Read Online Dry as Rain by Gina Holmes - Free Book Online Page A

counter weren’t preventing me. Instead I cleared my throat and gave her a dull look, hoping she couldn’t feel my heart pounding.
    â€œI thought you said you wanted to lay your wife down.” She trailed her hand down the front of me, giving me no room to misinterpret her intentions.
    I turned around to get away from her, giving her my back, and refilled my glass. I tried to gulp down a swallow of water but inhaled it instead. My body convulsed as my lungs tried to force the liquid out through violent coughs.
    â€œYou okay?” She backed up to give me room.
    After a moment, my coughing subsided and I was able to catch a few breaths. “Wrong pipe,” I choked out. My glass clanked as I set it on the granite counter. “So, I guess I’ll be getting back to work if you’ll be okay.”
    She frowned. “Already? I thought you, we, might . . . I mean, you don’t know how much I’ve missed you.”
    â€œWell, um,” I stuttered, probably wearing the same look I did when I was trying to get away from the Harringtons. “Mr. Thompson was kind enough to let me off two mornings to deal with this whole . . . but . . .”
    Her shoulders drooped. “Rain check, then?”
    I looked at the floor. “Sure.”
    â€œWhen will you be home?”
    I paused so long she probably wondered if I’d fallen asleep with my eyes open. What was I supposed to say? Maybe her memory would return while I was at work and I’d get an angry phone call. Sadly, that was really the best I could hope for. I decided to bide my time for now. “I guess it’ll be late. I need to take care of some business and catch up. You go on to bed.”
    She combed her fingers through the ends of her hair like she did when she was nervous. “Okay,” she said. “Maybe I’ll invite Marnie over.”
    She didn’t remember her sister was out of the country on business, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell her.
    â€œI’ll see if she can do dinner tonight,” she said and opened the refrigerator. It was nearly empty except for a few Styrofoam takeout containers, a head of browning lettuce still in its plastic wrapping, and a jar of dill pickles. She unscrewed the metal lid, dipped her fingers into brine, and lifted one out.
    As she crunched into it I thought of Marnie and wondered if she would already somehow have heard about her sister’s little adventure in Batten Falls. I didn’t see how. She’d been in France for a month and it wasn’t like they had any family besides one another to spill the beans.
    No, she probably didn’t know yet, but surely Kyra had called and told her that we were separated. I needed to get to her and let her know what was up before she got to Kyra. I wanted to believe my motivation was just following Hershing’s orders to protect her, but I knew that wasn’t entirely true.
    * * *
    With Kyra’s cell phone in my pocket and my heart in my throat, I backed out of the driveway of my once-more home. By the grace of God, ingenuity, or sheer luck, I’d successfully navigated my way through the land mines of my wife’s spotty memories and unpredictable emotions.
    I slid her phone out of my pocket, feeling a little guilty about leaving her without one, especially since we’d dropped the landline. But what was the alternative? She’d have called Marnie. Then what? The gig would have been up.
    I turned off Macabee and parked in front of a white colonial. A black cat perched in the window, watching me as I checked Kyra’s text messages. All were deleted except one to Marnie, which just said a simple, “Hurry home. Be safe.”
    I dialed her number and pressed the asterisk. When it asked me to enter the password, I didn’t really expect it to work, but surprisingly, it did. I couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought to change her voice mail password since