Window on Yesterday Read Online Free Page A

her head as if dazed. “I mean—Sean Halloran? “
    “I think,” Karla said coolly, “what our babbling friend here is trying to say is— Sean Halloran!” she finished in a very un-Karla-like yelp.
    Alycia raised her eyes as if beseeching help from above. “Have we now established the fact that, yes, indeed, the illustrious, the famous, the world-renowned Sean Halloran will be here for dinner this very evening?” Placing her hands on her neatly rounded hips, Alycia glanced from Karla to Andrea.
    “She’s not kidding.” A horrified look replaced Andrea’s stunned expression as she glanced around the spacious living room that extended from the modern kitchen. “This place is a disaster!” She was whirling into action before the last word was out of her mouth.
    Alycia and Karla watched their roommate in arrested fascination until, pausing mid-flurry, Andrea demanded, “Well, why are you two just standing there?” She waved her arms wildly. “We can’t even think of allowing Sean Halloran to see this cluttered mess!” Her eyes were wide and imploring. “Will you get it in gear?”
    “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Karla groaned.
    “There’s no time, Andrea,” Alycia said, smiling with amused understanding of her compulsively neat friend. “He’s parking the car right now and will be here in a few minutes.” A frown drew her eyebrows together as she glanced around the room. “Besides which, the place really doesn’t look all that cluttered.” And in fact it didn’t, if one was willing to overlook the textbooks piled haphazardly on every horizontal surface.
    “That’s not important, anyway,” Karla said, waving her hand impatiently to indicate the room. “What I want to know is, how did this happen? I mean, where did you meet him?” She threw up her hands. “You left here only six hours ago. How ...” Her voice trailed away at the unmistakable sound of a male tread on the stairs.
    “Oh, gosh, it’s him!” Andrea moaned, frantically plumping the toss pillows on the sofa.
    Spinning around, Alycia headed for the door. “I’ll explain everything later,” she promised, drawing a deep breath and squaring her shoulders before pulling the door open.
    “Hi.”
    One soft, deep-voiced word was all that was required to set Alycia’s pulses thumping out in a jungle rhythm; the smile that accompanied the word had her nerve endings vibrating to the beat.
    “Hi.” Her response was expelled on a whispery puff of uneven breath.
    “May I come in?” Sean’s smile grew into a sensuous invitation.
    “Wh ... what? Oh!” Alycia blinked and stepped back. “Yes, of course.” Her cheeks growing warm, she swung the door wide. “Come in and meet my friends.”
    “Thank you.” Sean stepped into the room, his smile slanting at the scene that met his gaze.
    Caught in flight, Andrea stood poised like a startled doe, her beautiful hazel eyes wide in disbelief as she stared at Sean. Her slender arms were laden with books.
    “It’s the profile!” Andrea finally managed the soft exclamation.
    Sean’s expectant expression went momentarily blank, “I beg your pardon?”
    “Damned if it isn’t,” Karla responded, in a dry, if obviously surprised, tone.
    Sean shot a glance at Alycia, who shrugged, as if to say “who knows” before switching her exasperated gaze to her friends.
    Andrea stood as if frozen to the floor, her delighted stare riveted to Sean’s face.
    Karla stood at the kitchen table, her expression alert, one hand gripping the pale winter tomato she’d just plucked from the grocery bag Alycia had brought. She raised an eyebrow coolly at Alycia and murmured chidingly, “So, get on with it.”
    Alycia made the introductions briefly while relieving Sean of the pastry box he held in one hand and the paper bag he was clutching in the other. The formalities over with, she took his heavy thigh-length jacket while he tugged rugged boots from his feet. After tossing the boots next to Alycia’s, Sean