Just a Little Bit Guilty by Deborah Smith

Author:Deborah Smith
Language: ara, eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2013-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

JAKE AND AUNT VANESSA sat at the kitchen table and sipped their second cups of coffee as if they’d been awake for hours, instead of just thirty minutes.

“Ooooh, I hate it when I oversleep,” Aunt Vanessa complained.

They heard the clumping sound of footsteps on the side porch off the kitchen. Jake walked to the door and swung it open.

“What the . . . Viv?”

“Good morning,” she said with a tired smile, her breath rising in clouds against the cold morning darkness. She had bits of sawdust in her dark hair and a stain on her coat in the shape of a cloven cow hoof. She handed him a stainless steel bucket full of Claire’s bubbly milk. “I did it.”

Aunt Vanessa came over and stared at the bucket along with Jake.

“Miss Vivian, I didn’t know you could milk a cow! ’Specially my cantankerous old Claire!”

“We had a talk. I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.” Vivian pulled a handful of sugar packets from her coat pocket. “I tried to fake her out with Splenda, but she only went for the full monty.”

Jake lifted her off the floor, hugged her, kissed her lightly on the mouth, and whirled her around in a circle. “You’ll be a farm wife yet.”

“Put me down. You’re churning my cream.”

“Jake, you’re embarrassin’ her,” Aunt Vanessa scolded.

Chuckling, he set her feet back on the yellow linoleum floor.

“Breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes, chickies,” Aunt Vanessa piped. “Vivian, you’d best go get cleaned up. Jake-honey can you slice some bacon for your Aunt Vanny?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said dutifully. Vivian gave him a tentative, odd smile that he didn’t understand. Jake’s own smile faded a little.

“You feelin’ all right, Tough Stuff? Did Claire kick you more than once?”

“She wouldn’t dare. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Farm wife,” she murmured to herself as she went upstairs, wincing as one hand went to her back.

“WAKE UP, BEAUTIFUL,” Jake urged gently. She was curled against the truck’s passenger door, her head pillowed on her folded tweed coat. The street lights of Atlanta flashed by her dozing profile. The night had turned colder, and rainy. “We’re almost home. Another minute and we’ll be at your place.”

When she didn’t respond, he patted her shoulder. She gave a soft cry of pain and arched away from his touch, fully awake in an instant. She looked at him with hazel eyes narrowed in a squint of discomfort.

“Viv, what is it?”

“Nothing. I just had a muscle cramp.”

“What’s wrong with your back?” he asked firmly.

“Okay, there’s a spasm in my tail. I need to uncurl it for awhile. And the pointy red tip is sticking me in one hip. No problem. Just a Democrat thing.”

He gestured toward her window. “My God, would you look over there. I believe that’s Alicia Keys comin’ out of the CNN building.”

She pivoted toward the window. He knew she was a fan.

Jake tugged the back of her sweater up.

Vivian had a long, ugly welt on her back.

She shoved her sweater down and glared at him.

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.