Bodies to Die For by Lori Brand

Author:Lori Brand [Lori Brand]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Psychological, Crime, Mystery & Detective, General, Suspense
ISBN: 9798212191234
Google: pjbiEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0CMW7GXHZ
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2024-06-10T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 37

KYLIE

Kylie throws her purse on the passenger seat and slams the car door shut. She places her hands on the steering wheel, mostly to keep them from shaking. Her manager sent her home for the evening, and she’s afraid she’s going to get fired. She can’t get fired. She hasn’t held a job longer than five months, ever, and she’s twenty-three years old.

Tonight’s shitshow was all because she screwed up the olives. To which her customer, apparently, was deathly allergic. Whatever. She’s going to live. The paramedics said so. Right after they shot her full of epinephrine and wheeled her out of the restaurant.

In her shitty fifteen-year-old car, with its back fender held on by a bungee cord, she drives cautiously home. Back at Jim’s apartment, she quietly lets herself in. She doesn’t feel like talking, and he’s been sort of moody lately. Tiptoeing to the bedroom, she overhears him having a one-sided conversation; he must be on his phone.

“I miss you,” he says. Kylie stops in the hallway, afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. She places one hand gingerly against the wall, as much for balance as to touch something real and solid. Jim continues, “I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Kylie’s breath is shallow and quiet. “She’s just not you. No one’s you.” He must be talking to Shanna, who’s at least ten pounds heavier than her. How could this happen? “I know. You’re right.” More silence. “Can I see you?” Silence. “When?” Silence. “Be right there.”

Kylie hears him travel through the apartment. She ducks into the bedroom and listens as he scrapes his keys off the counter. The front door shuts definitively after him. She is all alone.

Jim’s going to get back together with Shanna. He’s going to kick her out. She will be jobless and homeless. Her credit cards are all maxed out, and she doesn’t have any friends close enough to let her crash on their couch.

She briefly considers contacting her new follower, @fat_and_fabulous, who direct messaged her to see if she was coming to the REIGN protest in Orlando. Rather than tell her that she wouldn’t be caught dead at a Fat Activism protest (it’s seriously the stuff of nightmares), she simply wrote that it was a little early for her to make the drive from Tampa. Right away @fat_and_fabulous (call her Ashley) offered her a place to stay.

Should she take Ashley up on her offer? Feign sick on the day of the protest? Linger for a few extra days (or a week or a month)?

Almost immediately she comes to her senses. Of course not. Staying with Ashley would mean hanging out with her, and she might get fat as a result. Ashley’s lifestyle being contagious, and all.

Kylie lays down on the bed, still in her work uniform, with its smear of disgusting sour cream above her left breast and smell of stale grease permeating the room. The smart thing would be to go to Indeed.com and apply for twenty different jobs, then to Craigslist to see if she can find a quick sublet or room share.

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