Read Online Mirror of Shadows by T. Lynne Tolles - Free Book Online Page B

and secured it with the scrunchy. She yawned again as she entered the kitchen to find Jeremy in boxers, socks and a t-shirt bopping, gyrating, and softly singing to himself. Ella saw the wires leading to his ears and realized he was dancing and singing to some song on his MP3 player.
    She stood in the doorway for a moment watching him. He was always so stoic and reserved and it tickled her to see him letting loose and actually having fun; of course, when he did some kind of mock Michael Jackson turn, he noticed he was not alone in the kitchen and quickly pulled the ear buds from his ears and went back to his reserved and now embarrassed manner.
    “Don’t stop on my account,” Ella said as she went to the cupboard for a cup and some much needed coffee. “I’ve been known to sing and dance to my favorite song on occasion too.”
    He smirked at her from behind the beginnings of a beard. “Not very professional.”
    “Professional?” she exclaimed, half-laughing while tearing a piece of toast into more manageable bite sizes. “You’re in your underwear, Jeremy. That’s probably more unprofessional than dancing around the kitchen. Lighten up. Roommates are going to see personal sides of one another—nothing wrong with that. Besides, I think it would be nice to see this other side of you. Maybe we should let off some steam and go dancing sometime.”
    He looked absolutely mortified as he grabbed a dishtowel and held it in front of him as if to hide the fact he was in his underwear. Of course the boxers could be seen from all edges of the dishtowel, making Ella want to giggle at his sudden realization of his lack of pants.
    “I don’t dance and I don’t date my boss,” he said abruptly.
    She was surprised by his sharp-toned statement. “You seem to dance all right to me,” she said trying to ignore the tone he had used, thinking it had only been because he had been embarrassed.
    He looked at her sternly and repeated his first statement. The reiteration miffed Ella. Why was he being so defensive?
    “So you’re saying if we went on a date, you’d have to quit your job?”
    “No. I’m saying I wouldn’t date you in the first place.”
    “Oh!” she said, hurt by the caustic tone and angered by his stubbornness. Hadn’t they been rather close over the last couple of weeks living in the big old house with one another, sharing their meals, watching movies, and with his sweet doting on her while she grieved? What had that been? Her imagination? She had found herself thinking of him often and wanting to share moments of her day with him. She was so sure that he seemed to be reciprocating the feeling. Had she misinterpreted their time together? The thought made her cringe with embarrassment and she quickly gathered up her shattered dignity and exited the kitchen.
     
    *****
     
    Feeling uncomfortable about what had happened that morning, Ella was in a big hurry to avoid Jeremy and get out of house, so she grabbed a list that Jeremy and she had been adding to of small hardware store items, and thought it a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
    She tried to put Jeremy and his declaration out of her mind with little success as she meandered up and down the aisles of the hardware store, gathering this and that from the long list.
    Trying to kill time, she lingered reading labels, signs, and watching a video demonstration on how to install a toilet. She never planned on installing a toilet, but she found herself engrossed by every step of the procedure. When she had gone up and down every aisle and even revisited several, she took a thorough tour of the nursery department. When she could no longer find any reason to stay, she headed for the checkout counter. Even there, she offered to let two customers go ahead of her claiming they had fewer items and should go first. Finally checked out and having no other excuse to be there, she went to her car and sat there with her keys in hand for a long while