Unbreak My Heart (Childhood Sweethearts Reunited) Read Online Free Page B

over the edge. Surely, she wasn't still frightened? Although he wouldn't put it past her. She had such an active imagination. Kate had always been different. It made some people uncomfortable, but he loved the way her mind worked. She had a unique way of looking at the world, very different from his. For him, that difference added another dimension to life.
    Andre rested a forearm on the handrail as he watched her and wondered again how she was coping financially. She'd avoided the question, which set warning bells ringing. If she didn't have any money, he certainly wasn't going to let her leave here. "Do you really have enough saved to live on, Kat? Even if you live in a caravan, you still have to eat."
    She gave him a falsely bright smile and he knew another diversionary tactic was coming. "You're such a snob. There's nothing wrong with a caravan."
    "I'm not a snob," he said, deciding to play along for a while. "I just like my home comforts, you know, running water, hot food, that sort of thing." He braced his hands on both railings so she couldn't pass. "You're avoiding the question." Kate glanced down at her feet then slowly raised her eyes to meet his, her expression so bleak it sent a flash of fear through him. He struggled to imagine what terrible thing she'd done to earn money.
    "I've been painting pet portraits," she murmured.
    "You've what?" His relief was so intense it hurt. He had to laugh to ease the tension. "No doubt this violates your artistic integrity."
    Her eyes narrowed. "You think it's funny, don't you."
    "No, I think it's enterprising. But you should see the look on your face. You had me imagining all sorts of things. What's so terrible about painting pet portraits?"
    "It's just, well…I don't know, embarrassing I suppose. And I have to work from photographs. No real artist paints from a photo. You lose perspective with a flat image."
    "Does it pay well?"
    "Pretty well."
    "Stop beating yourself up about it then. I'm proud of your ingenuity." She had always underestimated herself. She was brilliant at creative problem solving and coming up with original ideas. "You should have more faith in yourself."
    It probably didn't help that she'd been knocked back so much when she was young. Her parents had lived in a commune before they worked for Andre's grandfather, and other children picked on her because she was different. It still made him angry, but not as angry as he was with his own father for how he'd looked down on her. Or with himself for hurting her, but he quickly shut down that memory.
    Andre walked on, turning right at the gnarled old rhododendron bush that had once, long ago, hidden the entrance to their fort. Kate hurried to catch up.
    "Where are we going? There's nothing down here."
    He glanced over his shoulder. "Yes, there is. Think." Normally, he discouraged people from visiting his cottage. It was his sanctuary. But his heart rate picked up at the thought of showing Kate the place. It was years since they'd planned to renovate what had been little more than a heap of rocks. The sketches they'd drawn had been lost long ago, but he'd tried to stick to their vision.
    Would she remember the marriage stone they'd made all those years ago, when they were childishly certain they would be together for the rest of their lives? It had taken hours to chip their initials into the piece of granite with a hammer and chisel. Andre couldn't let all that work go to waste, so he'd laid the stone in the cottage wall as they'd planned. It had been a daft, sentimental thing to do. He was grateful the rose over the porch concealed it.
    They rounded a bend, and the path opened out into a clearing. Andre unlatched the small gate marked 'Private' that led into his garden and stepped aside for Kate to enter.
    ***
    Kate halted at the edge of a neatly trimmed lawn and stared at the cottage agog. It used to be tumbledown with huge holes in the roof and birds nesting under the eaves. Now it looked like a picture postcard.