Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online

frustrations by running. At least he could stay in shape that way.
    He debated heading for the track at the high school, but he didn’t want to take a chance that Little League practice might still be going on. The kids treated him like some kind of hero. That made him feel like such a fraud. He might be an excellent ballplayer, but he’d failed at the one thing that really mattered…being a good man.
    Instead, to avoid an uncomfortable encounter with some pint-size fans, Ty drove over to the path around the lake. In early spring the park was filled with huge bushes of pink, purple and white azaleas in full bloom. The riot of color and balmy evenings drew quite a few people, but it was late enough now that most people had finished their evening strolls, and he could be alone with his thoughts.
    He was on his second lap, panting hard and testing his limits, when he saw her. Annie was sitting by herself on a bench, mostly in the shadows. If a breeze hadn’t stirred the leaves, allowing a shaft of moonlight to fall on her, he might not have noticed her.
    The fact that she was out here alone in a secluded area infuriated him. She ought to know better. Serenity might be comparatively safe, but a woman out unaccompanied after dark was still putting herself into the position of becoming a target for some predator.
    He crossed the grass to stand over her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    At the sound of his voice, Annie blinked hard and stared up at him with unmistakable dismay. “Go away, Ty.”
    He stood his ground. “Not a chance. Are you crazy, sitting out here all alone at this hour, practically asking some nutcase to assault you?”
    “It’s not the middle of the night, for heaven’s sake. It’s barely nine o’clock. And this is Serenity. I’m perfectly safe.”
    “Really? Did you even hear me coming? Did you notice you weren’t alone? Geez, Annie, I could have attacked you and you wouldn’t have seen it coming.”
    She scowled at him. “You don’t get to worry about me.”
    “Well, I do, especially when I see you doing something stupid.”
    That brought her immediately to her feet, her cheeks flushed with anger. He knew her well enough to guess she was mostly furious because she knew he was right. She seemed to be having a hard time finding the right words to tell him off, again because she knew she was the one in the wrong.
    Out of the shadows now, he could see the tracks of dried tears on her cheeks. Before he could ask about that, she pulled herself together and—right or wrong—got right up in his face.
    “Stupid! You’re calling me stupid?” she said, poking a finger into his stomach. “Boy, that takes some gall. Then, again, you know all about stupid, don’t you, Tyler Townsend? You mastered it several years ago. Too bad there wasn’t anyone around to save you from yourself.”
    In some ways, her fury was better than the anguish in her eyes when he’d told her about the baby. He’d known back then not only how he’d disappointed her, but how much he’d hurt her. He’d rather have her fighting mad any day. At least she was displaying some real spirit, instead of staring at him with the defeated expression he’d seen on her face when he’d first approached.
    “I wish there had been,” he said softly. “I wish someone had sat me down and told me I was behaving like a jerk.”
    “Well, maybe it’s three years too late, but I’m happy to help out,” she said. “You’re a jerk, Ty. An idiot. A pig.”
    “There’s nothing you can call me that I haven’t called myself.”
    “Good, then it’s unanimous.”
    “I don’t suppose it would help if I said again that I’m sorry.”
    “It didn’t help then and it doesn’t help now,” she retorted without hesitation.
    Ignoring her temper and her dismissal of his apology, he drank in the sight of her. To his eyes she looked too thin, but not in that awful way she had when she’d been anorexic. Her hair, which had been