Where Dreams Begin Read Free Page B

fall.”
    Joyce shook her head in disbelief. “Sam left you well-provided for, so why you’d want to work is beyond me, but even with metal detectors at the entrances, teachers are still dodging bullets nowadays. Why take that kind of risk?”
    “You’re citing the extreme. Most schools have secure campuses, but it’s not security that concerns me. Kids have become so sophisticated, and I don’t want to walk into a classroom in September and not be able to connect with them.”
    Joyce responded with a derisive snort. “Oh, you’ll connect, all right. You’re a gorgeous woman. The boys will be hot for you, and the girls will envy your sense of style.”
    Catherine quickly discounted Joyce’s cynical opinion. “Perhaps, but it’s not the same as having a real impact on their lives. By volunteering at Lost Angel, I hope to gain some worthwhile insights, while at the same time, I might actually be doing some good.”
    Joyce slumped back in her chair. “God help us, but you’re actually going ahead with this, aren’t you?”
    Catherine turned that question aside with an easy shrug. “It’s time. I’ll always miss Sam, but I need to build a life on my own now.”
    “What would Sam say about Lost Angel?”
    My darling Sam, Catherine mused silently. At night, she lay awake sharing her day with him and still felt his loving presence. “Sam was quite liberal in his politics, and he always encouraged me to do whatever I wished. He’d not oppose me on this.”
    “Won’t you at least consider other options?” Joyce pressed. “Your tennis is even better than mine, and with a little practice, we could win the ladies’ doubles title at the club this summer.”
    When Catherine brushed aside that suggestion, Joyce quickly posed another. “What about volunteering in the literacy program at the public library? Or donating time at the charity thrift shop where you plan to drop off your clothes? You once mentioned how you hoped to someday have a daughter. How about becoming involved with the Girl Scouts? Don’t they run camps in the summer?”
    Catherine projected the same relaxed tranquility as the tomcat in her lap. “Girl Scouts have families who love them. What about the kids who have no one? Who’s going to care about them?”
    “I don’t see why it has to be you,” Joyce countered. “Don’t get me wrong, Lost Angel does a tremendous amount of good. I just don’t see why you have to become involved with it. Maybe what you really need isn’t kids to teach, but a new man to love.”
    Stung by that unwanted advice, Catherine stubbornly refused to give in to tears and instead tickled Smoky’s ears. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
    “All right, I apologize if it was thoughtless, or a bit premature, but one of the benefits of decorating office buildings is that I meet plenty of attractive men. Professional men,” she emphasized. “You’re only thirty-two, Cathy. You can’t want to spend the rest of your life alone.”
    Catherine took a long drink of tea before offering a hushed reply. “I’d expected to spend the rest of my life with Sam. There are days when just accepting the terrible fact that he’s gone is almost more than I can bear. The prospect of falling in love again is beyond imagining. Now let’s finish boxing up my clothes, and don’t let me forget to include the shoes I’ll never wear again, either.” She set Smoky aside, rose and shoved her chair into the table.
    “I’m sorry if I didn’t say what you’d hoped to hear,” Joyce offered, “but I trust you to do what’s best.”
    Catherine nodded, but she didn’t really trust herself to do anything right without Sam.
     
     
    Monday morning, Catherine sorted through her newly reorganized wardrobe, but nothing she owned seemed appropriate for Lost Angel. She’d thought her cinnamon suit would be perfect for an initial interview but now feared she’d been overdressed.
    She reached for a chambray shirtwaist with a