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

said. “And didn’t you just finish saying I couldn’t live with a perfect stranger?” There was no way I was going to be roommates with a man. Particularly a very good-looking, totally cocky, probably flaky, and full of himself and completely unreliable musician-type of man. No way.  
    Grams stuck her needles together and put them in her lap. “He is not a stranger. He’s Reid.”
    “Reid. The stranger.” I dropped my purse and plopped down on the bed again. It was clear I wasn’t going anywhere for a while.
    “Whitney,” Grams said in her “you’re being ridiculous” voice. “I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Reid every Thursday for the last five months and he’s been singing here long before I came along. Besides that, he’s a perfectly respectable young man who happens to need a place to live. And I happen to have a place for him to live.”
    “Yeah, my house,” I muttered under my breath.  
    “You mean, my house,” Grams said. Damn her crazy good hearing. “It’s still my house, Whitney. I know right now you’re paying the bills, but I think it’s a good thing for you to have a roommate.”
    I looked her in the eyes and that’s when I knew. “You already told him he could move in, didn’t you?”
    Grams smiled and nodded. “He’ll be there tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow?” My mouth fell open and I couldn’t help but look at my sweet, elderly grandmother who most certainly was losing her mind on top of everything else. I’d have to make a note to talk to her doctor about her mental faculties. “Grams. This isn’t okay.”
    She nodded and I’m sure if I’d been sitting any closer, she would have patted my head like a puppy. “Of course it’s going to be okay, dear.”
    If there was one thing I knew about Grams, it was that once she’d agreed to something, she wasn’t going to change her mind. She hated wishy-washy people. I lay down and stared at the ceiling, trying in vain to think of any way to get out of what was obviously not an ideal situation.  
    “Whitney, don’t pout,” Grams said from her chair. “Reid’s a nice boy. It’ll be fun.”
    Fun? She didn’t really just say that? Living with a strange man would be anything but fun . I’d never shared my space with a man before, not even William.
    William.  
    Crap.  
    I pushed up to a sitting position again and narrowed my eyes at Grams, who was the picture of grandmotherly sweetness with her perfectly permed white hair and a lap full of yarn. She couldn’t fool me.
    “Grams?” I spoke slowly and watched for her reaction. “Does Reid moving in have anything to do with the fact that you don’t like William?”
    “William?” She tipped her head and met my gaze. “Remind me again—”
    “My boyfriend, Grams. You’ve met him a dozen times. We had dinner a few weeks ago. He brought you flowers.”  
    She raised her eyebrows and brought her hand to her chest. “Oh. Yes. William. He brought me daisies. I really prefer carnations,” Grams mused. “He teaches at that school you work at, doesn’t he?”  
    I had to give it to her. Her acting skills weren’t rusty at all.  
    “Right. William. My boyfriend,” I said. “Did you think at all about what he’s going to say when he finds out I’m going to be living with another man?”
    “Do you think he’ll mind?”  
    Almost for sure, I thought.

    ***

    I was saved from any further discussion about the whole roommate issue because Grams wanted to attend afternoon tea. So far, from what I could figure, Blissful Orchards had an ongoing schedule that revolved almost completely around eating. And since I had no desire to drink weak tea and eat digestive cookies, I begged off. Besides, I needed to figure out exactly what I was going to do about having a strange man move into my house. An incredibly attractive man, I couldn’t help the thought. I mean, I might be in a relationship, but I wasn’t blind. And he probably wasn’t all that strange, I reasoned. After