Read Online Cold Feet in Hot Sand by Lauren Gallagher - Free Book Online

asked her to pony up the pics.
     
    She didn’t make it halfway to her office.
     
    “So,” Marci asked with a huge grin. “Do you have pictures?”
     
    “Please tell me you have one of Nick in his tux,” Renee said.
     
    “Oh yes,” Beth said. “I must see that man in a tux.”
     
    “Uh, well…” Deanna dropped her gaze, watching herself thumb the strap on her purse. “The wedding was actually called off.”
     
    “What?” Beth squeaked. “No kidding?”
     
    “No kidding.”
     
    “What happened?” she asked. “Someone get cold feet?”
     
    “Well.” Deanna paused, thinking quickly. “It’s kind of a personal matter between Nick and Kristina.”
     
    “Can you at least tell us which one called it off?” Renee asked.
     
    “Oh, please.” Beth waved a hand. “You know he did. No woman’s going to go all that way for a wedding like that, only to call it off at the last second. Not unless he royally fucked up.”
     
    “Good point.” Marci shook her head. “God, what a jerk.”
     
    “Is that true?” Renee asked. “Was he the one to call it off?”
     
    Deanna shifted her weight. “Honestly, neither of them told me. They were both pretty upset, and…” She shrugged apologetically.
     
    Marci and Beth looked at each other, smirking, and in unison they said, “Nick called it off.”
     
    While the three of them started speculating on Nick the jerk’s reasoning, Deanna bowed out and hurried down the hall to her office. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, clutching her purse to her chest just to give herself something to hold on to. This was going to be one long day. And the worst part? The rumor mill, which was likely churning at full speed by this point, would start going again once Nick came back. Today they’d all find out what happened. When he came back to work, everyone would be digging to find out why .
     
    “High school never ends,” Deanna muttered, and pushed herself off the door.
     
    Word spread fast. Offices like this were to gossip what dry grass was to wildfires, and Deanna was pretty sure the rumor had traveled to every desk on every floor before the nine o’clock staff meeting convened. Three people stopped her on her way to the conference room. When she finally made it, with moments to spare before the meeting started, Connie from accounting stood in the back with her since every chair was taken.
     
    “Is it true about Nick?” Connie whispered. “I heard from Mary in purchasing that he left your sister at the altar.”
     
    Deanna thumbed the edge of one of the file folders in her hand. “Well, it’s not quite that simple, but no, they didn’t get married.”
     
    “Wow, he didn’t seem like the type to do something like that.” Connie clicked her tongue and shook her head. “How is your poor sister holding up?”
     
    She’d be doing a lot better if Nick and I hadn’t slept together.
     
    Deanna cleared her throat. “She’ll be all right. It’s been — ”
     
    “All right, folks,” Frank the floor manager said. “Let’s get started.”
     
    Deanna had never been so happy to have a staff meeting get moving. When it was over, she made a stealthy exit — something she’d long ago refined as an art form to escape her boss — and returned to her office to get back to work.
     
    As she always did, she checked her e-mail as soon as she returned to her desk. Seven messages? That was it? She usually had a few more than that after a meeting. Responses and auto-replies from e-mails she’d sent, urgent messages from everyone who couldn’t get a printer working or a piece of software to cooperate. Then there’d also be a few from —
     
    Oh. That was it.
     
    No “good morning, I’m going to break someone’s neck, how are you?” e-mail from Nick. No forwarded jokes, cute pictures, or “hey, girl, what’s up?” e-mails from Kristina. Complete silence from both of them, and not because they were off enjoying their