Read What The Heart Finds for Free Online

town. Sam was my next
door neighbor. And Eric was… well… he was Eric,”
she said with a wicked glint in her eyes.
    “Alright. You got
my attention,” Lena said, feeling an attachment to the woman
she had just met.
    “I really cared for
both of them in different ways. They were both just… always
there for me whenever I needed anything. Kind, patient…”
    “Wait… we
are talking about the same Eric, right?” Lena laughed.
    “I know. He wears
that sexual energy right out there for everyone to see. But he’s
genuinely a good person underneath.” Her face went a little
guilty. “Don’t ever tell him I told you that. He made me
promise to let him uphold his reputation.”
    “Scouts honor,”
Lena agreed. “So what happened? Why did you end up with Sam?”
    “I guess I was
being just… selfish dating them both. I knew Eric had strong
feelings for me and I kept going to him even though a part of me knew
it was meant to be Sam.”
    So Eric had loved Anna.
Looking at her, she could see why. Even if Anna seemed a bit too
young for him. She was just adorable and sweet, an air of innocence
hung around her like a force field. It would be hard to not love
someone like her. Even someone as aloof as Eric O’reilly must
have seen that.
    “How long have you
two been together?”
    “Well… about
two years. Give or take the first few months.”
    “He seems like a
great guy,” Lena said, feeling a strange emptiness inside, a
nagging feeling that she was missing out on something that Anna had
obviously found for herself.
    “He really is,”
Anna agreed, smiling.
    A short silence hung in
the air, Anna looking off into the distance. “So how can I get
that soap of yours in the city?”

    The rest of the afternoon
was a blur of meeting townspeople, eating too much food, and
pretending to avoid the ever-present eye of Eric who seemed to have
finished fixing the tractor and was carelessly lounging around, and,
surprisingly chasing around a couple of small children.
    Before she had even
realized it, it was well after four in the afternoon and her stomach
was grumbling for something more substantial than cheese and
crackers. She looked around for Maude, realizing it had been a long
time since she spotted her.
    “Hey Anna,”
she called, walking over to her and Sam. She was leaning against his
chest, his arm around her stomach. “Have you seen Maude
anywhere? She was my ride…”
    “Oh,” Anna
said, moving away from her husband and looking around. “You
know… I haven’t seen her in a while.”
    “She couldn’t
possibly have… forgotten me,” Lena said, her eyebrows
drawing together.
    “Hey,” a
familiar voice said just behind her shoulder. “Maude made me
promise to get you back to town safely,” Eric said, his tone
casual.
    “She actually left
me?” Lena asked, turning around with shock.
    “Seems that way,
baby,” he said, drawing out the last word.
    “Well thank you,
but no. I will find another way back.”
    “I can,” Sam
started to break in.
    Anna quickly grabbed
Sam’s arm, whispering under her breath something about two
years. Sam looked down at her for a second blankly, before turning to
Lena and Eric, nodding slightly.
    “No one else seems
ready to leave yet,” Anna said, her tone almost squeaky. “And
Eric promises to be on his best behavior.” She looked over at
him, an eyebrow raised. “Don’t you, Eric?”
    “Oh yeah,”
Eric said, smiling at her sweetly. “Perfect angel.”
    Lena rolled her eyes,
looking up at him. “Alright, fine,” she said with the
same enthusiasm as if he told her he was taking her to get a tooth
pulled. “Sam,” she said, turning back, her voice
pleasant. “I had a really great time. And Anna… it was…
enlightening,” she said carefully.
    Eric extended an arm out
as if inviting her to go with him. She looked at him sideways for a
second before falling into step beside him. “Nope, this way,”
he said as they rounded the house, putting his hand on