Vampire Blood by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Author:Kathryn Meyer Griffith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Damnation Books
Published: 2011-07-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

September 1

“Jeff?”

“Yes, it’s me, Jenny.”

Speechless, she had to cling to the door to keep from fainting dead away. In the first few heartbeats after she’d laid eyes on him, her heart had frozen, as the last ten years rushed past her like speeding cars on a crowded track.

Ten years.

He had the same blue eyes, long lean face, shaggy hair curling around his collar. His tall, lanky frame was clad in a cotton shirt and faded blue jeans.

Then she looked harder. There were slivers of gray in his coal black hair, and his eyes were no longer laughing. A large knapsack hung from one shoulder, a smaller raggedy bag clutched in his other hand. He looked weary, road-filthy. Half a cigarette hung from his lips.

At first all she could think about was how dreadful she must look: uncombed hair, wrinkly clothes and no makeup. At first. Then she let her face go hard.

“What the hell are you doing here, and what do you want?” she asked coldly. How dare he just show up one morning on her doorstep, like a starving kitten. How dare he look at her like that. How dare he intrude into her present life.

His face noticeably fell an inch at her open hostility, but his eyes lingered on her and grew warm.

“I wanted to see you, Jenny. Please. Don’t close the door!” he pleaded urgently as she tried to do just that. “Didn’t you get my letters?” That old little-boy-lost look tore up her heart as it always had when they were eighteen.

“Yes, I got your letters,” she snapped, trying to shut the door again. He wouldn’t let her. “I tore them up. I don’t want to see you, Jeff, much less talk to you, you bastard. You disappeared on us over ten long years ago. You left me for another damn woman. For years, not a word. Zippo. Now she’s dumped you and you come crawling back?”

“She didn’t dump me, Jenny. I dumped her.” He frowned. “Years ago.”

“Well, if you wanted to see me, you sure took your time about it.”

“I needed to sort things out ... and I was afraid—”

“Of what?”

He evaded her eyes. “That you wouldn’t see me,” was all he’d say.

She laughed cynically. “After what you did to me, would you blame me?”

“No.” Now his eyes were smoldering. “I only kept away from you this long because I thought you were happily married to that rich lawyer in St. Augustine. I came as soon as I found out you’d divorced him. I couldn’t stay away from you any longer.”

“So? I don’t care. Go away! I only want to be left alone. Do you understand?” her voice was rising. Her ex-husband showing up after all these years and the anguish of the last few weeks collided, and everything blew up in her head.

It was too much. Too much.

“I don’t need you anymore. Go away.”

“Jenny, just listen to me, please! I’m sorry! I made mistakes. Haven’t you ever made a mistake in your life?” His face turned pathetic, his expression desperate.

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