The Arrival by Annie J Ryan

Author:Annie J Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance Suspense
ISBN: 9781922683038
Publisher: Annie J Ryan
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

chapter forty eight

DECEMBER 30TH

The first birds woke her at a ridiculous hour. She turned to face Kris. His eyelashes were dark and thick against his closed eyes, his large body was curled over toward her, and he’d slung one thick arm across her chest. The longer she was around him, the more surprising she found her response to him. A fug of contentedness lay on her with him beside her, as if he belonged there. Have I rushed this? Should I have sent him home?

Whatever the outside temperature, her verandah and garden kept it deliciously cool inside, and she pulled open her window-styled doors to breathe in the warm fragrant air. The sun, a strong arc of white light already impressive at five o’clock in the morning lit up another naked blue sky; if there’d been bushfires, the morning wind had removed all trace. The deck was already dew-free and baked dry. She stepped barefoot over the planks around the side to the front of the house to collect the paper. She paused to wave at Jeannie who was out walking with Sully. Sully strained on the leash. She opened the gate.

‘Hi, Jeannie.’ Jeannie was giving her the Jeannie-eye.

‘How are you, Gem? Different car in your driveway, I see.’

She coloured.

‘About bloody time, woman. He’s a bit friendly your bloke, seen his ute in other driveways.’ Her rumpled cheeks ballooned with a growing smile.

She stood up and stretched after stroking Sully’s soft fur. ‘That would be because he works in several gardens around here. Don’t say another word, I can read your thoughts from here.’

‘How’s the little bloke?’ Jeannie took in every nuanced eye shift and foot slide.

‘He’s really happy where he is, but that’s only for a while longer. The rest is complicated.’ Mainly because I don’t know what to do. ‘I’m sorting a few things out for him right now.’

It was hard to avoid Jeannie’s eyes. She would draw her own conclusions and when Gem was ready, they’d have a real conversation.

‘Okay, I’ll be seeing you,’ she said. She tilted her head gently in the direction of Kris’s car and smirked.

Sully didn’t budge at first, not if there was an offer of more scratches and pats. Jeannie’s steps were carefully taken but difficult to watch; her creaking frame was riddled with aches and arthritis.

Gem dead-headed blooms by the front fence and reflected on Kade: his wary eyes and small hands, his tufts of blondebrown hair, and his words echoing down the street.

Was it important to chase Finberg for Kade? But since she’d released an avalanche of queries on that score it was probably too late. Well done, Gem. She kept circling back to the outcome she least expected to take: she would offer to take Kade until a placement was assured for him. How will that go? Maybe he’ll hate me.

The topmost leaves of the gum tree lifted and danced with wings of olive green.

Thick brown arms folded around her waist and pulled her back into a naked chest; a strong heartbeat against her shoulder and she turned to kiss him.

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