Your Dream and Mine Read Online Free Page A

the open door. She looked past the porch to freshly mown grass and ancient oak trees. “It’s a huge yard.”
    “It looks even bigger when you’re mowing it, and the acorns are a real pain when they fall.” Trace flung words over his shoulder. “I’ll provide the mower, plus knock some off the rent if you want to mow the grass yourself.”
    “Fair enough. Does your other tenant mow?” she asked.
    “I live in the other half.”
    For the second time that day, Thomasina’s gaze strayed to his ringless left hand. “With your family?”
    “Just me,” he said, and turned away again.
    Thomasina tracked with her glance a droplet of water dripping from a springy brown curl. It disappeared over the curve of his ear. It was a well-shaped ear, a little pink on the ridge where the skin had burned and peeled.
    “Utilities are included in the rent.”
    Thomasina followed as he moved toward the enclosed staircase leading to the second story. She tracked the water droplet as it fell from his earlobe and slid down his neck. He paused on the bottom step and turned.
    “The hot-water heater needs some adjusting. Comes out of the spigot hot enough to make coffee.”
    “Convenient,” she said.
    “Unless you forget and scald your hide stepping in the shower.”
    “Duly noted.” As was the small scar at the cleft of his chin and the straight nose anchoring his hazy blue eyes. His cheekbones were prominent and freckled beneath adeep tan. She noticed the insignia on his work shirt. “You work at the car plant in Bloomington?”
    “Second shift.” He started up the stairs.
    “No wonder you asked about kids and dogs. You sleep days.”
    “Yes.”
    “Me, too, since I started caring for Milt.”
    “Are you out there every night?”
    “I work for Picket Fence Private Nurses. It’s pretty much their call.”
    Trace stopped on the landing. “The bathroom’s through the bedroom there. The other door is a walk-in closet.”
    Thomasina sailed past him and flung her arms wide. “Bed here, dresser there, bookcases flanking the window. I wonder if I have enough furniture.”
    A smile tugged at his mouth at her unbridled enthusiasm. He could have predicted that the dormer window would draw her.
    “What a pretty view!” She turned as she spoke. “Are those train tracks I see cutting across open country?”
    Trace nodded. The countryside as seen from the upstairs was old hat to him. She, on the other hand, was a fresh look. A cloud of dark bangs spilled over a wide forehead and ended at delicately arched brows. Her heart-shaped face ended with a dimpled chin. Her eyes were so dark, he had mistaken them for black. They weren’t. Bittersweet chocolate came closer. Her hair, loosely held at the back of her head with a butterfly clip, was equally dark and rich. One escaped wisp clung damply to her temple.
    “Take your time.” Trace shoved a hand in his pocket and went downstairs to wait while Thomasina checked out the bathroom.
    The walls were tiled in white. A modern shower had been installed inside a refurbished claw-foot tub. A windowoverlooked the town if you cared to peer out while you bathed. The closet was deep and spacious. Delighted with everything about the place, she decided to give small-town life a whirl.
    Trace was waiting for her in the laundry room. She looked past the porch and over the green lawn. “You have central air, don’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “July. That’s a little late for planting flowers, I suppose.”
    “Then you’re taking it?”
    “I believe I will. Do you need references?”
    “Milt and Mary speak well of you. That’s good enough for me.”
    “Is it all right if I move in right away? The air-conditioning has been broken in my third-floor flat for a week and a half,” she added. “I’d pitch a tent under a tree for some cool air.”
    “It’s ready to go. No reason you shouldn’t move in.”
    “Where do I sign?”
    “The lease? There isn’t one.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “No. I