A New Foundation Rochelle Alers (read aloud .txt) 📖

of Taylor Williamson as the total package, there was no way she would allow her heart to rule her head. She’d married once, and that was something she did not want to repeat. Been there, done that. And she didn’t need a man in order to have a baby because she had the option of adopting.

She glanced up at Taylor when he tightened his hold on her fingers as they climbed the winding staircase to the turrets. She noticed he wasn’t breathing as heavily as she was from the exertion, which indicated he was in excellent physical condition.

“Do you work out?” she asked him.

He smiled at her. “Yes. There’s a sports club for the residents in the development where I live.”

“You told me you’re moving into your mother’s house. Is there space there where you can work out?”

“Yes. She has a condo in a gated development with a lot of on-site amenities. She’s still staying at the house where I grew up. It’s now on the market, and she’s waiting for someone to buy it.”

“Mortgage rate are low, so right now it’s a buyer’s market.”

“True. But it’s not your traditional three or four-bedroom home. It’s a five-thousand-square-foot farmhouse built on four acres with an in-ground pool and tennis and basketball courts. With six bedrooms and seven baths, it would be perfect for a large or extended family.”

Taylor’s revelations that he’d lived on what Sonja thought of as an estate now confirmed her suspicions once she and Viola had become friends. Her friend had grown up privileged. Viola had revealed she and her brothers did not have to apply for student loans to subsidize their college tuitions and that her father had paid her rent on her West Village apartment until she’d secured permanent employment. Viola had also hinted her father had inherited a small fortune after the death of his parents, while Taylor had admitted his grandparents had set up a trust for his father, which he was able to gain access to at twenty-one. Even if Taylor hadn’t grown up with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, it was purported he’d earned a great deal of money as a top male model.

Viola would talk incessantly about her brothers in glowing terms that made Sonja slightly unhappy she didn’t share the same closeness with her brother because of their ten-year age gap. Viola said one of her brothers had married, but the union did not last a year, and another had recently proposed to his long-time girlfriend, while Taylor and another brother were still single. And she was adamant that Taylor did not want to be introduced to any of her gal friends, and the one time she ignored his warning he’d read her the riot act. Sonja was quick to tell Viola that she echoed his sentiments. She didn’t want or need a man at this time in her life because her career took precedence over any relationship.

Sonja felt the muscles in her calves straining from climbing the staircase. “Will you continue to live with your mother once she sells her house?”

Taylor stopped at the top of the staircase and opened a narrow door. He walked in, glanced around and beckoned her to follow. “Yes. My mother is scheduled to take an around-the-world cruise. She says if she doesn’t sell the house before August, then she’ll close it up. I promised her I would check on it at least once a week.”

“How long is her cruise?”

“Two hundred forty-five days.”

“Well, damn,” Sonja whispered under her breath.

Taylor chuckled, the sound rumbling in his chest. “That’s what I said when she first told me about it. She claims she’s making up for all the times she asked Dad to go on cruise with her, hoping he would change his mind about his parents’ boating accident. Now that Dad’s gone, she’s convinced her best friend to be her cabinmate. They met as college roommates, and their friendship has spanned fifty-plus years.”

“It’s not often people remain friends that long. Either they move to another city or state, or their lives change once they marry and have a family. Most times, it’s like life gets in the way of maintaining a friendship of that duration.”

“Life got in the way and that’s why you want nothing to do with men?”

Her jaw dropped and her mouth opened, but no words came out. She wondered if Viola had disclosed to Taylor the details of her failed marriage. Viola Williamson was as close to a friend that she could count or rely on, yet when she’d poured out her heart to the chef about how she’d allowed her husband to turn her life upside down, she hadn’t told her to keep the conversation between just the two of them.

“Who said I want nothing to do with men?” Sonja knew she sounded defensive, but at that point she didn’t care.

“You did in so many words, Sonja. You’re not married, don’t have a boyfriend, and you plan to become a single mother. To me, that translates into you being content to live your life alone.”

She glared at him. Taylor had no right to attempt to psychoanalyze her when he knew very little about who she was. “You make it sound as if I’m a man-hater,” she spit out between clenched teeth as she struggled not to lose her temper.

Sonja walked over to the narrow window to give herself time to calm down. She didn’t want to say something that would ruin her chance to become the architectural historian for the restoration project. She concentrated on the landscape unfolding before her eyes, taking deep breaths to slow down her respiration. She saw a pond with ducks and swans. Her gaze shifted, and she spied the roof of one of the cottages. She went completely still when she felt the heat from Taylor’s body seep through her jacket and into her when he pressed his chest against her back.

“I didn’t say you were a man-hater, Sonja,” he whispered in her ear. “And