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Authors: Kathi Daley
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the warm nights, but I think that after a while I’d get sick of the heat. Most years by the time fall rolls around I’m ready for some snow.”
“Yeah, it is nice to have the seasons.”
“I spoke to Jenna today.” Jenna Elston was my oldest friend.
“How is she doing with Helen being away?”
Jenna’s mother, Helen, and her famous novelist boyfriend, R. L. Hellerman, more commonly known as Bookman, had married in May. Helen and Bookman had been an item for quite a while, so I don’t think anyone was too surprised to see them wed, but shortly after they were married they announced their intention to give up their homes and their businesses in order to head to Europe for a year or more to sample the lives they’d only imagined. The announcement that Helen was going to give Jenna her half of the Antiquery, the restaurant she owned with Jenna, came on the heels of the announcement by Jenna’s assistant, Kallie, that she was going to get married and would be moving away.
“I think she’s dealing, but to lose the two people she depended on the most to help out at the restaurant at the same time has been tough. She seemed a little down, so I tried to convince her to close the restaurant for a couple of weeks and come out here for a visit.”
“Do you think she will?”
Echo put his head in my lap. I adjusted my position so he would be comfortable before answering.
“I think she might. I don’t think money is an issue with Dennis’s promotion, and I know he’s been working a lot of extra hours.” Jenna’s husband, Dennis, was a firefighter who’d just made captain. “It sounds like her girls miss our girls and have been giving Jenna their own sort of grief.”
“Our girls?”
I smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“I do. And I see why they’re upset. It has to be hard when your best friend is so far away. It seems you would miss not only the friendship but the support you’d come to depend on.”
“Like calling your best friend to come over and kill the spider that’s crawled under your bed,” I teased.
“It was a big spider.”
“It was harmless. You just pretended to be scared so I’d come over and take care of you when you were sick.”
Kyle winked. “Maybe.”
“Is that why you gave up everything to follow me across the country?” I asked. “Because you were afraid you’d get sick and there’d be no one around to make you soup or fluff your pillows?”
Kyle turned and looked at me with a serious expression, very much unlike the teasing I was expecting. “I came with you because three months without you seemed intolerable.”
Kyle leaned toward me just a tiny bit. I was sure he was going to kiss me just as Gracie’s scream pierced the silence of the night. Kyle and I both jumped up and ran into the house.
Someone must have left Blackbeard’s cage open because he was chasing Cuervo around the room, screeching, “Kill the cat, kill the cat.” Cuervo was darting across furniture to avoid the sharp talons that were threatening to pierce his back, knocking everything that got in his way onto the floor.
Grandpa came running toward the sound of the chaos. “What’s going on?”
“It looks like Blackbeard was actually trying to kill the cat,” I responded.
He chuckled as he began picking up pieces of broken glass from a vase that had crashed onto the tile floor. “Maybe we should be protecting the cat from the bird rather than the other way around.”
Chapter 5
Wednesday, June 15
When Jack Long arrived the next morning in his faded blue jeans, tight blue T-shirt, smoky gray eyes, and dark blond hair, I knew for certain that Kyle’s almost kiss had affected me more than I wanted to admit. Jack was exactly my type, yet I found I felt nothing when he smiled at me.
“Ms. Jensen?”
“You can call me Tj. I assume you’ve spoken to Garrett about what needs to be done?”
“We had a dialogue about the project in general terms, but I wanted to get a look
“Yeah, it is nice to have the seasons.”
“I spoke to Jenna today.” Jenna Elston was my oldest friend.
“How is she doing with Helen being away?”
Jenna’s mother, Helen, and her famous novelist boyfriend, R. L. Hellerman, more commonly known as Bookman, had married in May. Helen and Bookman had been an item for quite a while, so I don’t think anyone was too surprised to see them wed, but shortly after they were married they announced their intention to give up their homes and their businesses in order to head to Europe for a year or more to sample the lives they’d only imagined. The announcement that Helen was going to give Jenna her half of the Antiquery, the restaurant she owned with Jenna, came on the heels of the announcement by Jenna’s assistant, Kallie, that she was going to get married and would be moving away.
“I think she’s dealing, but to lose the two people she depended on the most to help out at the restaurant at the same time has been tough. She seemed a little down, so I tried to convince her to close the restaurant for a couple of weeks and come out here for a visit.”
“Do you think she will?”
Echo put his head in my lap. I adjusted my position so he would be comfortable before answering.
“I think she might. I don’t think money is an issue with Dennis’s promotion, and I know he’s been working a lot of extra hours.” Jenna’s husband, Dennis, was a firefighter who’d just made captain. “It sounds like her girls miss our girls and have been giving Jenna their own sort of grief.”
“Our girls?”
I smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“I do. And I see why they’re upset. It has to be hard when your best friend is so far away. It seems you would miss not only the friendship but the support you’d come to depend on.”
“Like calling your best friend to come over and kill the spider that’s crawled under your bed,” I teased.
“It was a big spider.”
“It was harmless. You just pretended to be scared so I’d come over and take care of you when you were sick.”
Kyle winked. “Maybe.”
“Is that why you gave up everything to follow me across the country?” I asked. “Because you were afraid you’d get sick and there’d be no one around to make you soup or fluff your pillows?”
Kyle turned and looked at me with a serious expression, very much unlike the teasing I was expecting. “I came with you because three months without you seemed intolerable.”
Kyle leaned toward me just a tiny bit. I was sure he was going to kiss me just as Gracie’s scream pierced the silence of the night. Kyle and I both jumped up and ran into the house.
Someone must have left Blackbeard’s cage open because he was chasing Cuervo around the room, screeching, “Kill the cat, kill the cat.” Cuervo was darting across furniture to avoid the sharp talons that were threatening to pierce his back, knocking everything that got in his way onto the floor.
Grandpa came running toward the sound of the chaos. “What’s going on?”
“It looks like Blackbeard was actually trying to kill the cat,” I responded.
He chuckled as he began picking up pieces of broken glass from a vase that had crashed onto the tile floor. “Maybe we should be protecting the cat from the bird rather than the other way around.”
Chapter 5
Wednesday, June 15
When Jack Long arrived the next morning in his faded blue jeans, tight blue T-shirt, smoky gray eyes, and dark blond hair, I knew for certain that Kyle’s almost kiss had affected me more than I wanted to admit. Jack was exactly my type, yet I found I felt nothing when he smiled at me.
“Ms. Jensen?”
“You can call me Tj. I assume you’ve spoken to Garrett about what needs to be done?”
“We had a dialogue about the project in general terms, but I wanted to get a look
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