Sweet Gone South Read Online Free Page A

her shoulder with a puzzled look.
    “I’m coming,” he said.
If only.
    Lanie walked (on those legs) toward one of the two doors down the hall from her office. “The other room is a storeroom for the shop,” she said as she unlocked the door nearest the back of the building. “This is my personal storage and there’s plenty of space if you need some.” Inside, he saw a bicycle, a treadmill, and a number of labeled storages boxes neatly stacked on industrial shelves. Was that a potter’s wheel?
    Lanie gestured to the corner where a commercial washer and dryer stood. “You might as well know before we go upstairs that there are no washer and dryer connections in the apartment, but you can use these to do your laundry.”
    Laundry? Of course. He hadn’t thought of laundry — how stupid was that? Lots of his clothes went to the dry cleaners, but not everything. And Emma sometimes messed up three outfits a day. Little socks, pajamas, underwear, towels, sheets — it all went in the hamper and appeared again clean and folded. Had he thought it was magic? Good God. What else had he not thought of?
    “I’m sorry,” Lanie said sheepishly. “I know it’s not convenient but the machines are high capacity and the cost of using them is included in the rent.”
    She had mistaken his silence for disapproval. A worried frown appeared between her eyes. Lanie wanted to rent this apartment to him — badly.
    “The laundry situation is fine,” he said.
    “Really?” She wrinkled her brow a little more.
    “Let’s go upstairs.” He was not in the business of giving reassurance — especially since he didn’t know if he even wanted the place.
    She pointed to the back door. “There’s a covered parking pad out back. I park there, but there’s another space for you.”
    Across the hall, next to the kitchen, was a large room alive with activity. A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties sat at a computer and three teenagers were packing boxes to be shipped. None of them were dressed in bizarre candy print clothes. Lanie stuck her head in the room.
    “Hey, everybody. How’s it going, Allison?”
    “Great.” The woman at the computer looked up. “Today’s orders are gone and we’re getting a head start on tomorrow’s.”
    “Got everything you need?” Lanie asked.
    “I think so.” She studied the monitor and scrolled down. “Uh oh. We just got an order for twenty pounds of peanut brittle. If you can get it done, it can go out tomorrow.”
    “No problem,” Lanie said cheerfully.
    Peanuts. Luke shuddered. “You’re going to make twenty pounds of peanut brittle before tomorrow?” he asked.
    “Of course. We do a big Internet business and I don’t make the candy until it’s ordered. It has to be fresh. I promise next day shipping on orders that come in before noon, so we’re not obligated to get that order out tomorrow. But a happy customer is a repeat customer.”
    “Not in my line of work,” Luke said. “My customers are rarely happy and they almost always repeat.”
    Lanie threw back her head and her laughter rang out like schoolyard magic. It had been a long time since he’d made anyone laugh, at least not a natural laugh. “Maybe you should give them candy. Allison can talk to you about a corporate discount.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    Lanie opened the stairwell door across the hall from the shipping room. “Are you ready to go up?” She mounted the stairs and looked over her shoulder. “The stairwell is fireproof. My grandmother had just started renovating when she got sick. I finished it. Everything is up to code.”
    Lanie was just enough ahead of him that her ass stayed level with his eyes. He might have found it appealing if candy hadn’t been dancing across it. Okay, so it
was
appealing. Not for him, but very appealing. He was grateful when they landed in the hallway of the second story and were at the same level again. He hadn’t noticed before that Lanie was so tall. If she’d