Forever by Linda Cassidy Lewis Read Free Book Online

have thought otherwise?
    After Annie served the customers, she glanced over to the corner table. Tom was gone. A moment of surprise washed away in a flood of relief. Closing her eyes, she relived the passion of the brief second vision. The woman had wanted to be with the man, knowing she shouldn’t. Knowing the danger in it. Knowing but wanting his love more than she feared the consequences. Flushed with desire held over from the vision, Annie admitted she was too close to feeling the same about Tom.
    The truth was she agreed to his lie about the second vision because she’d blurred the distinction between Tom and the man in the visions. The emotions she felt for that man had spilled over into reality. How else could she think she was in love with a man she knew nothing about? That was crazy thinking. She would not allow herself to fall in love with a total stranger. She would not .
    Until she felt the pain of her nails digging into her palms, Annie was unaware she’d clenched her fists.
     
    Smoking a cigarette and trying to clear his mind, Tom stood outside the theater for several minutes. This was not going the way he’d planned.
    (What exactly had you planned, Tom?)
    Nothing! He had planned nothing. He was like an idiot in gasoline-soaked clothes playing with matches.
    (Walk away, Tom old man, just walk away.)
    Annie hadn’t been at the theater when he’d stopped by that afternoon. That was his out. He should have left it at that. But no. He’d gone home from work, showered, ate supper with his wife and daughter, and then told them a bold-faced lie about needing to have drinks with a prospective client. What the hell was he doing here? He should be at home.
    (Walk away!)
    Ignoring the sane voice of his conscience, Tom dropped his cigarette to the pavement, ground it under his foot, and walked back into the theater.
     
    Despite the relief Annie felt when she thought Tom had left, her excitement returned as she watched him walk toward her.
    “Needed a smoke,” he said.
    She said nothing.
    “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I don’t think I can just forget about it, you know?”
    Annie nodded. “You lied about nothing happening this time. So did I.”
    “Yeah, I lied . . . and that’s a bad way to start out.”
    Though his last two words, implying they had a future together, thrilled her she kept her voice even. “I don’t think I introduced myself,” she said. “I’m Annie Garrett.”
    “Well, Annie Garrett, how late do you work tonight?”
    “I’m scheduled to close, but if you can hang around, I’ll be free to talk a lot of the time.”
    “Good enough,” he said. “I’ll just sit here and drink enough coffee to keep me awake for a week.”
    With each bit of conversation they exchanged as she worked, her defenses weakened. When she was able to sit with him for a while, she lost herself in the warm resonance of his voice, and the last of her resolve melted away.
    “I’ve worked in construction since I was sixteen.” He grinned. “I think I’m getting pretty good at it.”
    “I used to have a better job than this. I was in line to become the secretary to the president of First Bank,” Annie told him, “but I had to quit.”
    “Why?”
    She shook her head. “It’s a long story.” She wasn’t ready to talk about her disastrous marriage, yet, but the thought of marriage reminded her to check his left hand. Although she tried to be subtle about it, Tom must have followed her glance.
    “I’ve been married for twenty-three years,” he said, “and I have a daughter. She’ll be going off to college in the fall.”
    He didn’t name his wife or daughter. Did that mean they weren’t important to him? Earlier, when he suggested this was the start of a relationship, her heart had done a little somersault of joy. Now, with his admission of marriage, her heart turned leaden. Was it subconscious or deliberate that she’d neglected to look for a ring before now?
    He’d asked