Secrets of the Heart Read Online Free Page A

for the old folks to pass, then held the door open for Ross.
    “Okay, Romeo, your Juliet is waiting.”
    Inside the store, Maureen and Kathleen O’Malley were behind the counter, checking groceries and adding up totals for customers. Kathleen happened to look up. She smiled when she saw the boys, then went back to her work.
    “Did you see that?” Ross whispered. “She smiled at me!”
    Ross went to the shelf that held the school supplies and picked up two pencils. Eoin followed him to the line in front of Kathleen’s part of the counter. There were five people ahead of them.
    Ross fidgeted, first standing on one foot, then the other.
    “I think her mother’s line is going down faster,” Eoin whispered from the side of his mouth.
    “If Mrs. O’Malley gets done ahead of Kathleen, I’ll just tell her I need to talk to her daughter,” Ross said.
    “Good boy! Hang right in there, Romeo!”
    Ross gave his friend a sick grin.
    Soon, a woman with an armload of items drew up and smiled at the boys. “You can move over in front of Mrs. O’Malley,” she said. “Her line is shorter, and you’ve been waiting longer than I have.”
    “Oh, it’s all right, ma’am,” Ross said. “You go ahead. We’ll wait in this line.”
    “Such nice young men,” said the woman, and moved ahead.
    Five more minutes brought the two boys to the counter.
    “Hello, Ross,” Kathleen said with a smile.
    The boy’s heart was beating his rib cage unmercifully “H-hello, Kathleen.”
    She then flashed a pearly smile at MacNeill. “Hello, Eoin. How’s Doreen?”
    “She’s fine. Just fine.”
    Kathleen nodded, then looked down at the two pencils Ross laid on the counter. “That’s all you need, Ross?” she asked.
    “Uh…yes. Just these pencils…as far as what I need to buy. I, uh—”
    “That will be five cents,” she said, marking it down on her pad.
    Ross placed a nickel on the counter. His lungs felt as if they were being crushed. Pulling hard for air, he said, “There’s…ah…there’s something else, Kathleen, I—”
    “Something you couldn’t find on the shelves?”
    “Oh, ah…no. All I need to buy are the pencils. There’s…there’s something I would like to ask you.”
    Kathleen picked up the nickel and dropped it into the cash drawer. “All right.”
    While Ross labored to find courage, Kathleen put the pencils in a small paper bag and laid it before him. “Yes, Ross?”
    “This has nothing to do with the store, here…I…ah—”
    “Yes?”
    “You know Marybeth Monaghan.”
    “Of course.”
    “Well, she’s giving a party at her house for all the students in the senior class on Friday night of next week, and…and I’d like to know if you would go with me to the party.”
    Kathleen tilted her head and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Ross. I’m dating someone rather steadily right now. I appreciate your offer, but…well, you know how it is.”
    Ross Tralee did his best to keep his countenance from falling as he said, “Oh, I…I wasn’t aware you were dating someone. I haven’t seen you with any of the fellas at school, so I naturally assumed—”
    “He’s not someone from school,” she said in a soft tone.
    “Oh. I see. Well, you can’t blame a fella for trying.”
    “It was very nice of you, Ross,” she said.
    Ross nodded silently and headed for the door.
    “Bye, Kathleen,” Eoin said, lifting his hand in a little wave.
    When they were outside the store, Ross wiped the sweat from his brow and said, “Well, this Romeo sure didn’t land his Juliet.”
    “I’m sorry, pal,” Eoin said, his eyes trailing down the street. “Hey, here comes Hennie Killanin. Maybe she’d go with you to the party!”
    The girl was still out of earshot.
    “Oh, sure,” said Ross. “That’s what I need. Take a religious fanatic to the party. Hennie’s a nice girl and all that, but she’d be telling everybody at the party they need to be saved, and she’d be talking about Jesus and all that holy