Chance of Rain by Amber Lin Read Free Book Online Page B

answered she said, “Dr. Carmichael, please.”
    A few minutes later, the soothing tones of her grandmother’s doctor came on the line.
    “Hello. Natalie?”
    “Hi, yes. I was calling to see if maybe...if she’d been lucid today and maybe I could speak to her.”
    “She’s been sleeping for two hours,” Dr. Carmichael said gently.
    “Right.” She knew that. Her grandmother slept more these days and it was already so late.
    “Are you doing okay?”
    The doctor did more than care for her grandmother. She’d also been Natalie’s counselor for the first few months after Gram moved in.
    “I just wish I could know she was happy. Or...happy enough.”
    “Your grandmother is doing well for her condition. And I think, if she were lucid, she’d want to know the same thing about you. Is Natalie happy?”
    There was a question. “Happy enough.”
    She made her excuses after that, promising to sit down with Dr. Carmichael for a session the next time she visited Gram.
    The truth was, she didn’t know how to be happy. She could be friendly and cheerful, but those were surface feelings. She wanted something deeper, something that touched a chord inside her until she vibrated with the joy of it. Maybe she asked too much from life, but she’d seen that it was possible. Those glimpses refused to let her settle for less.
    Like laughing in the darkened diner with an old friend. Like tending to ducklings, an ordinary act that filled her heart to the brim.
    In her bedroom, she pulled a shoe box from beneath her nightstand. As she lifted the lid, the collection of newspaper clippings and photos fluttered from their pile. Some of them were from her and Gram, others about the people and events of the town. But buried within were articles she’d found about Sawyer. Commendations and awards. Only one had a picture of him. A small, grainy picture with smudging black ink. Strong, even features that could have been any sailor, except that she’d recognized him immediately.
    He stared solemnly at the camera. Unflinching, the way he faced everything. He thought of himself as an outsider, but he embodied every value of these hills. And Natalie held herself back from him for fear of rejection. A coward, really. She wouldn’t really deserve him unless she was willing to risk something. She couldn’t expect to have that joy if she wasn’t willing to reach for it.

Chapter Four
    Clouds hung heavy over the plains as Natalie drove out of Dearling’s city limits. Maybe she should turn around, but a whiff of the cherry pie from the passenger seat steeled her nerve. Besides, she had already changed into this cute sundress—sadly no longer weather appropriate—and refreshed her makeup after getting off at the diner.
    “Excuses,” she chided under her breath.
    One week. Seven days since he’d been in her apartment, since he’d propositioned her and she’d turned him away. Make sure he knows he’s welcome , Barry had said. And she’d done just the opposite.
    The only reason she knew he was still in town was because people told her about his trips to the hardware store, the lumberyard. He’d made it all the way around town and back without ever stopping at the diner again.
    She was shut out of his life again, only this time she’d been the one to close the door. So damn worried about being rejected that she’d rejected him.
    Her trusty old car whined as it rolled to a halt in the gravel driveway. A few drops splattered her window, distorting her view. White paint had faded to mottled gray, the green foliage like blue-green veins around a still heart. The house looked empty, ominous against the angry swaths of clouds. Her stomach fluttered with nerves that she preferred to attribute to the impending storm.
    Holding her skirt down against the wind, she carried the pie to the door. She knocked, but only the approaching rumble of thunder answered. “Sawyer? Are you in there?”
    Uneasy, she crossed the porch. Maybe he’d gone out to clean