Daffodils in Spring Read Online Free Page A

“He’s got a lot of gumption and he’s not afraid of hard work. He’ll be like his daddy, a good family man. Jazleen is lucky in that.”
    â€œNathan is off to college next year,” Calla explained.
    The older woman eyed her skeptically. “That’s what you’re hoping,” she said. “But he seems mighty sweet on her.”
    Calla shook her head. “No, it’s just a passing thing. It’s not serious between them.”
    Gerty Cleveland didn’t believe a word of that.
    Calla left the woman’s apartment and went straight to the supermarket to do her weekly shopping. The day had gotten significantly colder, but she found the chilly wind invigorated her.
    It was too bad about Jazleen, she thought to herself. The girl might be stuck-up and rude, but she was still a girl. And someone Nathan seemed to think was special. But if she was pinning her hopes on snagging Calla’s son, she was doomed to be disappointed. Jazleen would end up like a thousand other girls. Working at a menial job as she struggled to raise kids she could hardly support.
    Calla decided it would be her goal to make sure that none of those kids were on the way before she could get Nathan safely off to college.
    By the time she’d made it home from the store and put the groceries away, she was tired. The house was cozy and warm. She settled herself on the couch with a book but hadn’t read more than a half-dozen pages when her eyelids began to get heavy. She set her book open upside down on her chest and lay back on a throw pillow to catch a quick twenty winks. The glare from the reading lamp seemed to permeate her eyelids, so she switched it off and drifted into a comfortable nap.
    Voices from the kitchen awakened her sometime later.
    â€œLet me fix you something to warm you up.”
    â€œJust wrap me in your arms—that gets me about as warm as I need.”
    Nathan chuckled, a low masculine sound.
    The ensuing silence spoke for itself. They both seemed a little breathless when the conversation resumed.
    â€œWhat do you want to do?” Nathan asked.
    â€œUh…let’s just sit together and talk,” Jazleen replied.
    He chuckled. “You haven’t had enough talk from me already? I’ve been at it for hours.”
    â€œI love to hear you talk,” she said.
    â€œIt’s crazy how we never run out of things to say.”
    â€œYeah, strange,” she agreed. “But in a good way.”
    â€œThat is, until I start talking about school, and then you just say nothing at all.”
    Jazleen hesitated. “It’s a part of your life that I can’t share.”
    â€œOf course you can,” Nathan said. “We can share the fun of my senior year and graduation and me going off to college.”
    â€œI want to be happy for you,” Jazleen said. “But the truth is, I don’t want you to go off to college. If you go away, I won’t have anybody.”
    â€œIt’s not like it’s forever. And if I get into Northwestern, it’s not that far away.”
    She made a huff of disagreement. “You might as well be going to the moon. If you really care about me like you say, you won’t take one step off Canasta Street.”
    Calla couldn’t keep listening. It was wrong to eavesdrop on Nathan, even by accident. She knew she wasn’t supposed to hear any of what they’d said.
    She reached up and turned the light back on. But instead of reading, she set her book on the coffee table and got up and left the room. She didn’t speak to them or acknowledge that she’d heard them talking. But they knew.
    It had been easy to walk away from the conversation. Less so to get it out of her head. And along with it came other voices.
    â€œShe’s got your Nathan wrapped around her little finger.”
    â€œHe’s mighty sweet on that girl.”
    In the following weeks at work, Calla worried about it. Evenings