Moondance Read Online Free Page B

only that, but the tenderness — their hushed voices and
    the shriek of a horn as a green Chevy sped past her. A gaunt-looking blond leaned out the window, giving her the finger.
    She bolted alert, and jerked her steering wheel. She was in the oncoming lane. When she hit the brakes, her tires screeched and her world slowed, spinning sideways, backwards and coming to a stop with a lurch, three feet from a bridge overlooking a dried riverbed. Fuck, that was close .
    She sat silently, the blood thumping painfully in her ears. The green Chevy was gone. After ten minutes, which felt like thirty, she tried the ignition. Nothing.
    Her heart burned and anger flashed not ready can’t and she hit the steering wheel, accidentally blowing the horn. She liked the sound and leaned into it again.
    The angry horn rang in her ears. She looked around, shaking. Learn to read a map, why don’t you? You’re a bright girl. What, and take all the fun out of it? Kevin and she bantering.
    Kevin’s mouth between Tori’s legs .
    Tears welled up, and anger. She struggled to regain control. She was on a detour, though she didn’t recognize the road. It was a two-lane highway, lined with deciduous forest. A back road. No detour signs in sight. And no traffic. She was lost.
    Ten minutes went by. No one passed. She decided to walk in the direction she’d been driving. The sun was lower in the sky and the air was cooler now. After twenty minutes, a car approached from the opposite direction. It stopped. A blue Lexus. The man driving opened his window and leaned out.
    “Do you need a lift?” He wasn’t much older than she. He had fine brown hair, wire-rim glasses and a small nose. As he stopped talking, his mouth turned up as if she amused him.
    She shook her head, her heart pounding. She wanted him to go away.
    “Is there a gas station this way?” Her words sounded hollow to her, her tongue thick.
    “About a mile, over the hill,” he said. “I can give you a lift if you want.” His voice was soft. He looked at her for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else.
    She averted her eyes, shook her head and walked on. She heard crunching gravel as he pulled away.

chapter 4

    MICHAEL FOSTER PULLED AWAY from the woman walking by the side of the road slowly. He looked in the rear view mirror before he accelerated, just in case she changed her mind.
    The woman was arrestingly tall, with fair skin, and thick red-gold hair, a color Michael had never seen before. Her round blue eyes gazed at a place just beyond him. He had the feeling that she might walk right by the gas station down the road because of what was behind those eyes: something that had nothing to do with her car breaking down.
    He was curious about her and could tell she probably needed someone to talk to. Today, if she had allowed him, he may have given her a ride all the way home.
    Even if it took the rest of the day.
    Michael was on his way to his in-laws’ estate in rural Caledon, an hour and a half from Toronto. He and his wife Lara had agreed to meet there. After a sumptuous dinner, a few glasses of wine, and cocktail party chat, they would calmly and rationally tell her parents that they had decided to separate.
    Why had he agreed to meet Lara today? Why put himself through this? He had asked himself that a hundred times, and the reasons were simple: because the Bradshaws had been the only family he had for the last fifteen years, because Lara had asked him, because they had always made major decisions together — that was part of the plan. Most of all, because he still loved her, and he didn’t know what else to do.
    He drove along the small highway lined with green fields, trees on gently rolling hills, and miles of well-kept white fences. With his window open, he could smell the sweet scents of hay and manure. Horse country.
    The sun was coming out again. It was so beautiful here, so peaceful. When the leaves were turning color, Caledon was nothing short of spectacular.