Sunrise Crossing

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Book: Read Sunrise Crossing for Free Online
Authors: Jodi Thomas
the bar.”
    A moment later he realized what he’d done. He might have let her touch him, but this time he’d touched her. No, he’d handled her. Like she was a kid or a close friend. He didn’t even know her name. He had no right. He didn’t know much but one rule had always been clear. A woman could touch a man, but a man never handled a woman without an indication of the woman’s consent.
    Yancy stepped back and straightened. His eyes staring down at the floor like he’d done in prison when he was little more than a kid lost in a world of rules and punishment. He’d spent every day since he’d been out trying to act normal, trying to do what was right, but deep down he knew part of him would always be an ex-con.
    The silence of the empty room seemed to throb with each heartbeat.
    They’d had a great night working together, talking, laughing. But a woman who wouldn’t tell him her name wasn’t likely to welcome his hands on her. When he’d caught her as she fell from the loft, he’d felt her stiffen even as he lowered her to her feet. She’d been polite. She’d thanked him for saving her, but she’d moved away.
    â€œYancy?” Her voice echoed in the empty room.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he whispered as he forced himself to look up. “I didn’t mean to...”
    Her gray-blue eyes were smiling. “It’s okay, Yancy. You didn’t hurt me.” She crossed her legs and put her elbows on her knees. “The bar may be a little high but the view is great up here. I can almost see your handmade furniture. Rockers by the fire. A writing table by the window. Bookshelves climbing along the wall to match the stair steps over there. If you build me a stool, make it a few inches higher than yours so we’ll look directly at each other. I get tired of always looking up at people.”
    He leaned his head to the side, studying her as if she were an animal he’d never encountered. “You’re not mad at me?”
    â€œWhy?” She watched him.
    â€œI put my hands on you, Rabbit.”
    â€œYou did that when you caught me. If you hadn’t I’d have probably broken a few bones.” When he just kept staring, she added, “I’ve made up my mind that you are a good man, Yancy Grey. I’ve not always been a good judge of men, but I’m learning. I am not afraid of you. I believe you won’t hurt me.”
    â€œI wouldn’t,” he managed to say, knowing she had no idea what a gift she was giving him with her trust. “But most folks don’t warm up to me very fast after they find out I’ve been in prison. I’ve done hard time, Rabbit, and they say that changes a man forever.”
    She looked more interested than afraid. “Want to talk about it?”
    He’d been asked before and always said no, but somehow this time he thought it might be all right. He jumped up to sit on the bar a foot away from her and began.
    He told her of how he’d been caught stealing when he was nineteen and had turned twenty in prison.
    She listened as he remembered details he’d spent years trying to forget. He had to be honest with her. She trusted him.
    â€œThe smells in the whole place made me half-sick most of the time. I’d go out in the yard, even on the coldest days, just to be able to breathe. Once, it was snowing and I was the only one to step outside. I just stood, looking up at the snow, and listened to the rare sound of silence while I breathed in the smell of nothing but winter.”
    She covered his hand with hers without saying a word.
    â€œI used to lie awake in my tiny cell listening to the sounds around me, wishing I were somewhere, anywhere else. Sometimes I’d dream of getting out and just living a normal life, but prison is still there in the back of my mind. No matter how hard I breathe out, there’s still a little bit of the smell left in my

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