Hiding In His Dreams Read Online Free

turned
on, looking at the website of the Bank of
British Columbia, his newest
client.
    Alyssa was leafing through
the magazine Kids, Education,
Parenting.
    She looked up suddenly. “I want three
kids,” she declared. “Twins. Fraternal twins. A boy and a girl. And
then another girl.”
    Luke nodded, without taking his eyes
away from the screen. “K.”
    “ Luke, are you even
listening to me?”
    He still didn’t look up. “Of course I
am, Lissie.”
    She gave him a cold stare, and he
finally looked up.
    The chilly wind made a foray into the
space between them, and she closed her eyes to keep it
out.
    It was sunny, yet it was cold. The weak
sun on the frosty deck seemed like a contradiction to him, just
like how someone as wonderful as Alyssa would go away with him. It
made no sense at all.
    He looked at her and thought how lucky
he was that someone like her would go away with him.
    Luke decided to give a little
ground.
    He pointed to his screen. “This is the
most important client of my career. If I can help them acquire
smaller banks, I will make Junior Manager, just like that.” He
snapped his fingers.
    “ But what about us?” she
asked.
    “ We’re fine,” he replied, in
a tone that sounded defensive, even to him. He tried again. “We’re
fine,” he said, this time more evenly.
    “ It’s not every day that
you’re on a ferry crossing the beautiful ocean. Shouldn’t you at
least take some time to relax?”
    He was concentrating so hard on the
words on the website that he barely heard her.
    Alyssa waited, then nudged his
arm.
    Luke finally looked up from his laptop
at his girlfriend. She was looking at him expectedly.
    “ Sure, in a little while.”
He continued to work. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see
her shaking her head.
    A while later, their private sanctuary
was invaded when a noise came from behind them. He turned around.
It was a middle-aged couple, followed by five kids, all screaming
and laughing.
    Luke and Alyssa watched as the toddlers
raced onto the tiny, self-contained playground just beside them.
They hollered and cried as they threw sand at one another, swung on
the monkey bars, and argued over who would go down the slide
first.
    One of them, a little blonde girl with
a ponytail, came over to the couple.
    Alyssa made cooing faces at her, while
Luke grimaced, then wiped it off his face before she
saw.
    Fortunately for him, Alyssa’s attention
was focused entire on the child. “You’re just so adorable. What’s
your name, sweetie?”
    “ Tanya,” the little girl
answered, then smiled. “Look, I got braces.” She pointed to her
mouth, indeed revealing braces.
    Alyssa turned to her boyfriend. “Isn’t
she so cute, Luke?”
    “ Oh yeah, for sure,” he
said, sure that he sounded completely insincere. He turned back to
his laptop.
    The little girl tugged on his pants.
“Hey, mister. Did you see my braces?”
    “ Yes I did. It was very
nice.”
    The girl tugged harder. “Mister, you
didn’t look.”
    “ Yes. I said it was very
nice,” Luke snapped, the volume of his voice rising.
    Both the little girl and Alyssa stared
at him, shocked expressions on their faces.
    Luke looked up and saw that the little
girl was nearly in tears, her mouth pouting, her face in tantrum
mode.
    The girl’s mother came over,
apologizing profusely. “Sorry for disturbing you,” she said to
Luke. She turned to her child. “Come along now. Don’t bother the
nice couple.” Then, they were gone.
Alyssa crossed her arms. “Luke. What was that?” she said, her voice
calm.
    “ I don’t know,” he said, and
meant it. “It’s just the stress. I mean, I really want the Junior
Manager position.”
    “ Why?” she asked, her eyes
narrowing.
    “ I just want it,” Luke
replied.
    She said nothing, but he knew by her
expression that his answer was unsatisfactory.
    He sighed, and tried again. “It’s for
us too. I want us to be financially stable.”
    “ Us? But we’re not married.
We