Read Online See Jane Fall by Katy Regnery - Free Book Online Page B

about Connecticut . Jane looked back and forth
between them. “What am I not getting here?”
    “Connecticut! It’s between New York and
Boston, isn’t it? Where you’re from? It’s in the middle, isn’t it?
You been there?”
    “Sure, a little. Samara has friends in
Westport and I know a few people in Connecticut too. Friends from
college, mostly. It’s pretty. What town is she in?”
    Maggie beamed. “Mystic! Do you know it?”
    “I do,” answered Jane. “Not well, but I’ve
been. It’s on the coast. Very picturesque. They have, um, an
old-fashioned village there. And great seafood. And an aquarium, I
think. Sailboats. Old houses. Sort of quintessential New England.
Yeah, I remember it. A little.”
    Maggie beamed at Paul, and he gave her a
look.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Jane looked back
and forth between them.
    Paul nodded.
    “Why’d you decide to get to know someone
from Connecticut and not closer?”
    “Maggie meddled,” Paul blurted out. “She set
up the profile and she wasn’t totally clear about where I
lived.”
    Maggie cringed. “I thought the question
asked where he was from .”
    “And you’re from…?”
    “Maine. Originally.” Paul rolled his eyes at
his friend.
    “So it fed you girls from New England. Huh.
You must have liked her a lot out of the gate,” said Jane, “to get
to know her from so far away. Once you realized the distance.”
    Paul smiled at Jane and she saw the sudden
warmth infuse his blue eyes. “You could say that.”
    “ I could say that? Look at you.
You’re a goner.”
    “I like her,” he said softly. “I look
forward to her e-mails and we’re reading a book together. We talk
about our lives, work, whatever, you know? I tell her everything
lately. She’s a teacher and I’m a principal so we talk about our
students, our families, what we like to do on the weekends. Yeah, I
like her.”
    “You like her a lot. Sounds like you’re
ready for the next step,” said Jane. “When’re you going to meet
her? Up close and personal? You know, in person ?”
    “Heck, I’d love to meet her. But, I can’t
just pick up and go to Connecticut. I have commitments here.”
    Jane took another sip of the now-cooling
milk, feeling the warmth travel all the way down to her tummy. It
was working. She was feeling warmer and mellower, but she liked
Maggie and Paul and loved talking about regular people and their
regular lives. She wasn’t ready to say good-night yet.
    “You really like her?”
    Paul nodded.
    “Time to visit Connecticut,” said Jane
gently.
    “You think?”
    Jane shrugged. “Don’t you have a break
coming up? A few days off when you could make a quick trip?”
    “Columbus Day’s a four-day weekend.”
    “There you go.” She thought of Ben dumping
her so cruelly when Samara arrived in Cairo. If she’d have known
how fickle he was, she might have expected things to go south, and
his rejection wouldn’t have hurt her so much. “Probably best not to
invest any more of yourself until you meet her, you know? Anyway,
that’s what I think.”
    “Aye, the lass has some good advice, I
think.” Maggie winked at Jane.
    “May as well put your cards on the table,
Paul.”
    Paul bit his lower lip, nodding. “Guess
so.”
    She downed the rest of her warm milk, and
slid off the stool. “What do I owe you?”
    Paul took out his wallet and put five
dollars on the counter. “Let me get it. In thanks for the
advice.”
    “Cool. Thank you, Paul. And good luck. I’m
off to bed, folks.”
    “And give Lars hell tomorrow, Jane.” Paul
winked at her.
    “Yeah?”
    “Sure. Lars thinks he’s the cat’s meow.”
    “Does he?”
    “Aw, you know. The girls from the park…the
ones who pass through.”
    She didn’t know. Her heart clutched
painfully and she looked down. Of course. He was so good looking.
Too good looking. He probably had his pick of the tourists that
came into town. It shouldn’t matter to her. She hated it that it
did.
    “Oh, shut up,