Better Than Before (RightMatch.com Trilogy) by Kathryn Shay Read Free Book Online

coffee, he said, “Tell me about school. You’re almost done, right?”
    “Yes, I’m finishing the last of my coursework now. I’ve applied for several teaching jobs for the fall. I loved my kindergarteners when I taught all those years ago.”
    “You quit to have kids?”
    “Uh-huh. And enough about me. Tell me about your business.”
    “Not much to tell. I build things.”
    She gestured to his hands. “I noticed no calluses. How come?”
    Shit! “I, um, own a contracting business and do mostly supervisory work now, not manual labor.”
    “Ah. Do you miss it, working with your hands?”
    “Can’t say that I do.”
    A baby two tables away laughed out loud, distracting Annie. “Isn’t she cute?”
    Spence tracked her gaze. “Not as cute as my brother’s three-month-old.”
    “Oh, wow. That’s young. I loved when my kids were that age, but Keith didn’t want much to do with them until they got older. Do you babysit?”
    As he gazed at the beauty before him, Spence thought about his bet with Cole. Because he’d met with Annie, he’d be sentenced to watching his niece for a month. “Um, not much, but I’ll be doing more.”
    That, however, wasn’t an issue for him.
    Being in this lovely woman’s presence was. She made Spence feel good. Her naturalness, her simplicity, her wholesomeness, he guessed, refreshed him.
    Still, he was sure he could walk away.
    If he wanted to.
    o0o
    “This is decadent.” Annie licked the chocolate–ice cream cone with fervor. It was smooth and sweet. “I love Abbott’s.”
    They were seated at an outdoor table in front of one of Rockland’s signature ice cream stores, the sun beaming down from a cloudless sky.
    The very attractive man eating a vanilla cone smiled over at her. His eyes were almost navy blue, deepened by the color of his shirt. His dark blond hair was short; he had a strong nose and a beautiful mouth, which kept drawing her attention. He also had a magnetism about him that hadn’t come across in email. His demeanor had startled her at first.
    “Do I have ice cream on my chin?”
    ”No, sorry I was staring. After weeks of talking online, it’s…fun to watch you.”
    “I feel the same.”
    They finished their cones and he suggested a walk down Park Avenue. Annie enjoyed browsing in the novelty shops and observing the people out to enjoy the spring day. She stopped to pet a cute little Yorkshire terrier and dodged skateboarders. They walked by Julia’s Café, not far from where they’d had brunch. “This is where I took the new job,” she said.
    “Hmm. I hope future nights are better for you than the last one.” After they reached a small park with a playground, Spence wandered over to a bench. He patted the spaced next to him. “Come sit.”
    Joining him, Annie shifted on her seat. “We haven’t talked about our pasts much. I’m embarrassed about what I shared online. I was just so damn angry.”
    “You have nothing to be embarrassed about! His actions were inexcusable, Annie.”
    “But it’s so us.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I-it’s hard to talk about.”
    He took her hand and she found comfort in the gesture. No man had held her hand in two years and she missed the casual touches. “I imagine it is.”
    “Especially since you had such a happy marriage. Your heart probably broke when your wife died.”
    “Some bad things have happened to all of us.”
    “Okay, here’s the short version. I met Keith in college. I was on a scholarship to Amherst and he went to Harvard. It was stupid to get involved with someone so out of my league, but I was flattered by his attention, and honestly, I believe he really did care about me. He knew I was poor, but it didn’t seem to matter. We fell in love, got married and decided to settle in his home town.” She shrugged. “I felt a little like Cinderella.”
    “You weren’t from Rockland?”
    “No. Massachusetts.”
    “So your mother moved here, too?”
    “Yes. We bought her a small