In Plain Sight by Amy Sparling Read Free Book Online

in the cute way she walks with no shoes on that makes me want to get to know her. I can’t picture the girls at school being so causal like that. They all need tons of makeup and coordinated outfits before they’re seen in public.
    I turn my attention to the last potted plant, a fern with red leaves, and then I hear Mrs. Ruiz cry out.
    Dropping the water pitcher, I rush off the porch in time to see the girl reach out and catch Mrs. Ruiz right before she would have taken a painful fall to the concrete below.
    I jog over. “What happened?”
    “Goodness,” Mrs. Ruiz says, her hands shaking as her dropped water pitcher spills water at our feet. She turns to the mysterious barefoot girl. “This girl is an angel,” she says, her wrinkly cheeks lifting into a smile. “She saved me from falling. These house shoes are no good, I tell you. They make them so cheap these days.”
    “She scraped her hand on the mailbox,” the girl tells me. “But I think she’ll be okay.”
    “Let’s get you inside,” I say, taking Mrs. Ruiz’s arm. “I’ll get you some water.”
    “Oh, that’s all right, sweetie.” She brushes me off, preferring to stand unassisted. “I’ll be fine. I’m not as tough as I used to be, but I’m okay.”
    She turns to our strange new visitor and takes her hand. “Honey, you should come in and have some sweet tea,” she says. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for saving me.”
    The girl’s eyes widen, and I can tell she’s surprised by the invitation. “Oh come on,” Mrs. Ruiz says. “Let’s all go have some sweet tea. What do you say?”
    Even though I shouldn’t care, even though I’m sick of dating, I bite the inside of my lip and pray that she says yes.

Chapter 9
     

     
    My heart races from what probably looked like a superhero dive when I stopped this elderly lady from falling. It’s weird because I pretty much saw the whole thing in slow motion. I’ve been walking for half an hour, mostly just wandering up and down streets outside of Shady Heights while I try to get my bearings after this whirlwind of a weekend. Then a hot guy with no shirt on talked to me and tripped me up. I didn’t want to walk back past him, but this stupid road has a dead end and I had no choice.
    And then I saw her, her house shoes slipping off her toes as she stood on the curb, watering roses around her mailbox.
    I was thinking to myself that this lady might fall if she leans any further over, and sure enough, she did. I managed to catch her before she hit the ground, and I can’t even imagine what would have happened to her frail body if she fell on the concrete. I shudder at the thought.
    But now my good deed has landed me directly in front of previously mentioned hot guy. Hot, shirtless guy. Did I mention he is shirtless? I can’t seem to look away, even though I desperately should.
    “You like sweet tea, don’t you?” the woman says, patting my arm. She looks up at me with eager eyes, the kind of look you see on loving grandmothers, not that I’ve ever had one of my own. Both of my grandparents died many years ago. Something hurts my heart when I think about how kind this lady is, and I want to say yes. Of course I want to say yes because she’s a nice old lady and I love sweet tea. I wouldn’t even hesitate if it was just me and her.
    But this guy is here, his longish hair all messy from the wind, his muscular arms glistening with sweat from doing the yard work and he’s watching me with this curious smile that makes my knees weak.
    “I’d love some tea,” I hear myself saying, the logical part of my brain taking over for my heart. If it were truly up to me, I’d turn and run away because being this close to such a hot guy makes me nervous.
    “Wonderful!” the lady says. “I’m Gloria Ruiz.”
    “Maddie,” I say, looping my arm into her elbow as she offers it to me. “I’m Maddie Sinclair.”
    “Lovely name,” she says, as we walk up the sidewalk toward her house. The