Vivian Read Online Free PDF Page B

amazing when he was in a classroom.
    As he joked with them and they giggled, she saw a light in her girls’ eyes she hadn’t seen in awhile. It tugged at her heart.
    When he turned to her and those brown eyes were soft and inviting that goo began to puddle in her belly again. Then the corner of his mouth turned up and her heart lodged in her throat. Only once had a man smiled at her like that and the world stopped. But it was happening again, only this time she was much older and so much wiser.
    However, when he gave a nod toward the door, she couldn’t help it. She followed like the lost puppy she was. There was a deep urge to get to spend this forbidden hour with him at his house. She was going to hell for this.

Chapter Five
     
    It wasn’t until the moment they walked in the door that Clayton remembered the sink full of dishes. He winced.
    At least he’d taken a moment during the day to tidy up the living room and the bathroom was clean.
    As Vivian and her girls pulled up, Stephanie and Charlotte began their assault on his ears. But as he watched them jump up and down as Vivian unbuckled Emma and Ava it brought a certain joy to him. They loved those girls and that excitement was contagious.
    The moment Emma and Ava ran through the door, the four of them were off to the bedroom where he could already hear talk of the many fairy tale items strewn all over the floor.
    Vivian walked toward the door, her arms full of jackets, holding the box of pizza from the restaurant. “They forget when the sun goes down it gets cold.”
    “ I forget that too,” he joked as he stepped aside and let her into the house.
    There was always that uncomfortable moment when someone walked into his house and looked around.
    “ The girls are all in the bedroom comparing toys.”
    She nodded. “I’m sure my girls are loving that. Most of their toys were destroyed in the tornado.”
    There was an immediate reaction that spiked inside of him and he reached a hand out to her shoulder. “Your house was destroyed in that tornado?”
    “ The old tree out front blew into the house. So it wasn’t hit by the tornado, but damage was done.”
    He cupped her shoulder in his hand and left it there. “I’m so sorry.”
    “ Don’t be. It was a horrible little house full of bad memories. Sam made sure we had a place to live.”
    He let his hand fall from her shoulder and brush down her arm. “He’s a good man.”
    “ The best.” She looked around again. “Can I set these somewhere?”
    “ Oh, yes.” He shut the front door and took the jackets from her. “I’ll set them here.” He placed them on a chair in the corner where he would usually sit and read while the girls watched TV. “Please excuse the mess too. I’ve been busy with my classroom, not my house.”
    “ Don’t apologize on my behalf.”
    He wasn’t very good at entertaining. “I’m going to make a pot of coffee. I’ll take the pizza and put it in the refrigerator. Unless you want a slice now.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not really hungry and it looks like the girls are otherwise occupied at the moment.”
    He took the box from her. “Make yourself at home.”
     
    Vivian watched him hurry away. It wasn’t very often she made someone so nervous.
    The term make yourself at home was always odd to her. The house was small and old. It would need a lot of updating over the next year, but it was cozy, she thought.
    The shelf where the TV sat looked to be a handmade shelf. It had detailed carvings running down it and was beautifully stained.
    She couldn’t help but be drawn to it and run her fingers down the carvings. As she did her eyes drew to the photos on the shelves. A mass of pictures of Stephanie and Charlotte over the past few years stared back at her. But what she noticed was they were all photos with a woman—Linda.
    Vivian’s heart stalled with a giant kick that physically hurt. None of the pictures of Charlotte were current. In the center of all the frames