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Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
Arabska perla Maha Gargash

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.We’d met at Brenda’s funeral back in August, and over the next couple of weeks had become unlikely friends.She was a little young for me—sixteen to my twenty seven—but she seemed to like my company, and to be honest, I don’t have a lot of female friends.It’s one of the side-effects of being a Southern Belle.We tend to look at all other women suspiciously.Life is very much a contest when you’re a Magnolia.But because Alexandra was so much younger, and because we weren’t competing in the same category, I was able to move past those feelings and enjoy her company.I still considered letting voicemail pick up.It was late, way outside the proper limits for calling someone.But she’d once before called me late like this because she’d gotten in trouble and needed a ride home, and just in case something was going on and she needed help, I thought I’d better answer.“Hello?”My voice was thick, and I had to clear my throat.“Savannah?” Alexandra said.“This is Alex.Did I wake you?”I thought about lying.It would make a handy excuse for the froggy voice.But just because I felt bad, there was no need to make her feel guilty, too.“No, you didn’t.I’ve just got a stuffy nose.”“Oh.A cold, huh?” She didn’t wait for me to confirm or deny, just continued.“Can we get together?”“Now?” A glance at the oven clock showed me it was a few minutes past twelve.She really ought to be in bed.I should be there myself.Alexandra giggled.“Of course not now.Unless you want to?”“No,” I said, “I’d rather not.”“Tomorrow?”“That would be fine.I’ll have to spend the morning in the office.I always do floor duty on Saturday mornings.But I’ll be done by noon.We could meet somewhere at twelve thirty or one.Maybe grab some lunch?”“Can’t,” Alexandra said with disgust lacing her voice.“Maybelle has plans.”Maybelle always had plans.And not just for Saturday afternoons.Maybelle Driscoll lived across the street from the Puckett family on Winding Way, in a very nice neighborhood not too far from my own.Brush Hill, with big properties with lots of trees, close to the river.Sometime over the past couple of years, since Mr.Driscoll died, Maybelle had started an affair with Steven Puckett, Brenda’s husband.Or Brenda’s widower, now.Back in August, when Brenda was murdered, I had seriously wondered whether Maybelle, or Steven, or both of them together, had killed her.Steven didn’t seem the type, but Maybelle would have slit Brenda’s throat without a second thought and then square-danced on the remains.She showed up to Brenda’s funeral in a bright blue dress, and got herself engaged to Steven less than a week later.Ever since then, she’s done her best to replace Brenda in the Puckett family dynamic.But where Steven seemed happy about it, and Austin—the boy—was non-committal, Alexandra had been actively resisting.She didn’t like Maybelle, and she didn’t want another mother.“Sunday, then?” I had to sit an open house for a colleague in the afternoon, but other than that, my time was my own.“Can’t,” Alexandra said again.“Maybelle.”—had plans.Right.“I’ll stop by your office in the morning and talk to you,” Alexandra decided.“That OK?”“Of course.You know where.?” I cut myself off.Of course she knew where it was.Her mother had worked there for years.“I’ll be there by nine or so,” Alexandra said.“Bye.” She hung up.Without letting me answer.I didn’t take it personally, since it wasn’t the first time it had happened.Maybe someone had come into the room to see who she was talking to on the phone so late, or maybe she just had no manners.Brenda had been lacking in that department, too.Leaving the phone on the counter to continue charging, I headed back to the living room, dragging my feet.If I looked anywhere near as bad as I felt, I must be a horrible sight.I should probably chop up a cucumber to take some of the swelling down around my eyes, or steep a couple of teabags or something, but I lacked the energy.All I wanted to do was go to bed and forget this night ever happened, but I figured I didn’t stand a chance of actually falling asleep.My body was dragging, but my head was still buzzing.Instead of sleeping, I’d probably lie there, tossing and turning, thoughts spinning, until daybreak.And then I’d look even worse than I did now.Maybe a shower would do me good.Or better yet, a bath.With lots of warm water and bubbles.Candles.Soft music.Something soothing, to calm my jangling nerves and help me relax.I padded into the single bathroom and started the water running into the tub, adding bath salts and sweet-smelling bubble mix.And then, when the tub was full, I stripped down to my skin, piled my hair on top of my head—I’d washed it in the afternoon, in preparation for my date with Todd, and I didn’t have the inclination to blow it dry a second time today—and sank down into the bubbles.By the time I got out and dried off, I was feeling a lot more mellow.I’d finished rinsing with cold water, so the face that stared back at me from the mirror above the sink didn’t look as awful as I’d feared.My eyes were still bloodshot and a little puffy from all the crying, but other than that, I’d looked worse.Recently, too.The first few weeks after I lost the baby had been pretty bad.It was my second miscarriage.Losing Bradley’s baby three years ago had been disappointing as well as physically exhausting, but it hadn’t been devastating.Losing’s Rafe’s baby—and then on the heels of it losing Rafe himself, too—let’s just say I’d had a rough few weeks.I looked better now than I did just after it happened.Tired, sure.Like I’d spent the night crying.But there was color in my cheeks and light in my eyes; I didn’t look like I was near death.Abandoning the bathroom mirror, I wrapped a robe around myself and headed out of the bathroom.It was almost one o’clock.Definitely time to go to bed.I’d have to be in the office by eight the next morning to answer the phones on the receptionist’s morning off—floor duty, in RealtorSpeak—and at this rate, I’d be dragging myself out of bed right about the time I should be unlocking the door over there, bright and chipper.The lights were still on in the living room, and I headed that way to turn them of before crawling under the covers.Only to stop in the doorway when I saw that I had company.Chapter 3“Evening, darlin’,” Rafe said.He was lounging in the sofa where Todd had sat earlier, and when I walked into the room, he’d turned his head to greet me.I regret to say I had no response.Nothing witty or even halfway clever.I couldn’t even manage coherent.I had thought the apartment was secure [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]