that told me without any doubt that she didn’t believe me. We both knew I could barely make the payments. What she didn’t know was I’d dipped into my line of credit a few times too. Some things Grams didn’t need to know.
    “Well, I am worried,” Grams said. “It’s too much stress for a young woman to bear on her own and besides that, it’s not good for you to spend so much time alone.”
    Something was definitely up. I tipped my head and watched her, but she didn’t take her eyes off her knitting. “Okay, what’s going on?”  
    “I told you,” she said, “you need a roommate.”
    I sighed and rubbed my temples. “And that will make you happy?” Sometimes it was just easier to give in.
    “It would.”
    “Fine. I’ll get a roommate,” I said. It probably wasn’t such a bad idea really. I glanced at my watch and pushed up from the bed. “I have to get going, but I’ll put up an ad at the grocery store tomorrow.”
    Grams stopped mid-knit and looked at me in horror. “Not the grocery store. You can’t live with a perfect stranger.”
    I looked down so she wouldn’t see my smile. She’d see what a terrible idea a roommate was in no time. “Then what would you suggest, Grams? I don’t have any friends who need a place to live, so—”
    “I do.”
    My head jerked up, my mouth open. “You do?”  
    “Yes,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Reid.”
    I swallowed hard to keep from laughing. “The keyboard player?”
    “He’s a nice young man.”
    “He’s a stranger,” I