Read Online By a Thread by R. L. Griffin - Free Book Online Page A

bought this for you.”
    “What? Why?” She eyed the cookie.
    “Because you really were drooling just looking at it.” George rubbed his hand over his shaved head.
    “You have any more?” Stella picked a small piece of the cookie off the side and popped it in her mouth. It was the perfect mix of white chocolate and macadamia nut, drizzled with melted peanut butter.
    “Any more what?” George stared at her dramatic reaction to the cookie. “Must be good.”
    “Oh my shit, it’s so good.” She pushed it back toward his plate. “Try it.”
    His shoulders were shaking with laughter. “Oh my shit?”
    “Umm... taste it.” She pushed the cookie closer to his hand.
    He broke off a piece of the cookie and popped it in his mouth. “That is good. I’m not sure what qualifies as ‘oh my shit,’ but I’ll take your word for it.”
    They ate and carried on with small talk. George didn’t have any other tattoos. She told him she had one on her back. Stella looked at her cell phone. “My break’s up. I’ll see you later.”
    “Yep.” George was still working on his lunch.
    Stella walked over to the trashcan. “George.”
    He looked up at her. “Yes?”
    “Thanks for the drool-worthy cookie.”

    She finished her shift at Cosi and was walking home when her mind drifted back to the cookie. She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually enjoyed a cookie that much. She could still taste it in her mouth.

Chapter Thirteen
    She was a step behind Patrick as they ran across the bridge from Arlington Cemetery into DC and past the Lincoln Memorial. Today they were running ten miles. She’d been working up to such a distance for a while. After Jamie died, she had given up running, along with everything else. It was something she loved; they used to run together every day.
    She pushed her sunglasses up her nose and adjusted her ear bud. She was proud that she was keeping pace with Patrick. They ran to the Washington Monument and then turned around. As they started the last mile of their run, Stella began feeling a little stronger than when she started. It was a long run and it hurt in the beginning, but it seemed she hit her stride. Patrick turned and smiled at her as she trailed him for the last half mile.
    As he motioned for her to pick it up, he tripped and fell. When Stella bent over to give him a hand she felt something warm sliding over her bare shoulder and down her right arm. “Fucking hell!” She examined her arm and the trail of bird shit now streaking it. Stella bent forward, laughing so hard she couldn’t help Patrick to his feet. She sat down and gave in to the laughter. When she looked up Patrick was looking at her with alarm. “What?” she said, breathless from her run and from the laughter.
    “I’ve never heard you laugh before,” Patrick said gently.
    “Really, never?” Stella was stunned. She’d known Patrick since August and he’d never heard her laugh.
    “Nope.” Patrick got up, but leaned over to touch his toes in a stretch. He grabbed a quad and stretched it. “I like it. Your laugh is ridiculous.”
    “Jamie used to say that all the time, too. qct My laugh was so funny it made him laugh.” Stella looked at the bird shit sliding down her arm. Flicking her arm, she tried to shake some of the shit off.
    “I may’ve heard a polite fake laugh at some point, but that was a real laugh. I like it. You need to laugh more, obviously.”
    “There really hasn’t been too much for me to laugh about this past year.” She got up and started walking back to Patrick’s car.
    Patrick nudged her shoulder. “You know, they say that a bird shitting on you is good luck.”
    Laughter burst out of Stella once again, which made Patrick laugh too. “They only say that so you won’t feel that bad about a bird shitting on you. There’s really nothing lucky about getting shit on... period.”

    Stella turned her old red Honda Accord onto GW Parkway and thought of two things simultaneously.