Free Restorations (Book One Oregon In Love) by Bonnie Blythe Page A

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favors.
    Unable to resist a peek, she sank down onto
the edge of a chair, the only remaining piece of furniture in her
room, and opened the first envelope. The paper shook as she read
words from a poem by Robert Burns.
    As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
    So deep in luve am I;
    And I will luve thee still, my dear,
    Until a’ the seas gang
dry .
    She read through several more letters,
smiling through a haze of tears, amazed the poems written in
Brian's own words sounded as flowery as the poetry he chose for
her. Sara was transported back to the days when she and Brian had
something special, something that would never end.
    Or so she thought.
    She pressed a hand to her hot cheek. Had he
ever truly felt this way about her? Or had it been a clever way to
compromise her? A wave of sadness washed over her, leaving her
trembling.
    The sound of the phone ringing made her
jump.
    Clutching the letters to her chest, she
stumbled into the living room and grabbed the phone. “Hello?”
    “Sara! You’re finally home!”
    “Daryl. Hi.” She perched on the edge of the
couch and looked longingly at the letters in her lap.
    “Where have you been? Are you all
right?”
    “I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you, Daryl,
but there’s been a death in my family and everything went out of my
head. I went back for the funeral and stayed for a couple of weeks.
I feel horrible that I didn’t call.”
    “No explanation needed. My condolences.”
    “Thank you.”
    Sara felt guilty that she forgot about him.
Daryl had seemed very interested in her, but in the few months
she’d known him, she couldn’t muster reciprocal feelings. With
brown hair and blue eyes and a tall, athletic figure, she found
nothing unpleasant in his appearance, but she always wondered at
the insincere note in his manner.
    “So,” she asked after an awkward moment,
“What have you been up to?”
    “Missing you.”
    She cleared her throat. “Seriously.”
    “Well, I have missed you and would like to
see you again,” he said. “Are you busy today?”
    Sara became aware of an ache in the back of
her neck. She hated this kind of situation, but only blamed herself
for having encouraged him in the first place. She decided to be
blunt and get it over with. “Um, the thing is Daryl, I’m packing
today to move to Oregon.”
    “What! Why? For good?”
    Seeing the farmhouse in her mind’s eye, Sara
took a breath. “While I was staying with my aunt after my
grandfather’s funeral, I...came upon a new opportunity. Not to
mention the fact that I lost my job at the library. It seems like a
good time to make a change.”
    “I heard about the job. Sorry, that was a
tough break. What kind of opportunity are you talking about?”
    She heard a knock at the door. “Daryl, I
don’t want to cut you off, but there’s someone at my door. Can I
call you back later?”
    “No need. I’ll just pop over in a bit to say
goodbye—”
    Sara cringed as Brian began to hammer on the
door and yell her name.
    “Uh, I’ll talk to you
later. Bye.” She hung up the phone, exasperated. “It’s open! ”
    The door swung wide and Brian strode in with
a frown. “I told you to keep it locked while I was gone.”
    Sara emitted a little squeak when she
remembered the letters in her lap. She shoved them between the
cushions of the couch, praying he didn’t notice. She stood up,
striving to appear nonchalant.
    “Uh, were you able to get the trailer
rented?”
    “Yep. It’s parked out at the curb. I talked
to Mrs. Hogarth, and she said her son would help me load the
furniture tonight.”
    “Oh, how nice.”
    He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost time
for dinner. Is there anything special that sounds good?”
    Sara furrowed her brow as if deep in
thought. All she wanted was to put those letters where he’d never
find them. “Honestly, I don’t care. Whatever sounds good to
you.”
    Brian walked around to the front of the
couch and plunked down on the cushions, missing Sara’s