Read Without a Past for Free Online

short-order cook,” Harley said, taking the toast she offered then carrying his plate to the table.
    Andi wondered at the way he downgraded her suggestion as if trying to minimize her opinion of him.
    â€œOr he could be a confirmed bachelor,” Ida Jane speculated. “That’s what everyone said about Bill until he married Suzy. Goes to show you can’t tell about a person just by his past alone.”
    Andi felt a momentary sense of relief. Now, that was the sharp-witted Ida Jane from her childhood.
    She walked across the kitchen and put her arms around Ida’s thin shoulders. “I love you, Auntie. Don’t ever forget that.”
    Ida patted Andi’s hand then tilted her head and said, “Forget what?” Fortunately, Andi caught the mischievous glint in her aunt’s eye before her heart shriveled up completely. When she glanced at Harley, she knew that he’d sensed her fear. She could tell by the sympathy in his mesmerizing blue eyes.
    Unnerved, Andi pushed a sweating, ruby-colored jar of preserves across the blue gingham tablecloth. “Look what I found in the fridge. The last of Ida Jane’s famous cactus jelly.” She patted her aunt’s shoulder and said with pride, “How many women in their eighties do you know who can wrangle jelly from a cactus?”
    â€œEven if I could remember, I doubt I knew any,” Harley said agreeably.
    Andi cringed. It was probably in poor taste to say things that reminded someone of his handicap. “I’d better get that aloe before your burn blisters. Excuse me a minute. Ida, love, I’ll do your eggs next.”
    She closed the door to the screened porch behind her and took a deep breath. Her aunt’s discourse on Andi’s Daddy List wasn’t anything new. Ida had told the story many times. And maybe, at a subconscious level, the absence of a father figure in her life had influenced Andi’s decision to join the marines. But if that were the case, her choice had been a mistake. None of Andi’s superior officers had been the least bit paternal, and her connection with the men in her unit had been either confrontational or platonic. Her lone romantic affair had been a one-sided, short-lived liaison that had gone nowhere fast.
    Andi sighed. Maybe Kris was right. Maybe I’m jinxed when it comes to men.
    Her sister’s declaration—made in a moment of duress on their eighteenth birthday—had stuck with Andi, hauntingher. Although she’d dated some in college, Andi doubted she’d know love if it walked up and introduced itself.
    As for the attraction she felt toward Harley—who in her right mind would fall for a guy without a past?
    â€œIdiot,” she muttered as she snipped a stalk from the robust aloe plant in the clay pot sitting on a rusted metal plant stand. Two other succulents, a couple of leggy geraniums and a withered-looking spider plant in need of repotting were practically the sole survivors of her brown thumb.
    Beyond the cluttered little porch, a whole jungle of living things cried out for attention. The lawn needed mowing, the fruit trees hadn’t been pruned in years and the rose garden was on the verge of being overtaken by weeds.
    Andi closed her eyes and ordered herself to take a deep breath. Prioritize, she told herself. Why was she thinking about men? She barely had time to shower, let alone worry about love and romance.
    â€œHere you go,” she said, returning to the kitchen a few seconds later.
    To her surprise, Harley was standing at the stove, buttering two slices of toast. “I cooked three eggs,” he told her. “Ida only wants one, so you’ll have to eat the other two.”
    After cutting the bread diagonally, he arranged the halves on two plates, neatly framing the perfectly cooked eggs. He delivered the plates to the table then pulled a chair out for her.
    Andi wasn’t used to being waited on, and was oddly touched by the