From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone by Lorhainne Eckhart Read Free Book Online

a heavy sigh. “What do you want? Is it juice?” The thick tension buckled the air in this large square kitchen. Trying to figure out what this child wanted was exhausting and Emily just stared.
    The strange man, who now stood beside Emily, rested his large, dirty hands on his hips.
    Brad ignored both of them and grabbed Trevor’s arm, “Come here.” He pulled open the fridge door and Trevor practically dove in for the carton of eggs. His dad lifted him with one arm and pulled him out, closing the door. “No way, how about a cookie?”
    “Brad, lunch is almost ready. I just need to reheat the soup. Everything was ready before your box came. Oh sorry, I dropped it by the door.” Brad put Trevor down and he once again raced to the fridge and tried to pull it open, screeching at the top of his lungs. This kid was out of control. Brad scooped Trevor up and took a box of chocolate chip cookies out of the cupboard. Jackpot! Trevor stopped flailing and screaming, long enough to greedily cram a cookie into his mouth.
    “Uh sorry, at least he’s quiet and you can get lunch out.”
    Emily firmed her lips and crossed her arms. He gave in to this kid ; talk about reinforcing bad behavior. But now wasn’t the time. She hurried to the stove and flicked on the burner, heating up the pot of soup.
    Brad ignored her and spoke with the large man in the kitchen. “Emily , how long until lunch is ready?”
    She didn’t turn around. “Five minutes.”

Chapter Seven
    Three days after that hellish first day, Emily moved into Brad’s house.
    She slid closed the glass closet door in her new bedroom—the one beside the main bathroom, which was beside Brad’s master bedroom at the top of the stairs. Katy had fallen asleep across her Irish green duvet on her small double bed, clutching her Dora doll and her faded blue baby blanket.
    Just this morning , Emily discovered this house was built by Brad’s grandfather in the 40’s. This three thousand square foot, two story home boasted five large bedrooms. Emily’s room was freshly painted an off-white, with light beige carpeting and a large picture window overlooking the horse paddock and pasture with a lovely view of the distant mountains. Trevor’s room was across the hall. Katy’s was right beside Trevor’s, which left one large bedroom at the end of the hall filled with boxes and furnishings.
    When Emily issued notice to her landlord that she was moving, even with the short notice, they’d wished her well. Gina had been true to her word. Gina, Fred, their two teenage boys and what was possibly half the neighborhood packed and moved Emily to the ranch in three days. Katy appeared happy and unruffled, even after the tense first day.
    Emily wandered across the hall into Katy’s room. She ran her hand over the floral duvet covering Katy’s white princess bed. The winnie the pooh lamp sat on the nicked night table. She meant to refinish it many times, but life continued to get in the way.
    Emily peeked in on Katy who was the vision of a sleeping angel. It had been an exhausting morning and with all the changes this week and now moving to a new house, it was no surprise after she’d rubbed her eyes, Katy’d crawled up on Emily’s bed and fallen asleep. Emily used her fingers to brush back her hair that had slid in front of her eyes. No matter how many times she tied her straight hair back today, it continued to free itself. Now using her fingers, Emily smoothed her hair back and tied it once again into a loose ponytail. She released a heavy sigh as she slumped against the door frame, and an overwhelming sensation smothered her as if she’d just come up for air. All because of this whirlwind change, which resulted in her herculean approach to disassemble and pack up an entire house, start a new job and relocate all within a few days. Most of Emily’s belongings, including the furniture Bob didn’t take, were stored in one of the heated outbuildings behind the barn.
    The top stair