Blind Faith by Kimberley Reeves Read Free Book Online

wounds would be counterproductive , and letting Will see just how ugly those wounds were would only encourage his pity, and that was something she simply couldn’t bear.
                                                                                           ***
    Will noticed it right away.   Whatever bond they’d shared the night before had vanished with the morning sun and it hit him like a physical blow .  H e’d been so sure things would be different between them.   He’d swallowed his pride for her, told her that embarrassing story about Melinda Sue because he knew it would make her laugh, and now Serena was behaving as if they were practically strangers.  
    Oh, she was pleasant enough when she joined him in the kitchen for breakfast, but it seemed forced, guarded, as if she had drawn a boundary line in their relationship that she’d forbidden herself to cross.   Even Rufus seemed a little leery of him, which only reinforced his belief Serena was stressing about something.   The dog was extremely sensitive to her moods and it hadn’t taken Will long to realize he could pick up more about what Serena was feeling from Rufus than he could from her.
    “I’m not much of a cook,” he said as he cleared away his breakfast dishes, “but if you’re feeling brave, I think I c an manage to grill a few steaks for dinner tonight.”
    “It’s very nice of you to offer but I…uh…I’m meeting a friend for dinner so I’m afraid you’re on your own tonight.”
    “Oh.   Tomorrow then.   I’ll even stop at the store and get the makings for a salad.”
    “I’m sorry, Will, tomorrow is out too.   I promised my parents I would have dinner with them.”   She rose from the table and carried her coffee cup and plate to the sink.   “Actually, I’ll probably spend the day over there so you’ll have the house to yourself.”
    Will finished drying the cup he’d used and put it in the cupboard then propped himself against the counter, studying the faint lines of tension on Serena’s face.   He wasn’t fooled for a minute , but if she wanted to pretend they hadn’t shared something special last night there wasn’t much he could do.   Still, he couldn’t let Serena retreat to that solitary place she’d kept herself in for the past seven years or they would be back to square one.   He waited until she finished cleaning her dishes and had gone to stand by the backdoor while Rufus did his business before moving away from the counter to stand a few feet behind her.
    “So, who’s your friend?”
    “My friend?”
    “The one you’re going to dinner with tonight,” Will reminded her.
    Serena’s shoulder’s visibly stiffened.   “Oh…she works at the school with me.   I don’t think you know her,” she added hastily.
    “I might.   I did grow up in this town, you know.”
    “She’s not from around here and doesn’t know very many people so I thought it would be nice to have a girl’s night out and make her feel welcome.”
    “That’s very thoughtful of you.   Which restaurant are you going to?”
    “We…haven’t really decided .  I was thinking Mancini’s or maybe Cordova’s.”   Serena opened the back door and called for Rufus.   “It’s about time, you silly dog,” she said as Rufus brushed by her.   “I have to run or I’ll be late.”
    She scurried past him before Will could ask any more questions, not that she would have given him a straight answer anyway.   He’d bet his right arm she wasn’t meeting anyone for dinner, and he was fairly certain her parents weren’t expecting her tomorrow either.   Why was she fabricating stories instead of just saying she didn’t want him interfering with her life?   Or maybe in a roundabout way, that’s the message she was trying to convey.   It didn’t really matter.   Will had no intention of letting Serena push him out of her life.  
    True, she was making it