Moving On Read Online Free

had done their best until he had been airlifted to Germany.
    His left calf tingled. He reached down and for the umpteenth time his hand met air. They’d told him these phantom limb sensations were normal. It might be normal, but they sure annoyed him.
    It felt unusual to have a woman in this house. His mother had left before Nick even finished third grade because she wanted more out of life. Grandma, of course, wore out a little faster after that. Both his father and grandfather decided to divide the household chores into each of their daily lives, and Nick cooked, washed, ironed, and scrubbed beside both of them. Consequently, he didn’t have the same adjustment to army life like a lot of the other men who had either a mother or girlfriend to look after them.
    Molly pushed at him with her nose. “You’ve got to come with me tomorrow,” Nick told her. “Our guest doesn’t appreciate your charms.”
    He turned out the light and pulled the covers up. Molly curled up on the mat beside the bed. Other than the sound of water lapping against the vinyl edge of the pool, nothing had changed in his room since he left to join the Canadian Forces.
    In the morning he awoke with the sun just above the horizon. Another day in a string of days he would push through until his father returned and he had his physical endurance evaluation. His future in the army as he knew it was in jeopardy.
    There would always be a place for him and his expertise, but he wanted to return to the desert, helping bring peace to Afghanistan.

Chapter 3
    The twittering chatter of birds as they began their day woke Anna. She listened to their different songs and wondered what they meant. Hey, I found string to hold the nest together. Get out of here. Mud’s better. That’s what she needed to do—find the pieces to make a home.
    She stretched the full length of her five-foot-nine frame and curled her arms around the canopy posts. She had slept deeply. The blankets were almost as straight as when she crawled under them instead of wrapped around her legs and twisted into her belly.
    A tantalizing coffee aroma tempted her, but she waited for retreating footsteps before opening the door. This might not be her host’s day job, but she felt like a princess when she found a tray laden with coffee, milk, sugar, muffins, butter, preserves, and a china mug and plate. She brought in her breakfast and watched through the gauze drapery as dust flew up behind the tailgate of a red half-ton heading down the road toward town.
    She could easily indulge herself another day in these surroundings. No, it’s time to build my own castle where I’ll be a benevolent queen, but not too generous. In her new life, she would be selfish, self-caring. Her new friends would like her for herself, rather than the provider of health care advice at any time of the day or night, or the guitar wielding songster at birthday parties and funerals. Or the moneylender of the past.
    After a long, luxurious shower, she shook out her hair. When she tugged at the ends with her fingers, she felt some of the chemical curl relaxing.
    She locked the door as per the instructions and walked straight and tall to the car. Nick must have taken Molly.
    Driving back into town, the baritone news anchor announced the national news at the top of the hour. The town office was open and she wanted to be first in line with her request. She needed her own style of cleaning; air scented with her lavender candles and jazz sounds filling the rooms to create her home. If she had water, she could stay home tonight rather than be a guest of the distant, gorgeous, temporary host of the Donnelly B&B. The man did block out the sun, on one leg or two.
    She hurried to catch the petite woman working on the lock of the door. When it swung open, Anna followed her into the nerve center of Regina Beach. ‘J. Kipfer,’ as the brass plate indicated, positioned her half glasses on her nose and with efficient movements and a practiced