Garden of Dreams by Patricia Rice Read Free Book Online Page B

sound of the shower had stopped some minutes ago.
    â€œI can keep his eggs warm. Teenagers like to make sure their faces haven’t been rearranged overnight. I suppose I must have spent inordinate amounts of time in front of a mirror when I was that age, too.”
    â€œWhen was that, last year?” He sat back so she could ladle a generous helping of eggs on his plate.
    He made her feel giddy. Nina wanted to laugh like a teenager. Instead, she placed Jackie’s eggs in the warming oven and scraped out the pan. “Not unless I was a child prodigy, which I assure you, I was not.”
    â€œI was, but no one knew it.” He gestured at the stool beside him. “Sit down and eat before your breakfast gets cold.”
    â€œI’m not much of a breakfast eater.” She remained standing by the sink as she sipped her tea. Looking for a different direction for her thoughts, she glanced out the window. The roses needed watering. This early heat wave would shatter the blooms before the bake sale Saturday.
    The buzz of the hair dryer filled the awkward silence. Then the doorbell rang, and the hair dryer shut off. Jackie must be listening from upstairs.
    Jackie had said they would put his dad in jail if she called the sheriff. She wondered where their father was and how this man felt about that. Nina watched her guest at the counter, but he had casually returned to eating his eggs and sipping his coffee, as if the ringing bell had no significance for him. Maybe he wanted their father put in jail. She couldn’t quite understand cause and effect here, but she’d had to call the sheriff. If she hadn’t, Gary would have. Or Bob, when he towed the truck out.
    Without a word, she swept past Mr. JD Smith into the front room. At this hour, it could only be Sheriff Hoyt.
    He stood on the front porch, hat in hand, revealing his crew cut. She’d known Hoyt forever. He’d been a short, fat little boy in grade school, but he’d begun growing in junior high. He’d started working out in the gym after he made the football team. Now his shoulders stretched considerably broader than his stomach, but she still saw him as that boy who couldn’t bend over to tie his own shoes. She gestured for him to come in. His size didn’t make her feel uncomfortably aware of his physical presence as the man’s in the kitchen did.
    â€œWe’re having breakfast in the kitchen, Hoyt. Come on back.”
    As he followed her, Nina contemplated the overabundance of males cluttering her hitherto all-feminine domain. The stranger gave the sheriff a short nod. Hoyt took the mug she handed him but didn’t add cream or sugar. Neither spoke. She’d seen two male dogs size each other up in much the same way. She wondered when they would begin circling and growling.
    â€œSheriff Hoyt Stone, JD Smith. Have a seat, Hoyt. I don’t like people towering over me.”
    Hoyt gave her a vaguely surprised look, as very well he might. She’d just said more to him than she’d probably ever said in her life. She hadn’t thought she got chatty when she was nervous, but there was a first time for everything.
    â€œWe ran a check on that license plate you gave us, Nina,” Hoyt said as he took a stool on the other side of the counter. “It was stolen a few days ago.”
    â€œThat’s why the van didn’t stop then,” she said with satisfaction, glad to have the mystery explained. “It must have been stolen, too.”
    â€œLicense plate?” JD raised his rugged eyebrows. “You got the license plate?”
    She shrugged diffidently. “It was either that or chase after the van like on TV. I didn’t think the Toyota would catch up though. Four cylinders have definite drawbacks.”
    Nina gazed in astonishment at the warm look of approval in his dark eyes. She couldn’t remember any man, anywhere, anytime, looking at her like that. She had an instant