Read July Thunder for Free Online Page B

I’m a scarlet woman after our conversation about books yesterday.”
    Sam gave a bark of laughter. “Maybe. I’ll see youtonight, Mary. Gotta get back to work.”
    He felt her eyes on him as he drove away.
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    When Sam’s car disappeared around the corner, Mary looked again at the house across the street. Elijah Canfield had disappeared from his window.
    She didn’t want to believe Sam was right about his father. She didn’t want to believe any parent was capable of such meanness. But she was also an experienced teacher and she knew better. She’d certainly seen her share of it.
    Troubled, she went back to her weeding, trying to ignore a prickling at the back of her neck that seemed to say she was being watched. There was no reason on earth why Elijah Canfield would want to watch her grubbing around in the dirt.
    But surely there had to be some way for Sam and Elijah to reconcile?
    â€œHello.”
    The deep voice, so like Sam’s, caused Mary to start. Twisting, she found Elijah Canfield standing in her driveway. He was wearing dark slacks and a white shirt with the collar open and the sleeves rolled up.
    â€œHi,” she answered, feeling wary.
    â€œI wanted to apologize for the way we got off on the wrong foot yesterday,” he said, giving her a pleasant smile. He was a handsome man, she thought irrelevantly. Almost as handsome as his son.
    Mary sat back on her heels, still holding her weeding fork, and looked up at him. “We had asignificant disagreement of opinion,” she said, keeping her voice gentle. “Nothing wrong with that.”
    He nodded briefly, an acknowledgment that didn’t quite make it to agreement. “But we’re neighbors,” he said.
    â€œThat’s right.” Mary waited, a trick she’d learned with difficult adolescents. Let the silence hang until the other person felt compelled to speak. She certainly wasn’t prepared to go out on a limb with this man; she didn’t know him. But from what Sam had said, she wasn’t inclined to trust him.
    â€œThe Lord says we should love our neighbors.”
    Mary, who was quite religious herself, wondered if she was going to be treated to a sermon every time she saw this man. “That’s right. But sometimes it’s easier to love them from afar.”
    Despite the beard, she could see the corners of his mouth tip up slightly. “I’ve noticed that.”
    Mary smiled, prepared to be as noncommitally friendly as he allowed. “Is there something I can do for you?”
    He didn’t answer immediately, and she had the sense that he was struggling with something. After a minute or so, she decided to take the bull by the horns.
    â€œSam is your son, isn’t he?”
    Elijah’s intense eyes jumped back to her. “Yes.”
    â€œHe’s a fine man.”
    Again Elijah said nothing, but this time Mary refused to speak, either. If something was troublinghim, he needed to tell her or take it back home with him. Their gazes locked and held while time ticked by.
    Finally Elijah spoke. “He carries a gun.”
    â€œYes.” She wasn’t about to say anything regarding that, either. Offering opinions to this man might be dangerous, unless she wanted lectures.
    â€œA man who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”
    Mary bit her lower lip, wanting to defend the necessity of police officers but realizing that Elijah’s real problem was something else. Something she wasn’t ready to wade into.
    His gaze seemed to bore into her; then he nodded and walked back to his house.
    What a strange man, she thought, staring after him. Then a thought struck her: maybe he was genuinely worried about Sam’s safety. Maybe his objection was something more than that Sam hadn’t become a minister.
    And maybe she was being too generous to him. She certainly had a tendency to see the best in everyone other than herself.
    In herself she