Free Annie's Answer by Pam Andrews Hanson

away.
    “Aunt
Mattie.…” The look of exasperation on his face said it all. Not only was he not
planning to get engaged, it must have been  a sore subject.
    “I’m glad I
got to visit with you, Laura,” his aunt said, ignoring Nathan. “You’re welcome
to come visit any time.”
    “I’d love to,”
her mother said, “but I don’t get many days off at the bank.”
    Just when
Annie thought they could finally leave, her grandfather walked up to the
visitor.
    “It’s nice you
could join us this morning, Mrs. Hayward,” he said after Nathan introduced the
two of them.
    “Please,
Reverend, call me Mattie. I forget to answer to ‘Mrs.’ these days.”
    “I’m Dwight,”
Gramps said.
    While Mattie
raved about his sermon, deserved praise but greatly overdone, Annie tried to
edge her way to the double doors at the front of the church. She managed to get
outside without her mother or grandfather noticing, but she wasn’t alone.
Nathan had followed her.
    “My aunt is a
handful,” he said.
    “Yes, but she
means well.” Annie did like the older woman, although she wasn’t exactly
looking forward to being her constant companion for the rest of the summer.
    “It’s not your
life she’s trying to orchestrate. If she were trying to find a match made in
heaven for you—her words, not mine--you might feel differently,” he said.
    “I can
sympathize, although people have pretty much given up on me.”
    “So there’s no
one special in your life right now?”
    He threw in
the question so casually Annie didn’t have time to think of a clever answer.
    “No,” she
admitted.
    She didn’t
want him to think she was a loser, but it would sound too lame to explain she
simply didn’t have time to date, let alone find the man of her dreams.
    “Westover is a
small town. Not many men for a nice girl like you to date.” He sounded
downright gloomy about it.
    A nice girl?
She might be working for him temporarily, but she was a career-minded woman,
not a girl sorting through possible marital prospects.
    “I’m not
looking for a man,” she said, trying to put ice in her voice.
    “Sorry, I
didn’t mean to suggest you were.” He glanced at the church door, obviously
impatient for his aunt to get a move on. “My aunt really seems to enjoy your
company. I don’t suppose you’d consider—no, I won’t ask.”
    “Won’t ask what?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his question, but curiosity won out.
    “Really, it’s
just a thought. I wonder whether you’d accept a job as a live-in companion,
just for the summer, of course.”
    “Sorry, I have
other things to do—my job at the pancake place, selling ads, helping in
the church office. I couldn’t possibly accept.”
    “That’s why I
hesitated to bring it up. But if you were willing to accept, I’d pay a salary
to compensate for giving up your other jobs.”
    How wonderful
would it be to have just one job? She could forget about waiting tables and Bob
Hoekstra’s petty tyranny, not to mention running all over town begging
merchants to buy ads in the paper. She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t tempted, but
what would she do twenty-four seven with Mattie?
    The silence
between them loomed large while she debated with herself. At last it wasn’t his
aunt’s difficult personality that decided her. She just couldn’t imagine living
under the same roof with Nathan—even though he had his own area in the
big house. There would be a chance of seeing him every morning and every
evening, not to mention all weekend.
    The situation
was much too threatening to her peace of mind. She was already attracted to
Nathan more than she wanted to be. The less she saw him, the safer she was.
Regardless of whether he was unattached at the moment, he was too handsome, too
charming—when he wanted to be—and altogether too appealing. She had
to remember that wealthy lawyers who lived in mansions didn’t marry struggling
waitresses.
    She absolutely
could not let herself fall