She Loves Me Not by Wendy Corsi Staub

Author:Wendy Corsi Staub [Staub, Wendy Corsi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

When Rose pulls up in front of Bayview Books, Emily is on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore, huddled under the narrow awning in her too-short, too-thin leather jacket. She’s leaning with one leg bent and her foot braced against the redbrick wall, her shorn, maroon-tinted hair looking damp and more unkempt than usual.

Now, as Rose hurries toward the store, sidestepping puddles on the sidewalk, she glances at her watch. Emily must have arrived here at least fifteen minutes ago. She doesn’t seem to be perplexed, though, or harried. She simply looks resigned, almost as though she’s been waiting patiently for Rose to return.

“Rose! There you are!” Emily pushes her foot off the wall to stand up straight, her eyes narrowing beneath her multipierced brows. “Where were you?”

“I had an emergency at home with the kids.” Rose fumbles with her keys, jabbing the wrong one into the lock and nearly breaking it off trying to turn it. “I couldn’t get hold of anyone to watch the store so I locked up while I ran home.”

“Is everything all right now?”

She nods, unlocking the door, holding it open so that Emily can step past her.

Yes, everything is all right, except that she acted like a lunatic, practically accusing her neighbor of kidnapping her children.

“She can’t possibly blame you for that, Rose,” Leslie said, once Hitch had gone and the kids were settled in front of a cartoon and Rose had pulled herself together.

Leslie shook her head. “She had no right to take them someplace without telling you. You did what any worried mom would have done.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I overreacted. She was doing me a favor by taking the kids. And I never said not to go anywhere with them.”

“It’s common sense that she’d ask first. I always call you or page you to check, and I’m their aunt, for Pete’s sake.”

Maybe I’ll call Christine later and apologize, Rose decides. Now, with her children safe at home in Leslie’s capable hands, and her resolve to put the unnerving episode with Hitch behind her, it’s easier to think clearly. And with clarity comes a twinge of guilt.

“Hey, I’ll call Luke and tell him you’re back.” Emily’s voice intrudes upon her thoughts.

“Luke?” Rose jerks her gaze toward her coworker, who has shed her jacket to reveal a purple velvet catsuit that clashes with her hair. “Luke knows I was gone?”

“I called him on his cell when I got here and found the store locked. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Was he angry?”

“He’ll get over it.” Emily is maddeningly casual, flipping open a compact and reapplying her rust-colored lipstick.

“So he was angry?”

Emily shrugs and puts the compact back into her leopard-print bag, which she tosses on a shelf beneath the cash register.

“You should put that in the back room,” Rose advises. “Somebody can steal it from up here.”

“They can have it. There’s nothing in it.”

Nothing, Rose suspects, but her cigarettes and lighter. Bill is convinced that Emily keeps her purse under the register so that she can sneak smokes when business is slow and she’s alone in the store.

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.