The Awakening Read Online Free Page A

stay away from that girl. She doesn’t need the likes of you making things any more difficult for her. And she’s a good girl, she is. She caused no trouble, worked hard, was never late. She asks nothing of no one. She didn’t deserve to get fired, and I told Jules just that. If it wasn’t for you and your temper, carrying on like you were, the tree would still be standing now. She will not be your plaything. You stay away from her and her child.”
    Andy was startled. No one had ever spoken to him that way, and he rather admired this old woman’s gumption, standing up to him, not tiptoeing around him as everyone did. “I am not interested in making her my plaything…”
    The old woman shrieked and cut him off. “Bullshit! Don’t think I haven’t seen both you and your dad eyeing up that poor girl every time she bent over, knelt down as if you were imagining all kinds of lewd things to do to her, and with your dad’s reputation with bedding women, and yours not much better. Stay away from her.”
    Andy blinked and didn’t have a chance to respond before she started shouting again.
    “I brought the girl here. She has more hard-working gumption in her little finger than you, and she struggles to give that little boy everything. How is she supposed to feed her child and keep a roof over her head now?” The cook untied her apron and yanked off the net on her head, tossing it on the roast on the counter.
    “Aida, where are you going?” Jules asked as the cook brushed past her, yanking open a cupboard door and pulling out her purse and coat.
    “I quit.”
    “Mr. Friessen, stop her. Your mother has guests arriving in two hours, and I’ll not be the one telling her the cook quit!” Jules was wringing her hands frantically.
    “Aida, wait.” Andy followed the cook out the back door, where she was walking with her head high toward the stables, where the staff parked their cars out of sight. She ignored Andy, and he was surprised at the elderly lady’s speed.
    “You ever stop to think of the repercussions before you do something, Andy Friessen? Your father doesn’t.”
    Several of the hired hands lingered outside and turned their heads as Aida’s loud voice carried.
    “Aida, please stop. You’re right.” For some reason Andy couldn’t explain, he didn’t want this old woman to hate him, and when she stared at him with bloodshot brown eyes, that was exactly what he saw. “Don’t quit. The reason I came back to talk to Jules about Laura is because I picked her up on the side of the road while she was walking, and I drove her and her son home. She didn’t deserve to get fired, and I told my mother that.”
    The cook stopped, clutching her purse and coat primly. She stared up at Andy. A short, squat woman just over five feet tall, she didn’t come close to topping his chest, but, for the first time, Andy truly felt threatened.
    “Laura should have her job back. Get it for her, and I’ll come back.”
    Andy blew out a sharp breath. “I’ll find her another job, somewhere else. She shouldn’t work for my mother. She’s not a nice woman.”
    Aida glared at him. “And where would she find this other job? On her back?”
    “No. I’ll find her a decent job in town. I don’t know where yet, but I will, I promise. Just please stay.”
    “And you’ll stay away from her?” Aida asked.
    “I am not my father, and I already told you I wouldn’t mistreat Laura. She didn’t deserve what happened this morning.” Andy knew he hadn’t answered her question, and by the way she watched him and then ran her sharp gaze down his chest and back up to his face, he knew she was deciding.
    “Fine. By the end of the day, you have a job for her.” The cook stalked back toward the house. “And don’t think I don’t know you didn’t agree to stay away from Laura. But heed me: If I hear you’re trying to play with that girl, I will call you out.” The cook never looked back.
    “Aida,” Andy said, and she stopped