Carolina Blues by Virginia Kantra

Author:Virginia Kantra [Kantra, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Amazon: B00ISEOIQ2
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2014-10-06T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

“LAUREN, DO YOU know where the other sugar dispenser is?” Jane asked as Lauren moved through the tables, cleaning up after the lunch crowd.

Sugar dispenser? Lauren tried to focus. It was like there were two Laurens today, Lauren the stirred-up mind and Lauren the thoroughly satisfied body, both absorbed in remembering and processing the unfamiliar events of last night. Neither focused on the bakery at all. Every breath, every stretch, every thought recalled Jack.

She struggled to keep herself together. “Yeah, sure, it’s in the . . . It’s not on the coffee station?”

“You put it in the refrigerator,” Thalia said. She took out the dispenser and grinned. “Right next to the milk.”

“Oops.” Lauren smiled apologetically. “I guess I’m a little distracted today.” An understatement.

“I’m really sorry,” Jane said. “It’s my fault.”

Lauren blinked. Concentrate. “Why?”

“I should have given you the passcode. You must have totally freaked when the alarm went off.”

Sirens blaring, stabbing, vibrating through her like electric shocks . . . Lauren took a careful breath. “Why should you? You had absolutely no reason to think I would need to be in the bakery after hours.”

“Besides,” Thalia said cheerfully, “she got rescued by Hot Cop Rossi.”

Jane’s distressed frown stayed in place. “I still should have warned you. I’m so sorry.”

“Jane, it really is all right. He was very . . .” Professional? “Reassuring.”

“Is that all? Because when he came in this morning?” Thalia put her hand on her chest and mimed a thumping heart. “Major vibes. I thought he was going to order coffee to go and you on the side.”

Heat swept through Lauren. He’d already had her on her side. And on her back. And . . .

“Oh, wow, he did, didn’t he?” Thalia asked in an awed voice. “You and Chief Rossi? Seriously?”

“Thalia, that’s none of our business,” Jane said firmly.

“I think it’s great,” Thalia said. “I mean, you’re both single, healthy adults.”

“Which doesn’t make her private life a suitable topic of discussion for you. You’re sixteen.”

“Mom says adolescence is a modern invention of wealthy industrial societies, and that I’ve been a woman since menses,” Thalia said. “She feels I should be free to explore my natural sexual impulses before deciding if a monogamous heteronormative relationship would be personally fulfilling.”

“Bless her heart,” Jane said.

Which Lauren had learned could mean anything from You poor thing to Your mama is an idiot. She bit down on a laugh. “Did she also talk to you about the importance of using protection while you’re, um, exploring?”

Thalia grinned, apparently unfazed by a relative stranger quizzing her on birth control. She was a very self-possessed sixteen. “No, that was my dad. He told me the frontal lobes of boys my age aren’t fully connected yet, and I shouldn’t waste my time on them.”

“And what do you think?” Lauren asked, falling into counselor-speak.

“I’m going to college—Chapel Hill—in another year. I don’t really want to get serious about anybody yet.”

“What about Josh Fletcher?” Jane asked.

Matt Fletcher’s son, Lauren thought. Meg’s nephew. Meg had mentioned the two were dating.

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