Blind Wolf Read Free Page A

are you up to?"
    "Just getting ready for breakfast tomorrow," Dee said, her eyes bright. "We had two new guests check in!"
    "Oh, awesome!" Julia said. The bed and breakfast had been dwindling ever since the foreclosure sign went up in the front yard. Not many people wanted to stay in a place that was being foreclosed on, no matter how cozy and comfortable.
    "How was working at the library today?"
    "It was fine. Busy." Julia smiled as she thought about the encounter with the blind man.
    "I don't think you've ever smiled before when talking about work," Granny Dee said. "Something happened today. Tell me about it."
    "You don't miss a thing," Julia said, letting the grin run over her face. "No, it was just this cute guy who came in. But he has a girlfriend," she said quickly.
    "I'm sure you could steal any boy away if you wanted to," Dee said. "Not that you would, of course. Is he a college student?"
    "No," Julia said. "I'm not sure who he is. I haven't seen him before."
    "A mysterious stranger," Dee said, her eyes twinkling. "Sounds fun!"
    "Don't go making any wedding plans," Julia said, pushing herself away from the counter. "Do you need help with the pastries?"
    "No, no, you just sit right down," Dee said. She pulled a pitcher from the fridge and poured two glasses, adding plenty of ice. "Here's something to take the heat off."
    "Thanks," Julia said as her grandmother handed her the drink. She sipped it. "Mmm, is this lemonade? What makes it red?"
    "It's a watermelon and raspberry lemonade," her grandmother said proudly. "Went out and got a melon for lunch but didn't know what to do with the rest of it. So, lemonade!"
    "It's delicious," Julia said. She gulped down the drink quickly.
    "Oh, and one of the men from the bank stopped by," Dee said, too casually.
    "From the bank?"
    "He said that the proceedings are going forward in two months," Dee said. "I didn't want to worry you about it, but—"
    "But I sent them the money for last month's mortgage!"
    "It's something about the property tax also being late," Dee said. "Julia, I don't know if we can keep this up."
    "We can handle it," Julia said. "I'll try to get more shifts at the library."
    "I don't want you working yourself to the bone just to keep this house," Dee said softly.
    "But it's your house! It's the house you grew up in! And I grew up here, too..." Julia said.
    "I can always find a smaller place. It might be better at my age." Dee shrugged as she washed and dried her hands, but there was a sadness in her eyes that Julia could not bear to see.
    "How much do they want?" she asked.
    "Nine thousand dollars."
    "Nine thousand!"
    "I'm sorry, Julia. You've done everything you can for me," Dee said. "I don't want you to worry about the house. It's just a house."
    "It's our house," Julia said, tears threatening to spill over her eyes for the second time that day. Granny Dee came around the table and cupped her hands around Julia's face. Her skin felt soft and wrinkled, and she smelled like a comfortable mix of lavender and baking.
    "It's the people in a house who make it home," Dee said, looking straight into Julia's eyes. "Wherever we end up, we'll still be family."
    "Okay," Julia said softly.
    "Go relax," Dee said. "You deserve it."
    "Okay," Julia said. "Goodnight. I love you."
    "I love you too, sweet child," Dee said.
    Julia walked up the stairs to her small room. She looked out of her window, but the foreclosure sign in the front yard made her sick to her stomach. Nine thousand dollars. That would take months of paychecks from the library. There was no way that they could get the money in time, no matter how many guests came to stay at the bed and breakfast.
    Closing the blinds, she lit a candle next to her bed. She'd always liked to read by candlelight, no matter how many times Dee told her that it would make her nearsighted. Julia sighed, rolling over on her bed to look for a book on her shelves. She needed to escape from life. And books always made the bad things