Screen Kiss by Ann Roberts

Author:Ann Roberts [Roberts, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642470338
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2019-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Had it not been for her date—and kissing lesson—with Mazie, Addy’s mood would have been awful. Fortunately she was only mildly glum when her internal alarm clock woke her at five a.m., the time she normally got up for work. She’d just swung out of bed when she realized she had nowhere to go. She remembered she was on leave, and her appointment with Nadine wasn’t until eleven thirty.

She’d texted Nadine after Mazie had left, saying she had new information about Pratul. Nadine texted back with some choice adjectives, a few emojis, and several different marks of punctuation. Although company policy forbade Jackie from sharing the details of Addy’s leave from the Transportation Department, once Addy told Nadine, Jackie could comment freely to Nadine as a friend. She may have blurred the lines, but neither Addy or Nadine felt compelled to second guess her. Then right before Addy fell asleep, when her mind reviewed the kiss with Mazie, she got a reassuring text message from Jackie. We’ve got your back.

Around seven, Jackie’s familiar soft knock sounded on her door. She held two steaming mugs of coffee and she handed one to Addy. “I wanted to check on you before I left. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s weird not going to work since I’m not sick.”

Jackie leaned against the front porch railing and Addy joined her outside. “You’ve never missed a day. Perfect attendance for the last year.”

“Yeah, and this is a stupid reason to miss work,” she pouted.

“Well, maybe you can find someone to spend the day with,” Jackie said quietly.

“You mean Mazie, the woman who was here last night.”

Jackie shrugged. “She didn’t seem to be your type.”

Although she wanted to defend Mazie, Addy held her tongue. While she knew she was standing on her own front porch, the property belonged to Jackie. And although she counted Jackie as a friend, Jackie was her supervisor. No matter how hard they attempted to keep their relationships separate, it was complex.

“I’m not sure what my type is. We have fun together.”

Jackie started to say something but then bit down on her lip.

“What?”

“Nothing. Forget it.” Jackie looked away and sipped her coffee.

“No, I want to know.”

Jackie glanced at Addy but quickly averted her gaze. It seemed as if she was embarrassed by what she was going to say even before she said it. “It’s just…Do you think… Could this woman possibly be a substitute for your mother?”

The question spewed out of her mouth quickly and it took Addy a moment to process it. Once she did, she turned furious. She slammed her cup on the porch railing and coffee sloshed everywhere. She didn’t bother to apologize and retreated inside, slamming the door behind her. She heard Jackie’s car start, but before it pulled out of the driveway, Jackie sent a text. I’m sorry. That was a no-win. If I asked, I offended you. If I didn’t ask, and there was truth to it, and you got hurt down the road, I’d be angry with myself.

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