Read Online Double Take by Kendall Talbot - Free Book Online Page B

otherwise.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter how much money it is, because they’re not going to rob the bank. The police will arrest them before they do it.” He looked sad as he ran his fingers over the buttons on the boom box. She wished he’d snap out of it. This was exciting.
    â€œIs it a crime to say you’re going to rob a bank?” she said. “Or do the police have to wait until they actually do it?”
    Murray frowned. “That’s a good question. I don’t know.”
    They sat in silence for a long while. She drank her wine. He barely touched his. She was pretty certain they were thinking about completely different things.
    He stood. “I’ll go say goodnight to the boys.” He looked like the cat had just died or something.
    After he walked off, Gemma stood up and carried both glasses back to the lounge room, trying to avoid Hazel’s gaze. She wondered if Murray’s wife would have been as excited as she was. It wasn’t every day that something like this walked into your life.
    Murray returned a few minutes later and sat beside her with a big sigh. “I should’ve believed them.”
    She put her glass on the coffee table and crawled over to straddle him. “Is that what’s bothering you?” He looked up at her, his eyes slightly glazed, and she couldn’t decide if it was the wine or the unfounded guilt trip he was on.
    She leant forward to kiss him and as she started to undo his shirt buttons, she found that she didn’t care whether Hazel was watching or not.

Chapter 7
    C andice opened her eyes and blinked the sleep away. The clock displayed 5:45. That was good, practically a sleep-in. Most mornings she woke with the birds. She lay there, listening to the natural chorus along with Jack’s snoring and was grateful she was here for another day. Taking stock of your mortality did that to you.
    Jack stirred and she turned her head to him. “Morning,” she said when he opened his eyes.
    â€œHey, baby.” He rolled to kiss her, a brief touch of their lips. “Did you sleep well?”
    â€œRight through the night.”
    â€œThat’s great, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” Since she’d been diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia three years ago, this had become Jack’s standard morning greeting.
    â€œActually I feel good.” It was the truth and a refreshing change. Most mornings she felt like she needed to go right back to sleep and she often had to.
    â€œMagic. I’ll have a quick shower and get some breakfast on the go.”
    After another brief kiss, he flicked off the bedsheet and stood up. She never tired of looking at Jack’s naked body. Years of manual labour had kept his figure well toned. He had muscles in all the right places, and even in his early thirties he still boasted washboard abs any twenty-year-old man would be jealous of.
    He went to the toilet, but the compact space of their little caravan meant there was little privacy. Sights, sounds and, unfortunately, smells were often shared whether you liked it or not. She tried to block out the noise anyway. He flushed, stepped from the toilet cubicle and into the shower. This was a sight she was happy to watch every day, though. If she could fit, she would have climbed into the shower with him. In their old house she used to do that all the time. It seemed like years, not just eighteen months, since her rising medical bills had forced them to sell their beautiful home.
    She cast the thought aside. “Leave the shower running, babe. I’ll hop in after you.”
    â€œOkay.”
    He wrapped his wet arms around her when he stepped from the shower, and she breathed in the freshness of his shampoo as she smacked him on the bottom.
    It wasn’t until after her shower when she was standing at her barren wardrobe that she remembered the photo of Rachel. “Hey, I saw Rachel in yesterday’s paper. She was at