Family Be Mine by Tracy Kelleher

Author:Tracy Kelleher
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-11-01T23:00:00+00:00

A BUZZER SOUNDED WHEN the door opened.

“Hi, everyone,” Sarah said in greeting. Her cheeks had a rosy glow from the cool air. Fall had come early this mid-September morning.

“Hello,” the three women chimed as one. Wanda stood ramrod straight, her hands clenched in fists by her sides. Lena made a show of flipping through a magazine. Rosemary rearranged the Sweet’n Low packets in the bowl by the coffee pot.

Sarah frowned. “Is something wrong? I know I’m a few minutes late. Sorry about that. We can run over the hour to make up for it.”

“Late? You’re late?” Lena looked at her wristwatch.

“So you are! We didn’t even notice, we were so busy chatting, weren’t we?”

Rosemary nodded. “Chatting and talking…” Her voice trailed off.

Sarah angled her head to catch the title of Lena’s magazine. “Field and Stream?”

“I’m thinking of taking a trip to Montana.” Lena slapped the magazine shut. “I’ve never been out west to see the national parks, all the mountains.”

“Who doesn’t like the mountains?” Wanda said.

“So refreshing,” Rosemary agreed.

Sarah looked at them all dubiously.

The buzzer went off again and Fred dashed into the reception area, pulling Hunt in his wake. He made a beeline for Wanda’s satchel.

“Fred, Fred, stop,” Hunt ordered between gasps. If Sarah had a healthy glow of fresh air and exercise, Hunt appeared as if he had just crossed the Sahara on an empty canteen. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and lines of strain marked his cheeks and the corners of his eyes.

“Huntington, how nice to see you,” Lena said. “What a surprise!”

“Yes, what a surprise!” Wanda smiled brightly.

Now Sarah was really dubious.

Hunt waved. “Nice to see you, again, Mrs. Zemanova.” He yanked Fred away from Wanda’s canvas carryall. “Fred seems obsessed with what’s in this bag. Bologna sandwich maybe? Beluga caviar?” He exhaled through his mouth, still out of breath.

Sarah eyed Wanda’s bag with a raised eyebrow. “More like a sausage dog.”

“With serious heartburn,” Lena quipped.

“More like a serious time bomb waiting to go off,” Rosemary suggested.

“Don’t listen to them,” Wanda cooed to her bag.

Everyone laughed but Hunt.

“Is there something I should be worried about?” Hunt asked.

Fred strained against his collar as Hunt held him away from the satchel. His front paws lifted off the ground, and he tried to dance forward on his back ones.

“Oh, I’d definitely be worried if I were you,” Sarah said. She took a large step away from Wanda’s bag.

And that’s when it emitted a full-scale stink bomb.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.