Here With Me Read Online Free Page A

sandwiches and fancy desserts. I’m a
waitress there.”
    “Seems like that might be hard work for a
woman who’s carrying a child.”
    “I was grateful for the job. But you’re
right,” she said, smiling at him. “It’s getting harder and harder
to lift those trays. Plus, I really need to find a position that
offers insurance for me and the baby.”
    It sounded like Melody intended to work soon
after the child’s arrival. He wondered how she would manage. She’d
be trying to juggle her new position, a new baby, and a sick
grandmother. “Is there anyone to help you at your
grandmother’s?”
    “Well, there’s Tilly and Louis. They’re my
aunt and uncle and they have lived with Grandmother for the past
seventeen years, ever since my grandfather died. They came for the
funeral, stayed for lunch, and then never left.”
    “They must have been good company for your
grandmother?”
    “Yes, well, let’s just say that generally I’m
glad they were there. There’s my great aunt Genevieve, too. She’s a
couple years younger than Grandmother. Very independent, sort of a
free spirit.”
    She talked fast but he thought he understood.
It was, however, damn hard to concentrate on what she was saying.
She was pure pleasure to watch. Her eyes seemed more blue than
violet this morning and her face glowed with the healthy sheen of
motherhood. Her bare arms were tanned from the sun and were sleek
with feminine muscle.
    When she gracefully sank to the ground next
to him, his heart skipped a beat until he realized that she wasn’t
fainting, that she was just getting comfortable. She lifted her
head and looked up at him. He felt awkward standing over her and
there was no good reason for her to strain her neck. He sank down
next to her.
    “You slept on the beach,” she accused.
    It didn’t seem to make much sense to deny it.
“I’ve slept in worse places,” he said.
    She looked concerned. “You’re lucky you
didn’t get mugged. The beach isn’t safe at night.” She stared at
her pink toes. “Do you. . .uh. . .live around here?”
    Not hardly. “No. Just passing through.”
    She stopped looking at her feet and instead
looked at him. Her scrutiny made him uncomfortable. He figured he
must be a sight. He had sand in his hair, stubble on his face, and
his clothes were ripped and torn.
    “If you need a ride somewhere,” she said
suddenly, surprising him, “I’d be glad to drop you off. Just tell
me where you want to go.”
    He had no where to go. He had to stay. Had to
wait for the footprints.
    Go. Go with her.
    “Did you hear that?” he asked.
    She blinked her pretty eyes. “What?”
    Christ. “Nothing,” he said. The damn wind was
talking to him, making his heart jump and his skin heat up.
    She needs you.
    He rubbed his temple. She was going home to
family. Her grandmother might not approve but she’d welcome her.
That’s what families did. “You get along with your grandmother?” he
asked.
    “Uh. . .yes,” she said, obviously confused at
his question. “She’s wonderful, the best really. She has. . .” she
paused and furiously blinked her eyes, “. . .cancer. My aunt says
it’s very serious. Her doctors say that chemo wouldn’t make a
difference. She’s had some radiation treatments but they didn’t
really help.”
    What she said made no sense to him but he
knew that whatever this cancer was, it must be a ravaging beast. He
hurt for her. Barely knew her, but still, hurt on her behalf. He
watched her grasp a handful of sand and hold the weight in the palm
of her hand. Then carefully, deliberately, she spread her fingers,
letting the grains fall through. “She’s going to slip away from
me,” she said, her voice heavy with emotion. “Like sand through my
fingers.”
    He’d slid through time, like sand through a
crack. Now he waited to be swept up by the wind, like wayward sand,
and carried home, left to settle back into a world he knew.
    His problem was that he’d never been
especially good