Read Online Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge - Free Book Online Page A

distracted.”
    â€œYou got drunk?”
    â€œI was the designated driver. Jordan was singing sea shanties by the time I took him back to his dorm.”
    I winced. “He can’t sing.”
    â€œNo, and his pitch gets worse after a couple brewskies. And he forgot words…I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
    â€œIs it true?”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t it be?”
    I wrapped my nonphone arm around myself. “Sorry. I’m feeling very vulnerable right now. Must be the bonnet.”
    â€œYou’re dressed like one of them?”
    â€œDown to the kneesocks.”
    â€œI bet you look cute.”
    â€œShut up,” I told him, but in truth a smile sneaked out. He always had that effect on me.
    â€œYou’re doing okay?” he asked.
    â€œI’m doing okay. What’s going on in the world out there?”
    â€œOh, you know. Death, destruction, political upheaval. The usual.”
    â€œThere’s something comforting about not getting a newspaper.” I paused. “Don’t tell anyone I work with I said that.”
    He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I don’t think Kim would ever talk to you again.”
    â€œShe wouldn’t. Ever.” Kim. I missed Kim. And Joely and Gemma… “I miss you.”
    â€œI miss you too.”

    I met Shane when I covered the construction of the new Civic Center. Shane, being near the bottom of his architecture firm’s food chain, was the most accessible source. I asked him about the design process and inspiration; he asked me to dinner.
    Being with Shane excited me. For the first time I was in a grown-up relationship involving dinners at nice restaurants and intellectual conversation.
    There wasn’t a beach bonfire to be found, no sad high-school dances with wilted helium balloons, no furtive make out sessions in dorm hallways. I felt as though I’d finally broken free of my past.
    Shane took me home to meet his parents and two younger brothers. I think a part of him waited for me to return the gesture.
    Scratch that. I
knew
he wanted me to. But I just couldn’t do it.
    How could I explain that he represented my separation from home? I liked Shane for a lot of reasons, one of which was that he knew nothing about my life before I came to Portland. If I took him home, it could ruin everything.
    But another part of me wondered how long I could continue to run.

    After I hung up with Shane, I brushed Rachel from my mind.
    Jealous? I wasn’t jealous. I had handsome, urbane Shane waiting for me at home.
    Urbane Shane. That was funny. I would have to call him that in passing some time.
    Levi was just a guy. A complicated guy, but a guy nonetheless. I was, perhaps, a bit attracted to him, mainly because he was here and Shane wasn’t.
    I was bigger than that, stronger than that. Levi certainly had his own baggage as well, and I didn’t need to go near that with a ten-foot pole.
    Although professionally, it could help with the story.
    Being a journalist was complicated sometimes.

    I cut a total of fifty squares that afternoon. Sara examined my work on the way back. “Good,” she said. “I should be able to use these.”
    Don’t know how she could tell, with the buggy bouncing the way it was.
    Martha made a beeline for the kitchen when we returned. A pot of stew bubbled on the stove. Baking sheets of yeasty dinner rolls rose in the oven. “Is there anything I can help with?” I asked.
    She wiped her hands on her apron. “I don’t think so. All that needs doing is baking the rolls. Why don’t you see if Sara needs help with the mending?”
    They were awfully eager to arm me with a needle, first with the quilting and then with the mending.
    I didn’t mention my concerns. Sara sat in the family room beside the glow of a propane lantern. “Your mother told me to help you if you needed it.”
    She cocked an eyebrow.